Pixy Loo? Are you taking the piss ? (pun intended  )

The name might frown some brows in the UK

ohhhh here it is .. the dreaded moment when you first announce something new Before I do though - I�d like to give out a special thank you to Sean Locke, Jo Ann Snover, Leaf & ShadySue. We used a lot of feedback from photographers & buyers and those of you here on MSG that I talked to have been a big help. Your thoughts were greatly appreciated and we hope to hear more from you.

Ok I�m going to give the super fast breakdown based on the common concerns and then everybody can feel free to drill me with any questions. First off, I'd like to introduce PIXYLOO

Royalties :: 40% Should be 50%for non-exclusivity. There will also be an exclusive option with higher royalties & benefits but that�s being added further down the road.

Subscriptions :: We do not support the industries sub model strategy. We will offer two RF base options � web $10 / print $25 .. Extended Add-ons range from $75-$500 � Image Dimension also plays no role in pricing therefore the minimum image size accepted is 8.6MP (3200x2400px).

Stockfresh got clobbered because of their limited subscription model, so they went all-in, meaning that any size is now available with subscription. They claim, and I agree, that buyers are now accustomed to sub models and while they offered subs, the program wasn't good enough. I don't see how you will survive without them, but I support you fully by trying to change that horrible sub mentality. Subs are good for the company but piss poor for us contributors.

Ease of Uploading :: Right now it�s super easy. Make sure that you have IPTC data filled out & send us the batches. We will take care of the rest for you.

Signing Up :: It�s by invite only. You will need to apply for consideration. So what is the criteria? What are you looking for? By being selective, in my mind, means you have a specific look you are seeking. Obviously you won't be competing on isolated tomato images. This is important. You need to be clear on what you are looking so we won't waste our time applying, or, conversely, will spend time optimistically applying.

Review Times :: Let�s face it, review times have been an on-going complaint from contributors on all the agencies for the last 14 years. I�m not going to BS anyone by saying how fast PIXYLOO review times will be. In fact, we�re going to �intentionally� take longer because we are not moving forward with the standard review system that has been used by most of the micro agencies. We want to focus more on quality of service and less on how fast we can reach 40 bazillion images online. If you're being selective on contributors you shouldn't have the 40 bazillion image problem, but then you are either a specialty agency targeting a certain market or a me too agency who will be unable to compete with those agencies who do have 40 bazillion images. Another key point is that there are other agencies, like Stockfresh, who cannot compete with other micros, so being a specialty agency, competing with the likes of Stocksy, might be the only way to win.

Marketing :: I�m not going into detail about our marketing plan but it does involve us initially giving away all of our profits upfront to buyers for them to generate sales on your images. We will also be marketing directly to a pre-existing list of buyers when we exit the pre-launch phase. PIXYLOO is a new stock agency but there's several decades of experience behind it.
Not to be a buzz killer but Stockfresh had a lot of experience behind it, too. They are a dud agency. Just saying. The real challenge is that this is a supply and demand business, like any business, and there is a sh!t load of supply already, cheap and very good quality. That will be a very challenging mountain to climb for "just another micro", so I hope your differentiator can overcome the micro stock market forces.

Just a quick touch on some other things to give you an idea of where we're going .. we plan on focusing a lot on community & education through the blog & youtube. We will also be putting effort into features (beyond a typical forum) that encourages communication between buyers & sellers on a local level. If a buyer in your area is looking to contract a job out to a local artist, we want to make that process as easy as possible and where you can profit 100% from the opportunity. That's just one way we want to help our contributors grow their businesses beyond selling stock should they choose to. There�s also the PIXYLOO Freedom of Speech policy which states that when the forums go live anyone who alters a contributors negative comment about PIXYLOO to read �comment removed by admin� will be severely beaten about the head. I absolutely cannot stand seeing agencies do that .. if we�re called out publicly on a mistake - you�re going to see us publicly take responsibility and make things right. We�re not going to play that game of censoring comments and deleting threads that don�t praise our actions. Honesty & Integrity is very important to our business model. We have a lot of ideas and a solid foundation to build them on.

Ok, questions? Feedback? Go take a peek at PIXYLOO and tell us what you think. We are always open to ideas. Keep in mind that we are in pre-launch and not currently marketing to buyers. So, you might come across a bug or two. If you want to be in our very first round of contributors, make sure to visit the Call to Artists.

I went traveling after I got your email, and forgot to respond, so above are my initial thoughts.  Micro stock is on a critical mass downward spiral in terms of contributor royalties and agency honesty, integrity and trust. It will be very hard to compete in this bubble in a way that drives success and good partnerships, but I am behind you.

Overall that sounds pretty good.
One remark though: Minimum resolution of 8.6 MP excludes a lot of very usable content. I have been shooting several years with a (8.2 MP) Canon 30d, so all that content would not be usable at your site.
Other than that: Are you looking for any special content or special look? Or will you be accepting a broad spectrum of content?

