The Nikon might look better on paper but the video image is full of aliasing and even some moire. 

I'm not impressed by the 5D 3 for Video either, for stills its great. To bad they decided to charge as much as a video and still camera in one.

The lack of a swivel screen, lack of 60p at 1080 and the price will steer me away from it. 

Step 1) Promise to grandfather contributors and get their hopes up.

Step 2) Introduce RC Scheme after people complain about the first iteration; maximize profit while revenues for contributors drop as time goes on due to competition, buyer migration and site growth.

At least they decided to copy a model that already existed so they are not in uncharted waters.

Step 3) Fire people that are on the non essential creative and review teams?  Time will tell!

I find it hard to see any positives to contributors on this move.  

I give 123rf props about rolling the news 10 months before the date instead of four, that makes it somewhat original.

Unless its a file by file option I don't see this working.  All off on default and hand picked ones for this use.  That would work ok and save a bunch of headaches.

I am in a very close situation to the OP...

However I have not experienced that huge a drop in sales as he explained.  I contribute to every media type with over 1500 videos. The RC did cut my income by 34% over night and I have seen a slide in sales ever since.

My advice is: Put a time limit in your portfolio to perform or fail at iStock. If it gets better stick around and work your ass off, if the downside continues try Non Exclusivity and if non of it works then change your strategy and or career while doing this as a hobby on the side.

For trying non exclusivity be sure to have a pre-emptive plan that has most of your content live or metadata filled on other top sites first. It will be suicide to move without having firm ground.

In the end you can always return to Exclusivity if you feel it serves you better. 

As long as you have your health it serves you nothing to worry and maybe fall into a stress related panic attack or opportunistic disease.  It goes without saying that times look hard ahead but things have a way of working out in the end. 

Wish you the best in your decision.

I'm experiencing the same. One terrific day and one or two sub par days and the cycle repeats. If it stays like that I guess it creates a better estimate of sales than a completely random download number like before.

That is genuinely hilarious.  Even if they willingly tried to create copy to sabotage customers or contributors they couldn't have done a better job. 

In the interest of fairness I decided to post in the HQ thread. But if its tampered or erased/edited out, I want to post it here for preservation.   Thanks!

______________________________
About 14 months ago the company made a decision to cut many of our royalties by large amounts in order to remain sustainable.

The company is still here be it because of that or other circumstances; however sales across the board have slowed from the smaller producer to the image factory entrepreneur.

With all the savings that were allocated from exclusives and non exclusives; what is being done to regain the trust of buyers and suppliers in order to once again be where the company 2 years ago proclaimed to be not only healthy but on top of the business with large growth.

We have been left in the dark regarding the state of the company, future prospects and leadership guidance that used to characterize iStock.  Every December- January Bruce and Kelly gave a sort of state of iStock message with lots of info regarding the company's performance, growth, success and decisions to carry it forward.

This time around we had to find out in 3rd party blogs that a significant part of the company was let go and after it was not contained we got an official message from HQ.

We as suppliers of content need to know where the ship is, where its headed and if its healthy for the voyage ahead.  We don't need exact figures, we need credible assurances by real people. We have been kept in the dark for so long that the trust we once possessed has almost extinguished.

So in concise terms:

How is the company doing?

What is being done to improve the bottom line of contributors?

What steps necessary are being considered to retain current buyers and attract new ones or those that searched elsewhere?

What value does exclusivity play in all of this, considering many of us have battered a pretty unreliable year?

What incentives are being considered to keep exclusives and attract non-exclusive content to iStock first, instead of the competition? Non exclusive search has been at the back with many withdrawing new uploads.

Has Video been affected by these changes and in what measure?  Can we expect better competitive pricing structures, editorial video and faster inspections that are competitive with other sites?

We all want a healthy company and an even healthier communication between the parts.   We contributors have patiently waited for your side to show interest in keeping us informed. We are all ears and are prepared to listen and understand current developments.

Thank you!
__________________________________________

Nice thread.   How is Alamy working for you that have portfolios over there? I have a couple of friends that haven't had a single sale for years. 

Quote from: cclapper on January 20, 2012, 02:15

Quote from: gostwyck on January 20, 2012, 00:51

Quote from: jamesbenet on January 19, 2012, 23:45
His beliefs and reputation will follow him, not related to iStock.  At least I think he fought for us all the way as long as he could. That is why he got the axe.

