Author Topic: What will happen to your iStock royalty percentage? (Read 9555 times)

Perry · « **on:** December 31, 2010, 08:07 »

(What are "Redeemed Credits" and how do royalties work? http://www.istockphoto.com/article_view.php?ID=861 )

ShadySue · « **Reply #1 on:** December 31, 2010, 08:15 »

I'll be sticking on 30%, but as I'm within 400 dls of turning gold, it will soon be falling from what I should have expected.

lisafx · « **Reply #2 on:** December 31, 2010, 15:26 »

I will be very surprised if there is a single person who is non-exclusive and will retain 20%.

NitorPhoto · « **Reply #3 on:** December 31, 2010, 16:41 »

I am a non-ex. I leaped the limit for 19% on 27th of Dec... huh, that was close!
I am losing 1% which is a 5% cut. Since new uploads are not selling, IS has fallen back to the last position in my uploading queue. It means I do not upload there too many new images anymore. They do not care, I do not care.... status quo.

aeonf · « **Reply #4 on:** December 31, 2010, 16:52 »

Quote from: NitorPhoto on December 31, 2010, 16:41

I am a non-ex. I leaped the limit for 19% on 27th of Dec... huh, that was close!
I am losing 1% which is a 5% cut. Since new uploads are not selling, IS has fallen back to the last position in my uploading queue. It means I do not upload there too many new images anymore. They do not care, I do not care.... status quo.

Very respectfull figuers!

NitorPhoto · « **Reply #5 on:** December 31, 2010, 17:21 »

Quote from: aeonf on December 31, 2010, 16:52

Quote from: NitorPhoto on December 31, 2010, 16:41
I am a non-ex. I leaped the limit for 19% on 27th of Dec... huh, that was close!
I am losing 1% which is a 5% cut. Since new uploads are not selling, IS has fallen back to the last position in my uploading queue. It means I do not upload there too many new images anymore. They do not care, I do not care.... status quo.

Yes, this is why they are rewarding me with a 5% cut

Very respectfull figuers!

aeonf · « **Reply #6 on:** December 31, 2010, 17:24 »

Quote from: NitorPhoto on December 31, 2010, 17:21

Quote from: aeonf on December 31, 2010, 16:52
Quote from: NitorPhoto on December 31, 2010, 16:41
I am a non-ex. I leaped the limit for 19% on 27th of Dec... huh, that was close!
I am losing 1% which is a 5% cut. Since new uploads are not selling, IS has fallen back to the last position in my uploading queue. It means I do not upload there too many new images anymore. They do not care, I do not care.... status quo.

Yes, this is why they are rewarding me with a 5% cut

Very respectfull figuers!

Have you considerd going exclusive ?

NitorPhoto · « **Reply #7 on:** December 31, 2010, 17:44 »

Quote from: aeonf on December 31, 2010, 17:24

Quote from: NitorPhoto on December 31, 2010, 17:21
Quote from: aeonf on December 31, 2010, 16:52
Quote from: NitorPhoto on December 31, 2010, 16:41
I am a non-ex. I leaped the limit for 19% on 27th of Dec... huh, that was close!
I am losing 1% which is a 5% cut. Since new uploads are not selling, IS has fallen back to the last position in my uploading queue. It means I do not upload there too many new images anymore. They do not care, I do not care.... status quo.

Yes, this is why they are rewarding me with a 5% cut

Very respectfull figuers!

Have you considerd going exclusive ?

I did... two or three years ago. I was very close to it, already made my decision but had to wait until some other contracts do expire. By the time they finally expired IS wasn't so appetizing anymore. Now I am very happy I didn't. IS is falling badly while other agencies are rising significantly... at least for me. Being IS ex is not even an option anymore.

BaldricksTrousers · « **Reply #8 on:** January 01, 2011, 00:08 »

Quote from: NitorPhoto on December 31, 2010, 16:41

I am a non-ex. I leaped the limit for 19% on 27th of Dec... huh, that was close!
I am losing 1% which is a 5% cut. Since new uploads are not selling, IS has fallen back to the last position in my uploading queue. It means I do not upload there too many new images anymore. They do not care, I do not care.... status quo.

