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Author Topic: yuri arcurs is IS exclusive  (Read 146041 times)

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gillian vann

  • *Gillian*
« Reply #100 on: May 18, 2013, 05:27 »
+2
no discussion on the iS forums about this.


« Reply #101 on: May 18, 2013, 05:29 »
+4
Maybe the warm welcome thread is in the exclusive forum  ;)

Anybody ready to bet istock didnt know this was coming?

« Reply #102 on: May 18, 2013, 05:58 »
+2
Hi Guys.
We have found a good distribution partner (Getty Images) for the kind of content we produce. We will be removing all images from microstock doing the next few weeks. Microstock, especially subscription sites, are not suited for the kind of high production cost images we produce.
Best Yuri

BTW, I was looking at peopleimages, and I'd say half of the newest images are very simple one person, isolated-on-white.  Businesswoman, doctor, shopping bags, repetitive, pointing here, pointing there, pointing up, etc.  Don't you feel that is simple "microstock"/low production cost work?

Also, I see a few recent series that seem very "inspired".

is the microstock business still sustainable if even Yuri cant stay in biz ? that's THE question, and his answer is NO !

Maybe he's done in the biz.  Looking at the recents, it really seems like the work is being phoned in or being done by trainees, so perhaps this is the move to sell out and move on to retirement!

The most likely scenario, IMO.  Might just want to simplify his life.  Might be a case of burnout.

« Reply #103 on: May 18, 2013, 06:08 »
0
Im (a currently not very happy) exclusive iStock photographer and to be honest, I dont care that much. Actually the contrary. I really thought that iStock didnt value exclusivity anymore. If this move is more than a joke or bug, it gives at least hope that they still do. It will give iStock some publicity and with it all our portfolios, which is a good thing.
Reading Yuris post, I guess theyll put all his work into the new higher collections and (beside other things) he made a deal that they will never drop them into the "value collection", even if some of them dont sell for years. That way he has all his files sent over to Getty. I guess he will also get the same mass ingestion process that all the content comming from getty gets, and you cant blame anybody - thats just business. VIPs always get the better deal no matter what. They buy less for their cars, food,...
To me this is a wakeup call for all out there who thought that they can live without agencies and sell their work on their own site. Im not an iStock fanboy, but the agencies keep the majority of our sales for a reason, even if it sometimes is too much especially for non exclusive content. Maybe not even Yuri has enough money, manpower and publicity to make his own site worth all the effort and pay for his bills in the longrun.
And btw: some of Yuris "trainiees" are iStock exclusives for years, and it was his recommendation.

« Reply #104 on: May 18, 2013, 06:18 »
+8
Yep, actually if you think about it, yuri bacame 'exclusive' when it won't matter much anymore. 

Tryingmybest

  • Stand up for what is right
« Reply #105 on: May 18, 2013, 06:40 »
+3
Yep, actually if you think about it, yuri bacame 'exclusive' when it won't matter much anymore.

It could be those sunglasses patent lawsuit also. If he's exclusive, I think he'll greatly reduce the chances of getting caught up with those kinds of hassles.  8)

« Reply #106 on: May 18, 2013, 06:58 »
+5
This is actually great news for people who create similar content for microstock sites.


On the other hand, anyone who thinks they can kinda 'force' buyers to pay more by some business judo move, in the current environment will be severely dissappointed, I can assure you of that. I worked at several BTL / ATL agencies, often next to the actual owners or ceos and in daily contact with marketing people. Even when they weren't squeezed nearly as bad as in the current economy, they were so aggressively pushing cots down all the time it was warlike. You showed them a price on anything a notch higher than their expectations, they instantly turned their back and never ever even looked at it again. Everything is just click away and they have many choices.

I work for a $2 billion company and they use SS and used to use Istock.  I asked them about Getty several times and their answer is always the same: why would I pay that much when I can get the same thing or better on SS?

« Reply #107 on: May 18, 2013, 07:12 »
0
This is actually great news for people who create similar content for microstock sites.