You can stick your faux sympathy where the sun doesn't shine. Thompson's 'beliefs and reputation' as well as his actions led to millions of dollars of commissions being diverted from contributors to Istock during his watch. He was in charge of Istock when they offered to 'grandfather' canister levels and then essentially went back on that a few months later. If he'd had genuinely 'fought for us' and not got his way then he should have resigned at the time. To not have done so, as the man in charge, meant he endorsed the changes (far more than his 'beliefs and reputation').

Under Thompson's watch the most damaging series of actions in Istock's history occurred and have resulted in the downfall of the immensely strong business he inherited. If he wasn't responsible for that then at very best he was a weak and ineffective COO promoted way beyond his capability and his level of courage. He's lost us all a lot of money. F*ck him.

I think jamesbenet was talking about JJRD, not Thompson. But I agree with all of your statements about Thompson above, for sure.

Yes I was talking about JJRD, Thomson is a whole other story.    Thomson was a manager under the Getty influence and his reality distortion and twisting were pretty contrarian to what Bruce and the old iStock were all about.   Every time he tried to fix things in a statement he shoveled deeper.   Wonder if the universe has some sort of justice system that is being served in his case.   I don't wish any of them wrong but I don't consider Kelly to be a friend of artists, he probably knew the grand plan years ago and steered the boat until it hit the rocks. He reminds me of the recent events with him jumping into the Getty lifeboat right after he saw the disaster, funny thing is the coastguard at Getty punched a big hole in his raft.

His beliefs and reputation will follow him, not related to iStock.  At least I think he fought for us all the way as long as he could. That is why he got the axe.

Wonder what kind of golden parachute Kelly got today?

If a book is ever written about all of this... I am interested in what Kelly might shed light into.  At least JJRD got out with his dignity and beliefs in place.  rogermexico seems to be one of the few original faces left, hope he is not forced to sell his soul or leave.

iStock resembles a red giant star in the final stages of collapse.   Shine bright and expand then sheds its content; then a cold core cinder remains at the center slowly cooling until there is nothing left.

I'm a firm believer that iStock will just become one more brand under the Getty main website such as the countless others.  They probably bought iStock with that in mind, dismantle the micro-stock model while at the same time milk it out of existence.  That would bring commissions to 25% or 20% across the board and prices probably will go up a bit or stay elevated.  If this turns out to be bad for the bottom line remains to be seen but it all points to iStock becoming less of an independent entity.

One thing I'm sure they see as a benefit is that iStock by being a Canadian company, enjoys a much lower regulation overhead and corporate tax than if it was based in the US.  Getty might just open a mailbox and registry in Switzerland and enjoy one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the world, folding all companies into the main Getty behemoth.

Quote
I get where you're coming from, but I have to admit that I've worked at jobs that I totally didn't believe in and were against my principles, because there weren't, at the times, any options, and I needed the job.  It eats away at you, you lose some self-respect -- but you also do what you have to do.  So if they weren't in a position that they could leave on principle -- and it's a lousy economy to do so -- I get that, and I feel for how they must have felt about it.    

Very well put, don't demonize the gears of the machine when the brain controller has got them cornered. In this economy I am sure many admins just avoided any confrontation to keep that paycheck. I can't blame them.

I know of many back end people over the years that have given their full effort to their jobs at iStock and if any of them are affected by this then... I am in solidarity and in support for them to find a job soon. Nothing is as black and white as it seems on the surface; plus we have no info only speculation at best right now.

Wow this really came out of left field...

Let me recap...

Getty Buys iStock
iStock Expands
Prices are raised a few times
iStock becomes fastest earning and growing Microstock
H&F Buys Getty/iStock
Bruce leaves
Prices raised a few more
iStock continues growth
best match changes every few weeks
Search problems abound
RC System takes away from contributors
Prices raised and tweaked
Buyers start to migrate Sales slow down
Many Exclusives break contract
Forums are no longer tolerant
Kelly Accepts new Position
More price tweaking
Forums are over moderated
Severe Site outage
Sales are slowing even more
Worst contributor stats in several years
Traffic takes a nose dive
Contributors are kept in the dark
Non Exclusives are sent to the back of the search
iStock Lays off several employees  Probably to boost profits.
No official HQ statement yet...

I probably missed a bunch of stuff but its very discouraging to hear these news.

