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Messages - Sadstock

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152
But iS is pretty sure that after few days or weeks of screaming and shouting on forums contributors will calm down again and nothing will happen. Few contributors will leave, few will stop uploading and show goes on…

No __ I think this will prove to be a game-changer, for both Getty and Istock, and it will have significant long-term detrimental consequences for both.

Remember the RC fiasco in September 2011? That was massive then and it still is today (as RR found out when she tried to give us all a little pep-talk recently). Overnight the RC announcement completely changed the relationship between Istock and it's content providers and, if anything, that relationship has worsened not healed over time. You can also directly relate the steady fall in sales at Istock from Sept 2010. Don't forget they actually had to adjust the original 'RC targets' because Q4/2010 sales dropped so rapidly and unexpectedly.

This is not just affecting Istock contributors either. What about all the Getty photographers, agencies and other major players within the industry who are (hopefully) just waking up to the fact that Getty has sold their valuable assets to Google for a tiny fraction of their worth? How are they going to react? Oh no, trust me __ this one has LEGS.

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Totally agree this one is a game changer.  I dropped my crown, something I never thought I'd do, because of what happened in Sept 2010.  Many others have done the same, and clearly this and the negative publicity hurt Istock. 

This is another in that same universe.  If they stick with this very long, I don't see how I can stick around.  Got to figure others will make the same decision.  And again the negative publicity is going to kill Istock, even if it takes a little while for the momentum to build.

153
The terms in this deal - Wow - Just Wow.  Getty thinks this will work?  Thinks the contributor agreement gives them the authority to license our work this way?  Thinks people will stick around for this?  wow...

154
One possible avenue to go after Istock/Getty and/or Google might be the removal of metadata and distribution of these images without metadata which seems to be inconsistent with Istock/Getty’s and Google’s obligations under the EU’s InfoSoc Directive and the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). 

http://picworkflow.com/blog/microstock/do-microstock-agencies-violate-photographers-dmca-copyright/

http://www.microstockgroup.com/general-stock-discussion/dreamstime-makes-a-good-change/msg225199/#msg225199

Note that Google usually gets to plead “ignorance” to things that are DMCA inconsistent like on bootleg video’s posted on YouTube since it was posted by somebody else, but in this case Google licensed the images and then made them available, so they are on the hook (if there is one).

156
Software - General / Re: Lightroom disaster - everything gone!
« on: January 07, 2013, 18:03 »
Glad it worked out!  Hopefully your catalogue and backup files are being written to two different drives, just in case one drive dies, you won't lose everything.

Kelby's book is fantastic and well worth reading even when not in a crisis. :D

157
Software - General / Re: Lightroom disaster - everything gone!
« on: January 07, 2013, 17:09 »
Sorry to hear it. 

Scott Kelby's books are the best for navigating your situation if you have a copy or you can run out to a bookstore. 

Try this link.  http://digital-photography-school.com/where-are-my-lightroom-files which will hopefully answer your question.

Did not watch this, but expect it would cover it. 
Lightroom 3.x and 4.x - backing up and managing catalogs & presets


Or

Lightroom 3: Backup Import Catalog


158
What do the 'Earnings Rating' figures actually mean, I take it it's not percentages?
Always puzzled me?

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It is complicated.  My understanding is that when Leaf started with this version of the ratings, he set the theoretical top earning site average earnings as $500.  The current results show the top earning site currently to be shutterstock with a score of 88.9, which I take to mean 88.9% of $500 or $444.50 reported average earnings for December.  Now my understanding gets a bit fuzzier, as I think the number 2 site’s score, in this case Istock with a score of 37.9, is a percentage of the number 1 sites earnings, 37.9% of $444.50 or $168.47.  If the number 2 site’s score is keyed off the original $500, then Istock earnings would be 37.9% of $500, or $189.50.   

159
Obviously not everyone has voted for December results yet, but it is pretty striking that Istock is below FT for the month at all.  Is it just that people are voting before the partner program results are in or are people really seeing their total IS income dropping below their FT earnings?

http://www.microstockgroup.com/index.php?page=PollResults

Note that Istock is still shown above FT on the right hand column poll results because Leaf uses a moving average, not just the results from the past month.

