Keep us posted what you find out.  I hope this gets resolved for you!

The idea that this announcement is in any way positive (for anyone other than Getty, although I believe in the long run they're not helping themselves either) is a joke.

Beyond all the comments covered already, I didn't see anyone mention that iStock subscriptions have a rollover, so the idea that payouts will be above the minimums is not realistic. Buyers will generally be using all their downloads.

"*Up to 250 unused downloads can be rolled over month to month for annual subscriptions or any other auto-renewed subscriptions. If you don't auto-renew your subscription, you will lose any unused downloads when your subscription term ends (including accrued rollover downloads, if any)."

The minimum prices per file of 10 cents for indies and 75 cents or $4.15 for exclusives are low. What I keep hearing is that an increasing proportion of sales are subscriptions, so offering the small sweetener to exclusives of including subs downloads in the RC-replacement scheme doesn't amount to much.

There is clearly no good news of any kind for indies. And the point is well taken that the other agencies will certainly claim that they need to cut royalties to stay competitive if iStock just keeps on * (forum zapped what I wrote.  t-r-u-c-k-i-n-g, isn't a swear word, but apparently "keeps on t-r-u-c-k-i-n-g" is on the no-no list?) after this nuclear detonation.

I already all but left iStock over the Google-Getty deal in 2013, but if I hadn't, I'd be gone November 25th.

For anyone who thinks Shutterstock's 38 cents for a subscription download is a travesty, what does 2 cents from iStock say (with no chance of that ever going up if you remain an independent)?

Getty clearly wants the freedom to discount subscriptions heavily to try and goose sales. They can't do that with a flat rate royalty (without spending money on the promotions).

Today: buyer pays $149 for Essentials 100 and iStock keeps up to $121 of the cash. December: iStock keeps up to $147 of the cash. Why wouldn't they love this deal?

I guess exclusives will know just how much of a mess they're in once they see their 2017 royalty rates. One detail I didn't think was clear in the e-mail was whether the double count for Signature+ downloads applied if they were subscription downloads or only credit. Quite why Thinkstock and the API downloads were excluded (other than to try and keep exclusive rates down) isn't clear.

I think there's a very real potential for Getty's last ditch effort to revitalize themselves may end up dragging us all down the royalty sinkhole  - unless iStock loses a significant amount of indie content as a result of this change

Very well stated Jo Ann
And sorry for the over active langugae filter.  I'm pretty sure there is a catch all on that word.  l-u-cking would have the same problem.

Most sites already have a referral program of some sort.  I don't see this as much different.

This seems like valuable info on why to sync your accounts....


Adobe Stock Contributor - Are there any advantages when I sync my account?

Yes! You will have access to your existing assets and account information in the Adobe Stock contributor portal and can continue to enjoy the benefits of your Fotolia rank instead of starting over with a new account.

I can't figure out what that means exactly.  If they terminate Fotolia.. and your account isn't synced, you loose your rank?  Or, your sales/search placement on adobe are only rank based if your accounts are synced?

I pay model USD 36/hr if I've used them before and am happy with them.. USD 30 /hour if it is the first time I use them.  Shoots are always 3-4 hours.

I generally just use people I've met or see on the street, find on facebook or are a friend of a friend.

I've locked this thread.  Please put the discussion in the other thread
http://www.microstockgroup.com/istockphoto-com/getty-e-mail-about-istock-'contributor-facing-changes'/

I just received an email from Pond5 asking for more info about me.  Did anyone else receive this?  When clicking the link in the email I'm sent to a woofu form.. which seems a bit odd.  Perhaps it is a fishing email? I emailed Pond5 but thought I'd give a heads up here in case anyone else received one as well.

I'll update this thread when I hear more.

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There are no fields for categories defined in the EXIF/IPTC/XMP standards and thus no microsock agency can fill categories automatically based on the image metadata.

The only way to set categories (and releases or other agency-specific metadata) and to have these fields automatically filled on the agency website later is to use software that imitates user actions on the agency website. However due to the complexity of the task such software is not free.

For setting titles, descriptions and keywords and uploading files there are few free software products around though, like Xpiks or StockSubmitter. They are NOT affecting JPEG quality when saving metadata. Also editing multiple images at once is possible.

Listen to this guy and use his software! 

I haven't been paid but did get an email telling me there is a delay of a couple of days and not to worry.

yep - same here.

Same for me  . I clicked on submit with every fields filled but no message telling me my answers were correctly recorded...
Is this ok or should I redo it from the beginning ?

You should get a thank-you page if everything is submitted successfully

Better late than never (I hope)

Here is a link to the survey - quite similar to other years but I removed a couple of the iStock exclusive questions (there are still 1 or 2 left) as that isn't as big of a subject any more.

Spread the link around - hopefully we can still get 500+ respondents this year, despite it being late.

http://microstocksurvey.com/index.php/357237/lang-en

welcome here

Guess they forced him to remove it.

it was fun while it lasted.