On the other hand, anyone who thinks they can kinda 'force' buyers to pay more by some business judo move, in the current environment will be severely dissappointed, I can assure you of that. I worked at several BTL / ATL agencies, often next to the actual owners or ceos and in daily contact with marketing people. Even when they weren't squeezed nearly as bad as in the current economy, they were so aggressively pushing cots down all the time it was warlike. You showed them a price on anything a notch higher than their expectations, they instantly turned their back and never ever even looked at it again. Everything is just click away and they have many choices.

I work for a $2 billion company and they use SS and used to use Istock.  I asked them about Getty several times and their answer is always the same: why would I pay that much when I can get the same thing or better on SS?

This is the grave we dug ourselves. Without any doubt, they would gladly pay more, not probably the Getty or Corbis prices, but yes the pay per download microstock prices. But if people allows to sell their work for subs cents they take the opportunity, and image buying in his budget comes to 0,0001 %. Almost zero. Probably, they spend more paying the person who cleans the toilets.
« Last Edit: May 18, 2013, 07:14 by loop »

« Reply #108 on: May 18, 2013, 07:15 »
0
This is actually great news for people who create similar content for microstock sites.


On the other hand, anyone who thinks they can kinda 'force' buyers to pay more by some business judo move, in the current environment will be severely dissappointed, I can assure you of that. I worked at several BTL / ATL agencies, often next to the actual owners or ceos and in daily contact with marketing people. Even when they weren't squeezed nearly as bad as in the current economy, they were so aggressively pushing cots down all the time it was warlike. You showed them a price on anything a notch higher than their expectations, they instantly turned their back and never ever even looked at it again. Everything is just click away and they have many choices.

I work for a $2 billion company and they use SS and used to use Istock.  I asked them about Getty several times and their answer is always the same: why would I pay that much when I can get the same thing or better on SS?

This is the grave we dug ourselves. Without any doubt, they would gladly pay more, not probably the Getty or Corbis prices, but yes the pay per download microstock prices. But if people allows to sell their work for subs cents they take the opportunity, and image buying in his budget comes to 0,0001 %. Almost zero.

They would pay more, they used to pay more when MS wasn't around.  They are now conditioned to cheap imagery.  Where we contributors get more hosed is the poor commissions from total those MS sales. As you state, the lower the prices go the less we make and most if not all MS sites compete on price, GL & P5 being the basic exceptions.

« Reply #109 on: May 18, 2013, 08:23 »
+1
This is good news for Getty and iStock, not so good news for other Exclusives who are subject to very restrictive rule that others appear to be exempt from.

If they made this 'image exclusive' deal available to everybody then I'm sure they could keep Exclusivity viable. Unfortunately falling sales numbers mean artist exclusivity will become uneconomical in the not too distant future, even if the return per download stays high.
He is taking his images off of all the microstock sites so it may not be that special of a deal in that regard.  Also isn't it ok to have a business and personal account as long as similars and sisters aren't on both?  His peopleimages site also might be changed to only images that he didn't create, I thought he had other photogs working there.
« Last Edit: May 18, 2013, 08:28 by tickstock »

« Reply #110 on: May 18, 2013, 08:38 »
+10
I think it's quite ok with Yuri moving on, can't blame him.

He grew his company to a considerable size using several shooters, nice locations... the whole shebang.

His equipment and image quality is in most cases miles ahead compared to the average microstock shooter can produce with the "little" means they have.

Yuri is a businessman who decided to find a better home for his high cost production content and by nature this cannot be microstock. I can see that.

However, this has nothing to do with an "end of microstock". In fact it will open up better revenue again for top quality producers in microstock because many (micro) customers will not switch to Getty in order to buy Yuri's stuff so they have to look for comparable images from other contributors.

I think that's a good thing. It also takes the pressure off that we have to shoot with 60MP Hasselblads so we can sell those images at 25-38 cents at Shutterstock - which didn't make sense to me in the first place.

I don't see anything special happening. Yuri is going his way and besides some groupies screaming of joy that he joined "the herd", nothing, absolutely nothing else will change.