That's incredibly impressive. To get there you must have sold something like 50,000-60,000 images last year (if my credit returns are anything to go by) despite the anti-independent discrimination in the pricing and the search, so you must be among the top handful of contributors .... and that is just enough to scrape you into the 5% pay cut band. This means, of course, that by iStock standards you are not productive or successful enough to be "sustainable" fopr their business at 20% commission... despite the fact that you alone must have shovelled $190,000 into their pockets in 2010.

It just shows what bollocks iS are spouting ... and some people think the system is designed to encourage people to be more productive rather than to give iS an extra pile of cash at your expense. ROFL.

(I'll be on 17% from now).

sharpshot · « **Reply #9 on:** January 01, 2011, 02:10 »

I'll be on 17% for images and 15% for video clips. They would make much more out of me if they stuck to the 20%, I have lost my motivation to upload and have been deleting my portfolio. I wonder how many other people will now be making them less money?

ayzek · « **Reply #10 on:** January 01, 2011, 02:43 »

i am exlusive and i will remain same but will lose in EL and SUB sells.

NitorPhoto · « **Reply #11 on:** January 01, 2011, 05:48 »

BaldricksTrousers: Your description is perfect. This is exactly how I think and feel. I am very discouraged.
I was disappointed by their 20% commission - which was already the lowest in the industry - but they made me enough money compared to the other agencies and they showed me a perspective so I was motivated. Since then the other agencies were growing big while my downloads were going down at IS. SS and FTL are already way ahead of IS - once they were way behind. I had more downloads on IS in 2008 then I have this year !!! despite of the growing size of my portfolio.
But my main reason for not uploading is not the 5% cut but the fact that uploading is a waste of time, new uploads - at least my new uploads - are not selling. If a new image gets 10 downloads during its first 6 months I must be be happy now... once you could reach that in a few days, or even on a single day.
I still have a reasonable number of yearly downloads because I have some 3-4 years old bestsellers and they are still selling, But I am unable to improve my situation at IS. I am unable to move ahead, moreover I am slowly sliding backwards and I am not able to do anything against it.

traveler1116 · « **Reply #12 on:** January 01, 2011, 06:37 »

Quote from: ShadySue on December 31, 2010, 08:15

I'll be sticking on 30%, but as I'm within 400 dls of turning gold, it will soon be falling from what I should have expected.

About the same for me and I missed the Gold level by less than 10% or the needed RCs.

Don't forget all exclusives lose on ELs and Vetta.

aeonf · « **Reply #13 on:** January 01, 2011, 06:52 »

Quote from: traveler1116 on January 01, 2011, 06:37

Quote from: ShadySue on December 31, 2010, 08:15
I'll be sticking on 30%, but as I'm within 400 dls of turning gold, it will soon be falling from what I should have expected.
About the same for me and I missed the Gold level by less than 10% or the needed RCs.

Don't forget all exclusives lose on ELs and Vetta.

Ouch. A shame indeed. We missed the 30% mark by ~2000 RC's

Regarding the vetta, with the price incease you should be making more or the same, no ?

ShadySue · « **Reply #14 on:** January 01, 2011, 08:01 »

Quote from: aeonf on January 01, 2011, 06:52

Regarding the vetta, with the price incease you should be making more or the same, no ?

Maybe overall, but it depends whether buyers will bite the price increase. Anecdotally, I've only sold one Vetta during the 'Sale' period, but was getting over one a week before (only 12 Vettas).

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #15 on:** January 01, 2011, 10:50 »

Quote from: NitorPhoto on December 31, 2010, 16:41

I am a non-ex. I leaped the limit for 19% on 27th of Dec... huh, that was close!
I am losing 1% which is a 5% cut. Since new uploads are not selling, IS has fallen back to the last position in my uploading queue. It means I do not upload there too many new images anymore. They do not care, I do not care.... status quo.

Love to see your portfolio.

