Go back in time and see what the microstock agencies looked like when they launched
Here's an excerpt from Fotolia's main page back in 2005:

Photographer Benefits
Photographers set their own price
Fastest image review
Highest commission in the industry ( up to 80%)
International sales in 4 languages
100% of uploaded images are online and generate revenue




Some of a deal you had back then. I started in late 2008, so I never knew this side of Fotolia. Here's the link:
http://www.archive.org/web/web.php