Good luck to him.

« Reply #111 on: May 18, 2013, 08:43 »
+4
This is good news for Getty and iStock, not so good news for other Exclusives who are subject to very restrictive rule that others appear to be exempt from.

If they made this 'image exclusive' deal available to everybody then I'm sure they could keep Exclusivity viable. Unfortunately falling sales numbers mean artist exclusivity will become uneconomical in the not too distant future, even if the return per download stays high.
He is taking his images off of all the microstock sites so it may not be that special of a deal in that regard.  Also isn't it ok to have a business and personal account as long as similars and sisters aren't on both?  His peopleimages site also might be changed to only images that he didn't create, I thought he had other photogs working there.

Hmm, do you think if you or I tried that 'business account' and 'personal account' trick to upload to multiple sites we'd last very long?

There's no getting round it, they change the rules to suit themselves whilst grinding the rest of us down.

« Reply #112 on: May 18, 2013, 08:48 »
0
If it's a trick then it probably wouldn't work.  He did say he's taking his images off the microstock sites and we haven't heard what is happening to his website so maybe he isn't really going to have images at multiple sites?

« Reply #113 on: May 18, 2013, 08:50 »
+1
blendimages has the exact same images on getty, their own site and even on shutterstock.

Getty also distributes files you send to them to many, many agencies, including corbis, master file, f1online etc...so having files only on getty is just not what getty does. They move the stuff around.

« Reply #114 on: May 18, 2013, 08:55 »
0
blendimages has the exact same images on getty, their own site and even on shutterstock.

Getty also distributes files you send to them to many, many agencies, including corbis, master file, f1online etc...so having files only on getty is just not what getty does. They move the stuff around.
I don't think that's what fotovoyager was talking about.  Doesn't anyone who contributes to Getty RF have their images put into different places? 

« Reply #115 on: May 18, 2013, 09:01 »
+3
deleted

this should no longer be my concern

back to shooting and uploanding
« Last Edit: May 18, 2013, 09:05 by cobalt »

« Reply #116 on: May 18, 2013, 09:06 »
0
Right I'm saying that isn't a special deal that only Yuri gets anyone that contributes to Getty RF will have their work on different sites.  I'm pretty sure fotovoyager was talking about peopleimages or some other site that Yuri directly contributes to.

« Reply #117 on: May 18, 2013, 09:14 »
+5
you guys keep missing the bus !

the world's top microstocker just announced he's leaving the boat before it sinks, if microstock was on Nasdaq it would lose 90% of its value in a day !

try to see the situation from a financial and technical analysis perspective, please.

the message is very clear here : he's got his own agency, he's selling his whole portfolio on dozens of different agencies, and he reached the conclusion that he's barely paying the bill considering his production costs and the meagre fees paid by micro agencies.

is the microstock business still sustainable if even Yuri cant stay in biz ? that's THE question, and his answer is NO !
Yuri was doing incredibly well.  He boasted in an article that he was making millions each year.  He wants to make even more.  So Getty must have paid him or I don't think he would be doing this.  So all your facts are wrong as usual.  Just because you want Yuri to be barely paying the bill doesn't make it a fact.  At any time he could of cut his costs to zero and just made millions each year from his portfolio for the rest of his life.  He's obviously more ambitious than that.

If you wanted to have any idea about the financial side of this business, you would do some research and use some actual facts instead of just making up what you would like to happen.

« Reply #118 on: May 18, 2013, 09:33 »
+11
Yuri was doing incredibly well.  He boasted in an article that he was making millions each year.  He wants to make even more.  So Getty must have paid him or I don't think he would be doing this.  So all your facts are wrong as usual.  Just because you want Yuri to be barely paying the bill doesn't make it a fact.  At any time he could of cut his costs to zero and just made millions each year from his portfolio for the rest of his life.  He's obviously more ambitious than that.

If you wanted to have any idea about the financial side of this business, you would do some research and use some actual facts instead of just making up what you would like to happen.