Maui · « **Reply #16 on:** January 01, 2011, 12:23 »

Quote from: sjlocke on January 01, 2011, 10:50

Quote from: NitorPhoto on December 31, 2010, 16:41
I am a non-ex. I leaped the limit for 19% on 27th of Dec... huh, that was close!
I am losing 1% which is a 5% cut. Since new uploads are not selling, IS has fallen back to the last position in my uploading queue. It means I do not upload there too many new images anymore. They do not care, I do not care.... status quo.

Love to see your portfolio.

It is not so difficult to find...

PeterChigmaroff · « **Reply #17 on:** January 01, 2011, 12:25 »

Quote from: sjlocke on January 01, 2011, 10:50

Quote from: NitorPhoto on December 31, 2010, 16:41
I am a non-ex. I leaped the limit for 19% on 27th of Dec... huh, that was close!
I am losing 1% which is a 5% cut. Since new uploads are not selling, IS has fallen back to the last position in my uploading queue. It means I do not upload there too many new images anymore. They do not care, I do not care.... status quo.

Love to see your portfolio.

http://www.nitorphoto.com/stock/index.html

lagereek · « **Reply #18 on:** January 01, 2011, 12:41 »

Quote from: lisafx on December 31, 2010, 15:26

I will be very surprised if there is a single person who is non-exclusive and will retain 20%.

'Nope! dont think so. We are "persona non grata" Im afraid.

gostwyck · « **Reply #19 on:** January 01, 2011, 12:51 »

Quote from: lagereek on January 01, 2011, 12:41

Quote from: lisafx on December 31, 2010, 15:26
I will be very surprised if there is a single person who is non-exclusive and will retain 20%.
'Nope! dont think so. We are "persona non grata" Im afraid.

Actually Laflor just announced on the IS thread that Yuri had achieved the RC level to keep his 20%. That pretty much proves what we all suspected that the RC levels were carefully designed to ensure at least one person would reach the highest level.

That's obviously why they left announcing them until September when they could project them with reasonsable accuracy __ otherwise why would they choose a number like '1,400,000' for example? They knew they couldn't make it a nice round number like 1.5M because no-one would have made it.

Congrat's to Yuri though! At an average of say 5 RC's per sale he must have been selling in excess of 23K licenses per month. Staggering, especially in today's market.

SNP · « **Reply #20 on:** January 01, 2011, 13:22 »

Quote from: sjlocke on January 01, 2011, 10:50

Quote from: NitorPhoto on December 31, 2010, 16:41
I am a non-ex. I leaped the limit for 19% on 27th of Dec... huh, that was close!
I am losing 1% which is a 5% cut. Since new uploads are not selling, IS has fallen back to the last position in my uploading queue. It means I do not upload there too many new images anymore. They do not care, I do not care.... status quo.

Love to see your portfolio.

visit his profile and use the URL he has provided. his portfolio is quite beautiful. to be honest I thought he was exaggerating his numbers, but seeing his work, they're probably true.

caspixel · « **Reply #21 on:** January 01, 2011, 13:30 »

Quote from: gostwyck on January 01, 2011, 12:51

Actually Laflor just announced on the IS thread that Yuri had achieved the RC level to keep his 20%. That pretty much proves what we all suspected that the RC levels were carefully designed to ensure at least one person would reach the highest level.

That's obviously why they left announcing them until September when they could project them with reasonsable accuracy __ otherwise why would they choose a number like '1,400,000' for example? They knew they couldn't make it a nice round number like 1.5M because no-one would have made it.

Congrat's to Yuri though! At an average of say 5 RC's per sale he must have been selling in excess of 23K licenses per month. Staggering, especially in today's market.

And considering he's everywhere. Good on him!

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This year is about to end, and so has our chance to collect "redeemed credits". Are you an exclusive or non-exclusive, and what will happen to your royalty percentage. Note that there is no option for NON-Exclusive and rising percentage because

Author Topic: What will happen to your iStock royalty percentage? (Read 9555 times)

Perry

ShadySue

lisafx

NitorPhoto

aeonf

NitorPhoto

aeonf

NitorPhoto

BaldricksTrousers

sharpshot

ayzek

NitorPhoto

traveler1116

aeonf

ShadySue

Sean Locke Photography

Maui

PeterChigmaroff

lagereek

gostwyck

SNP

caspixel

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