That was decided because it comes out to an 8x12 at 300 dpi which allows for a perfect magazine cover with a 1/2 safety margin .. and I can't count how many times I've been asked to resend a client a file because they didn't think they could use an image if it wasn't just a hair bigger. You would think that all art directors could resize an image faster than sending an email request. 
As for your 8.2MP images .. simply run them through a batch image process in Photoshop or export them out of Lightroom at 3600. Provided the images were sharp to begin with, that small increase is honestly not going to hurt the quality.

We do not want to limit the entire collection to a certain look or just the current trend. We're interested in a broad range of images. For example .. fades & sun flares are a fad now and we'll accept them but we also want images that will be popular 5 - 10 years down the road.

Dixi is a loo, even better 

I went traveling after I got your email, and forgot to respond, so above are my initial thoughts.  Micro stock is on a critical mass downward spiral in terms of contributor royalties and agency honesty, integrity and trust. It will be very hard to compete in this bubble in a way that drives success and good partnerships, but I am behind you.

We went with 40% because out of our commission, we�re going to be initially using 10% for core expenses and then giving the rest back to the buyers to stimulate sales. The more we give back to buyers .. the more they�re going to spend .. which goes back into the contributors pockets. We also need to have enough of a buffer between non-exclusive % and the exclusive benefits once we put those into place .. or else there would be no �real� advantage to being exclusive. Of course once the buyer base is established and stable it�s more of an issue of what�s going to make our contributors happy and still be sustainable. You can always make people happy by giving them a raise later .. it�s when a business start out too generous and has to make temporary cutbacks later that gets people steaming.

Yes, the entire subscription issue is an annoying hurdle. To be perfectly blunt, the sub model should have never been created in the first place. Obviously, not the creation of anyone who has ever worked a day as a professional photographer. Too late now .. but we will not encourage them. Not only does the sub model insult the photographer .. it rips off the buyer, who typically doesn�t max their downloads due to fluctuating workloads and the fact that 2 days of the week they�re not even in the office. The only ones who benefit are the agencies who offer them � get paid for a sale without delivering a product or paying royalties on the sale. I know we could profit a lot more by offering them but the fact that I shoot for a living and my personal ethics won�t allow it.

Honestly, those who get in from the beginning are going to have the advantage. Do buyers need that image of an isolated tomato? Most definitely and we want to make that available for them. Are we going to continue accepting thousands of isolated tomatoes for the next decade? Nope.
We�re going to bring in new photographers in phases. The ones now are going to have a lot more flexibility in what they upload than those who join a year from now.

No, we don�t expect a problem with the 40 bazillion images issue anytime in the near future. LOL .. I�ve sat down with designers and content providers and a common complaint is that they can�t find what they�re looking for quickly because there�s simply too much crap to wade through. Back to that isolated tomato .. how long does it take to find the image you want for a project when you have to sit there browsing though page after page after page of tomatoes that all pretty much look identical. We don�t want to offer designers 50,000 images of tomatoes to choose from. We want them to search tomato and be given a decently sized yet diverse selection of quality tomato shots that they can quickly choose from and get back to work on their project. The designer is happy because we�ve taken away their frustration and the companies CFO is happy because their staff isn�t wasting man hours.

I don�t want to use Stockfresh as an example because I have nothing to do with them and I don�t wish to speak negatively about any of the agencies for that matter. However, I think a great example to get my point across is simply using photography studios in general. For the last decade my wife & I have owned a portrait studio in our metro area. I don�t even bother counting the competing studios in this city anymore .. there are literally thousands of them here within a 30 mile radius who charge a fraction of what we do � we know people who have had their all day wedding shot for 50 bucks. However, we still shoot more clients every year than 99% of them and commonly have portrait clients drive up to 2 1/2 hours to get here. My point being it is possible to operate successfully without even trying to compete with everybody. One of the things that made our studio one of the top studios in the region was not entirely our skilled experience but the human experience we created for our clients .. that�s something we want to bring to PIXYLOO.

and thanks for your detailed feedback .. it's greatly appreciated.

Applied.

I assume you're not offering vectors?

So I read this thread for nothing? Bleh.

And question #2: How do I communicate to you, in my application on your web site, that the body of work you'll see of mine on agency XYZ is older and doesn't necessarily represent what I'd submit to you?

Applied. I'm hopeful and we need new players to shake things up!

Based purely on the honesty and quality of what you've written in this thread, I'm actually tempted to give you a chance as a contributor! Are you available for in-person meetings if I should stop by while in town?

I hear the word meeting and instantly get bored LOL .. just bring your camera and we'll go shoot something cool 

And question #2: How do I communicate to you, in my application on your web site, that the body of work you'll see of mine on agency XYZ is older and doesn't necessarily represent what I'd submit to you?

Is your portfolio extremely out of date compared to the work you do now? If it is, go ahead and include the link anyway and then either PM here or shoot me a message through the PIXYLOO support page with any other links you have to something more current even if it's a smaller collection on Flickr or your own website.

Royalties :: 40% for non-exclusivity.

I`m out. Anything below 50% is not acceptable for a newcomer.

Further thoughts:

1. No offical information displayed: Who are you? What is your VAT number? Where is your company registered? Do you give official invoices? Hiding behind a nice website was possible 10 years ago. Today its a nogo. Looks like the domain is registered to Randy McKown.
2. Nice concept.
3. You might consider changing your name.