160
General Stock Discussion / Re: Where did Charl (CD123) go?
« on: December 31, 2012, 13:31 »
.

161
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Instagram can sell your pics under new t&c
« on: December 17, 2012, 17:15 »
Mighty generous of them  >:( 

162
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Nippyish note from Rebecca Rockafellar
« on: December 08, 2012, 11:34 »
It also makes me think of Mao's Hundred Flowers Campaign where criticism of the Chinese leadership was encouraged and then everyone who spoke up was thrown in jail. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Flowers_Campaign

163
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Note from Rebecca Rockafellar
« on: December 08, 2012, 11:26 »
I feel Rebecca is just the messenger. She is testing the water for her bosses. I wonder what is cooking for the new year.

Good possibility. The new owners may have finally looked under the hood of what they just bought and told her to fix the mess they just found. They thought they bought a vintage Ferrari they could flip for a profit and found out it's a bondo'd kit car.

Perception goes a long way toward success. Look at Apple.

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You could well be right Paulie.  I can imagine somebody at Carlyle taking a closer look at what is going on at Istock and saying W-T-F.  It sure does smack as desperation. 

164
I have a friend who runs a business with about 80 employees who sells items to the U.S. military.  He says business is good and he would like to hire more people but if the U.S. goes over the cliff, he expects he may have to furlough most of his employees, so he's certainly not going to hire anyone now.  Lots of other companies who conduct business with the U.S. government are in the same boat and no doubt, they are not using as much imagery as a result.  How big an impact this has currently, who knows.   

165
They also put in categories for me when I uploaded my initial batch.  Greatly appricated.

166
General Stock Discussion / Sean's Plan B?
« on: November 29, 2012, 21:54 »
Just saw this on Sean's blog http://seanlockephotography.com/2012/11/29/welcome-to-accordstock/.  Seems like a good idea to promote his brand and as he points out since the zoom on Istock is broken, he's set it up so that you can zoom on his Istock images though Accordstock.

But it also seems like a good start on a Plan B for him in case something really bad happens to Istock since Sean will have an established site that could start selling his images at the flip of a switch.  He also suggests that other contributors could in the future showcase their work on his site as well.  Could Sean be running his own agency someday?

If anyone hears about any Accordstock partner programs, let me know I'll add them to the list.
http://www.microstockgroup.com/general-stock-discussion/a-list-of-partner-programs/  ;D ;D ;D

167
General Stock Discussion / Re: A list of partner programs
« on: November 16, 2012, 18:58 »
It has been a while since I updated yet there are very few updates to add.

11-16-12 - Added Café Press to Big Stock
11-16-12 - Added Emma to Big Stock
11-16-12 - Added Alamy to Yaymicro
11-16-12 - Added Datacraft to Yaymicro
11-16-12 - Added Photokore to Yaymicro
11-16-12 - Added Age Fotostock to Zoonar
11-16-12 - Added Agefotostock/Kalium/Potassium to Veer
11-16-12 - Removed Mauritius Images from Zoonar
11-16-12 - Removed Photolibrary from Zoonar

168
General Stock Discussion / Re: A list of partner programs
« on: November 16, 2012, 18:56 »
I think your first post deserves a heart or 100 or so :)
Just went back and hearted it.

Thanks both Leaf and Jonathan.  Appreciate it.

169
The concern I have is that even if the manufacturer lose the suit in Denmark they could file suit in Japan, South Korea, Australia, Brazil, USA, Canada and just about anywhere else.  Each country has different laws and effectively the manufacturer only needs to win in one jurisdiction to force the micros, because of their license everywhere model, to remove all images with this company's glasses.

Is there actually an issue ? There are plenty of places to source rights issue free spectacle frames to use as props.


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I'm talking about Yuri's existing library of images not future shoots.  All the cost of producing/editing/keywording/uploading these images has already been incurred.   No further work is needed in order for these images to continue to produce revenue for Yuri's operation for some time to come.  (of course these images have a lifespan as well).  If Yuri loses in court, he might have to take down these images and/or pay damages for the images he has already licensed.  Who knows how much this might cost him.  Instead if he can pay a one-time licensing/extortion fee, he can continue to use the images and not face the uncertainty of a court decision. 