All I can say is thank you to the employees that have received the news and the ones that are still at HQ doing their best to weather the storm.  I bet you all worked heavily to create what this place got to at it's peak. May you unfortunate find work early and with little downtime.

To be fair we as contributors are not owed any explanation for the layoffs or should be privy to the circumstances that created this event. But it would show some good will and communicative effort to give us some sort of outlook for the year which used to be an iStock tradition maybe even with why these layoffs were necessary.

Quote from: helix7 on January 13, 2012, 02:52

Maybe they were just the only ones who had the guts to leave, and a paycheck wouldn't convince them otherwise. Not that Bruce needed the money, of course. But he could have had a nice cushy job at Getty for a long time if he wanted it, and he opted to walk away.

Those who stayed apparently are comfortable with helping H&F get what they want, regardless of what it ends up costing everyone.

Bruce and Rob are a different kind of person with a different kind of character. They have ideals that are stronger than lust for golden riches.   For me the most disheartening thing was reading the posts by Admins when the whole RC discussion was happening and how they were forced to sell the plan as if it was their own reasoning of great fairness.

They wanted to keep their jobs but they lost a whole lot of good karma in that endeavor.   How things change in one short year and change... Wonder what will happen by next year, maybe it will be a completely different picture.

Very encouraging, hope you have an easy time extending your portfolio across the entire stock spectrum. Wish you much success in 2012.

My December was at 2006 levels which is quite pathetic.    Needless to say I am no happy crown holder.

I thought the interview was ok and a bit revealing to the future.

If you put yourself in the shoes of admins or Kelly they are doing quite ok in the company and climbing.  If you look at it through contributor eyes everything seems nasty especially if you've been affected by the changes.

In this economy who can really blame any of them for following the corporate road map. In the end its every man/woman for himself in this business.  The sooner you accept that fact the faster you will react to what will happen in the future.  Kelly is a success in Klein's and his own eyes. He got rewarded with a new VP job.  At this pace the guy could retire in 5-10 years without a care in the world.  Why would he want to honor the past promises when clearly what the future holds for him is quite rosy.  

While the plan is to sell less at a higher price while maximizing profits this is not uncommon in a capitalist enterprise.
What is uncommon is we contributors feeling betrayed and basing some unattainable expectations on the company. Sure they could do the right thing and get back on the do no evil footing but we all know that is probably a train that left the station long ago.  

If you haven't made up your mind of staying or leaving; I think it's a good a time as any to ponder that question.

I still believe iStock will be in the top tier for the foreseeable future. But it could go the same as Netflix, one stroke to many broke the camel's back.  Things can change in an instant and this could be a very different playing field 5-10 years from now.  

Choose wisely!

The Lytro camera released today outputs 11 megarays or around 1 Megapixel with 1080px on its height. No word on the width but I'm betting 1200px.   Hardly stock material. 

In a few generations it will be an incredible tool in the arsenal but right now it is pretty useless besides net pic sharing.  In Macro imaging and microscopy where you usually have to layer and merge several depth exposures this camera could revolutionize those markets.

Lets hope the technology survives until it matures in the market.  I have a Lytro order option right now that lapses in a week. Somehow I don't think it is enough resolution to buy it.   At 3MP it would be a different story, 1MP is just too low.

I wonder what the end plan for iStock is in the Getty Universe.  I am guessing in Microstock they will probably concede and move to midstock.  I cant be to happy by the RC cut and the decreasing sales.   

With the mirrored content on partner sites based on lower cost it seems iStock could just survive as a cream of the crop image hosting site "Vetta, Agency" while 90% of the images leave and only prove available on lower cost pp sites.     

What is the possibility they turn the tide for the better and start fixing the bad decisions made since last year regarding contributors?   

I have no clue what the survey answers from thousands of us concerned might or might not do to change things.  My guess is they might be swiped under the rug, I hope that's not the case but considering the time it sure seems they will be useless stored data in a few months. 

Netflix got to feel the wrath of customers and iStock seems to be according to that US graph, not that far from the realization that they squandered the good will and loyalty of their customers and contributors for short term profit sheets.   I hope I'm wrong and this is just all based on a bad economy manifesting itself. 