Hmmm. You say that but Yuri can't even afford to operate in his own country. He's had to leave his home in the idyllic country of Denmark (by many reports about the nicest place on earth to live) to set up shop in crime-ridden South Africa. By his own admission he can't afford the costs of doing business and paying taxes in Denmark.

Now he's even sold his soul to the devil and climbed into bed with Getty.

Wealth is supposed to bring freedom and choices isn't it? Seems to me that Yuri's 'wealth' has made him a prisoner of his own ambition and greed.

« Reply #119 on: May 18, 2013, 09:46 »
+1
I know people that live in South Africa and would never move to Denmark.  Yuri wouldn't be the first person to move country to pay less tax.  While I don't have the ambitious streak Yuri does, I wouldn't say he is a prisoner of his own ambition and greed.  It looks to me that he really enjoys what he is doing and that's the most important thing.  If he ever gets bored, he can close everything down and live off his portfolio.  I'd love to be in that position.

« Reply #120 on: May 18, 2013, 09:54 »
+2
If we are touting prognostication powers, I'm nominating Cobalt...

It is very interesting news for independents and maybe people with very special content can now make deals with getty to have their content placed even higher than before.
I'm wondering if that is the real future. As contributors pull away, will these sites have to invite them back through side deals? If so, my phone is available for calls.  ;D

aspp

« Reply #121 on: May 18, 2013, 10:04 »
0
If he ever gets bored, he can close everything down and live off his portfolio.

Like most stock photos of people his portfolio, if frozen, would have a relatively limited shelf life. Styles change quickly. Not just the fashions. He is a bright guy so I would expect to see him start producing work with a completely different look and feel.

I think it is sad the amount of nastiness and silly speculation which his move has generated here. Well played and good luck would be a much nicer reaction.

« Reply #122 on: May 18, 2013, 10:15 »
+12
Anyone who hoped Yuri will, could, would do anything with his market power to support the contributor community will be sorely disappointed.

sorry but Yuri was never there for community (ever), its all about show off, getting the best deal and of course distract all competition so he can carry on shooting/uploading to iStock etc etc

you can see many top contributors regularly posting here and actually doing something for microstock not Yuri, kudos to them!

lisafx

« Reply #123 on: May 18, 2013, 10:29 »
+12
you guys keep missing the bus !

the world's top microstocker just announced he's leaving the boat before it sinks, if microstock was on Nasdaq it would lose 90% of its value in a day !

try to see the situation from a financial and technical analysis perspective, please.

the message is very clear here : he's got his own agency, he's selling his whole portfolio on dozens of different agencies, and he reached the conclusion that he's barely paying the bill considering his production costs and the meagre fees paid by micro agencies.

is the microstock business still sustainable if even Yuri cant stay in biz ? that's THE question, and his answer is NO !

Actually, I don't see this as a repudiation of microstock.  I see it as a repudiation of the factory production model in microstock

When microstock began, it was small, individual contributors with low production costs, producing a few thousand images at most.  The appeal was the low cost and the variety that all those small individual portfolios together provided. 

At the time, the big players with high production values were in RM and macro RF, where they belonged.  Buyers who wanted that level of images understood they had to pay a premium for them.  Microstock was for the buyers who just wanted "good enough" at a low price. 

Huge factories like Yuri, Monkeybusiness, etc. upset the balance for everybody, by flooding the micro market with tens of thousands of images that probably didn't belong at that price point in the first place.  And Yuri has obviously discovered that YURI's production model doesn't work for micro.  I expect Cathy Yeulet, Andres Rodriquez, and maybe a few other big factories will eventually come to the same conclusion. 

Perhaps after this period of rebalancing occurs, the market will settle back to mass produced HPV images being sold at high prices, and LPV, inexpensive images by mom & pop producers will once again dominate the micro sites. 

« Reply #124 on: May 18, 2013, 10:30 »
+5
"if microstock was on Nasdaq it would lose 90% of its value in a day !"

Lets see what happens to Shutterstock shares on Monday. If you are that confident you could short sell and make $$$$$$s somehow I suspect you wont be doing that


 

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