170
The concern I have is that even if the manufacturer lose the suit in Denmark they could file suit in Japan, South Korea, Australia, Brazil, USA, Canada and just about anywhere else.  Each country has different laws and effectively the manufacturer only needs to win in one jurisdiction to force the micros, because of their license everywhere model, to remove all images with this company's glasses.

I would settle.


171
General Stock Discussion / Re: iStock Something Is Wrong!!
« on: November 14, 2012, 13:04 »
50 is a pretty good rule of thumb as an upper limit.  Note that a number of sites limit the length  of titles so I try not to go over 40 characters. 

172
I met RM several times and he is a really great guy.  Hopefully he is moving onto better things.  Istock will be worse for his departure.

I will put a plug in for his novel which is a great story.
http://www.amazon.com/Milk-Chicken-Bomb-Andrew-Wedderburn/dp/1552451801/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352401533&sr=8-1&keywords=milk+chicken+bomb

173
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Why is iStockphoto tanking?
« on: October 24, 2012, 11:21 »
One of my many musings about what on earth Getty/Carlyle are up to is that they're trying to drive traffic to Getty and Thinkstock.

Yes, what on earth indeed? One wild thought I've had is that perhaps a Thinkstock subscription is worth more to Getty than we think. Perhaps the average TS subscriber spends as much per year as the average buyer of iStock credits does, while the cost of payouts to suppliers is very much smaller, especially considering that most subscriptions must be far from fully utilised.

Another musing of mine is that perhaps it's just retrograde old-school thinking at Getty. Getty managers must have loathed iStock for the six years it was the upstart eating away at their high-value sales. So now, rather than rejoice at having bought the top brand in stock imagery, they prefer to use iStock's traffic as a means of driving sales back to Getty (sigh of relief) and also down to a bargain-basement subscription site that their MBAs have somehow convinced themselves is the future of microstock.

I can imagine some suit standing up in front of a whiteboard to explain that the Getty group needed to achieve more clear-cut market segmentation, what with Getty RF being all muddied together with iStockphoto.

Alternatively, and just as (im)plausibly, the long-term plan is to merge Getty RF and iStockphoto under the Getty brand. So we will see more Getty images moving to iStock and iStock images moving to Getty (technology failures aside). Getty RF then becomes the midstock marketplace while Getty RM continues at the top end and Thinkstock mops up the cheap-n-cheerful market.

In fact, the price convergence between Getty RF (falling) and iStockphoto's upper tiers (rising) could well have been designed to facilitate just such a repositioning.


Yes it sounds like getty is force feeding customers and contributors gettys secret sauce.  It reminds me what anheuser busch did when they bought rolling rock brewery.  They shut down the brewery with special glass stills and moved to production to a janky budwiser plant not even located in the same sate.  Yet they still sell the same branded product.

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I think the other long term goal of getty is to cut the percentage they pay to contributors even more on Istock through the RC shell game. 

While my income from Istock in 2012 is on track to be similar to 2011, there has been a huge shift within that number to income from thinkstock rather than from IS.  If that trend continues, I doubt I will make enough RCs in 2013 to stay at the 17% level in 2014.  I imagine many other indies will be in the same boat. 


174
I leave in simple art like a basic lightning bolt or drawing of railroad tracks at a crossing because they are so universal, but take out anything that is not ordinary.

I have a great sign prohibiting pipe smoking, but I think it falls into that second catagory.  Shame because it is a really funny sign.

175
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Why is iStockphoto tanking?
« on: October 23, 2012, 11:40 »
If they are doing so bad as some people claim, how come the graph on the "polls" section on this site shows they IS's performance is trending more or less as SS's and even better then the other agencies ?
This doesn't make much sense.


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While there are some similarities in the two graphs there are also significant differences.  I don't know what the units are on the left side of the graph but in March it looks like IS is at roughly 60 and SS is at roughly 85, a difference of about 25 units.  However the September graph shows IS at about 65 and SS at maybe 115, a difference of about 50 units.  100% more units of difference (whatever that means in dollar value) is significant. 




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