I used macs for 12 years before switching to the PC mainly for availability of 3D Applications.  Macs have always been overpriced and over-hyped but I believe the legacy of Jobs lies in many of the unintended consequences of pushing the industry forward. I like macs but I rather have my family use them while I build a PC with copied GUI from Apple that runs everything I need at 1/2 the price and with all the software.

1) Jobs, Woz, Warnock made desktop publishing possible with the invention of the Mac.  Windows, Unix and Linux followed much much later.

2) The Apple II created the first computer that actually did something useful and introduced the masses to it.  The Altair was only for Uber geeks and it usually was a non working machine most of the time and it sold less than 5k machines.

3) Pixar:  3D animation had stagnated for a decade in high end workstations. Pixar created a huge boom with their Renderman and use of tech for entertainment. Its labs created many of the ideas and usability paradigms that define 3D design and animation today. They were not alone but by Jobs rescuing Pixar from Lucas Film before it closed its doors, created an avenue for entertainment that is in the billions now with thousands of jobs behind it.

4) Pixar single-handedly with Jobs and Lasseter revived Distey Studios into the fortress it is today. They were going bankrupt.

5) Changed the way we buy and access music in a legal way. iTunes may not have been the first, cheapest or most ideal solution but they pushed the market forward with a clear vision and it is still #1 today by a large margin.  I personally don't like it but the iPod changed everything. You can buy a cheaper player and get MP3s on it but you could always bootleg old cassette tapes from your friends and play them on your Matsushita player in the 80s. The Walkman however changed the way we listen to music the same as the iPod moved the way forward for clones to copy them off.

6) Smartphones were a mess before the iPod now we have Android and others competing but before it was painful at best. It jumped the industry almost a decade forward from lack of innovation and stagnation.

7) iPad is an evolution of the smartphone and the laptop. However no one made it as good or as useful before. Once again Steve jumped to the future with great style, usefulness and taste.

All in all you can say many things about Jobs but he was the spindle that moved technology forward and all others followed like sheep. That is his most important contribution, waking up the tech industry to the possibilities of what was already there by amalgamating technologies from different vendors and creating something deeply unique, useful and powerful.

and so on...  killing the floppy, USB, Flat panel monitor use..... 

30% drop with a 26% increase in portfolio size year over year.   It seems to echo many of the disappointing results here.

The RC downgrade did enough damage but these lower sales are just spilling more water on top of an already drenched bonfire.

My guess is that price increases + tons of customers going to the competition is whats making this cocktail. 

My fear is that now they might lower contributor cuts even more to make up for the revenue loss this probably caused "Considering lower sales for most high end contributors reporting".  They did it heavily once and we all know capitalism loves to double dip.

1080p HD Video at 30 frames with gyro stabilization.

8MP improved camera.   I am guessing it's a good enough device for shooting stock video and photos in bright light.   

The iPhone 5 will probably be around the corner early next year same as what happened with the 3G and 3Gs.

Good product same old design, playing it safe and boring.  I miss the Stevenote!

People like Yuri with the power to take a stand should do so in principle.  It might cost them a percentage that is not insignificant but it should send a clear message to management that you can't expect to beat contributors to a pulp and get away with it.

Even if they are receiving special treatment that should not deter them from doing what was right.

On iStock most of the big earners said nothing and continued on their way, since they were protected.

The problem of this industry is that the cohesion of the contributor base is as strong as the balance sheet at the end of the month. The competition which is everyone else is toxic to top earners so where is the incentive to help out?

In the end however even top earners will suffer from a downgrade as the tide of files gets so large that their current advantage/upload ratio wont be sufficient to continue earning as much. By then it will be too late and some stock sites might collapse.

They know that they can act this way because we are all rats in a maze waiting to take the only piece of cheese, why share a big piece?   Competitiveness at its best.  

John Nash's "A Beautiful Mind"  economic theories are all based in cooperative play for a final improvement of conditions, if you work together for a better goal it will prove better in the long run for the individual.  Nobel prize of economics.  Seems we are playing deaf to that kind of thinking. Too bad!

Interesting thread and topic... Ive had pretty bad sales for September, quite unusual and I think Ive pinpointed the cause:

(Bad Karma)^2 [(Microstock Model) (Bruce Leaving) (Getty)] + [(Higher Prices)(Economic Crisis)]
_________________________________________________________________________________ = iStock '11

                        [(Competition)(Bad Word Of Mouth) (Best Match) ^3] - (Redeemed Credit System) ^2