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Messages - cobalt
3651
« on: September 04, 2014, 09:28 »
Dropping the price by size is a change in business model. istock is not SS, the customers who buy there do it for a reason.
The customer will have choices abruptly removed from them with 2 weeks notice.
Maybe the customers dont care. But I know I would care. After all you buy the credits with a certain volume of files in mind.
And the small sizes are the most useful. When would I need more than an s or medium in most of my work...flyers, online web use, power point presentations, print ads in newspapers?
How many times did I as a contributor sell XL or more sizes??? Hardly ever...and I am not seeing an increase in sales in that file size over the years.
And I am indie, my files are dirtcheap.
So looking at my sales profile and over 60 000 downloads, it looks like sizes up to M are the most useful.
This usage is typical for the small to medium sized business. Only for trade shows would you need superlarge files to make posters or trade show banners. Or maybe if you want to decorate your building or print something on your truck.
This is just a huge price increase sugar coated with marketing talk about all sizes being available for the same price.
Again, for me personally it is not a problem.
istock had a great advantage over SS, but they never really expanded on what they are good at. Now they seem to copy the SS price model without having the real advantages of SS - a supersmart search engine, a beautiful and fast website and just amazing workflow experience for both customers and artists.
But who knows, maybe they will seee a huge increase in money and the artists will all go exclusive again with istock.
However, if I was a normal customer I would prefer to work with a company that gives me a reliable buying experience.Unpredictable changes are poison in business.
For Fotolia, dreamstime, deposit,pond5 and everyone else that offers size based buying this is a great opportunity to pick up disappointed istock customers. For SS it will probably be neutral, I doubt many people will give up their SS plan for what istock offers now. SS is tested and reliable, why change?
3652
« on: September 04, 2014, 09:05 »
I always thought by far the biggest market in the world of image usage are the small to medium sized businesses in the world. There are millions and millions of the them.
But it looks like istock has given up on them and is, just like Getty, clearly focussing on corporations.
Maybe that is the best solution for them, who knows. It is the market Getty understands really well.
The mass market will be targeted by others.
For the indies the changes might be positive, at least until they come up with a brilliant new plan next September.
3653
« on: September 04, 2014, 08:05 »
They could have easily given the customers 3 months to prepare for the changes or "upgrade" them to the new system when they buy new credits.
That is what computers are for. You can do more than just show different currencies.
3654
« on: September 04, 2014, 07:26 »
What a surprise...customers can use a calculator and realise their buying power for single files will drop by 80% in 10 days. The real reaction will come when the new credits appear in everyones account.
I dont think any agency has ever reduced a customers options so drastically so abruptly in the last 10 years I have been here.
3656
« on: September 03, 2014, 12:43 »
I dont have a lot of sales on istock, because of a codec bug they have I couldnt upload in the last few months. If I do have a sale I get a mix of everything, not just hd sales.
15% for video is just too low. It should be 30% like on SS at least.
3657
« on: September 03, 2014, 12:22 »
Its not his fault, but was it really so difficult to give people real numbers??
However it also means my videos will be sold between 7.2 - 13.5 dollars.
That is crazy low. Really no incentive to send them work. What a pity, i would have liked to try the new upload system. Hm. Maybe I can try with some older files or things that dont sell elsewhere. Or the testshots.
3658
« on: September 03, 2014, 12:15 »
Lobo just clarified the credit prices: http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=362716&messageid=7041654" Lobo Forum Moderator Posted 6 mins ago Quote Okay, everyone. I can officially stop using the phrase 'it will be more than $2 per credit': Credits will range from $8 to $15 depending on the size of the credit pack the buyer purchases. So it will be considerably higher than $2. And that is the last time I will have to type anything to do with $2 in this thread. I appreciate this has been a frustrating aspect of the communication. We are pleased to be able to finally share this information with you." so for me this would mean I will be getting 1.4 -2.7 dollars for my files. and 28 cents for subscription sales. that is not that different from what I am getting now. Might even be a little more. so as an indie I dont have to be worried for photos.
3659
« on: September 03, 2014, 06:55 »
That one looks good and is incredibly cheap. If they are on photokina I will check them out.
My slider company will not be happy, this seems to be the same product, just much cheaper.
3660
« on: September 03, 2014, 06:50 »
I am thinking to continue to upload to them, but maybe only the minimum size accepted (1600 x 1200)
The problem with that is, if they change their system again, your files will be hanging in thin air. And I think the only thing you can rely on with istock are drastic and unpredicted changes
3661
« on: September 03, 2014, 03:48 »
fotolia and deposit also have the option of being fully artist exclusive, I think dreamstime too. But they also offer a middle path of exclusive images.
For me personally full artist exclusivity is something I won't do again, but exclusive images is a very good idea.
Having good quality exclusive content was always important for istock, it really made it stand out.
The content will now of course still be there, unless people hand in their crown, but it has become dramatically cheaper.
So the high end exclusive contributors will lose twice this autumn: loss of income because more and more buyers switch to subs plans and now the loss of income from drastically lower credit sales.
And the customers who like to buy small sizes with credits get punished too, instead of 5 small web sizes, they can just get one file in XXXXL...
I suppose this is intended to make them switch to a subscription plan.
istock is not offering the customer a reliable buying experience. I think this more than anything else, is the advantage of many other agencies.
In the end it is the bad experience we have had with all the previous exciting announcements that makes me sceptical that this time will be different.
3662
« on: September 02, 2014, 22:42 »
depositphotos also has exclusivity and on fotolia it is the exclusive image program that is very successful. gives both the agency and the contributor the best of both worlds, you can upload niche content (usually localized content) exclusively and the generic content everyhwere.
And Fotolia pays fully exclusive contributors up to 60%. It is a much stronger programm than the istock program in many ways. But since it is mostly a European agency I guess at this point it makes more sense for people from this side of the globe.
3663
« on: September 02, 2014, 22:05 »
"The September of pain and drama" is unfortunately a well known istock ritual. There have been so many "exciting" announcements over the years that didnt work and wrecked the site because the software wasnt tested/ready/capable in the most important buying season. All the exciting announcements just bring frustration for customers and contributors who then take their business to a more calmly managed place. That doesnt have to be SS, there are many other stock sites that run their business quietly and without abrupt changes. I think part of the problem is that over the years dissenting voices have been kicked out or encouraged to leave. If you just surround yourself with people who agree with everything you say, you can lose touch with the outside world. But Yuri is certainly very excited about the coming changes and here is an open letter from Brad Ralph who believes in what is coming. He must be part of the team, together with Yuri, for developing the strategy if you look at his position. http://press.gettyimages.com/the-evolution-of-istock-continues-an-open-letter-from-brad-ralph-co-founder-of-istock/I wish I could see what they see. Ill be happy to experience growth and positive results at istock, but the history of the last years is simply not very encouraging.
3664
« on: September 02, 2014, 18:49 »
3666
« on: September 02, 2014, 16:05 »
3667
« on: September 02, 2014, 15:06 »
It was not announced on a Friday and admins seem to be around to answer questions. I guess this is a step forward...
I really wonder what the high end video people will do. SS and pond5 are so much ahead of istock in video already...and now this...
3668
« on: September 02, 2014, 14:52 »
I guess now is a good time to buy SS shares...there is so much that is fundamentally wrong with this "plan", I wont even go into it.
But it is no longer my concern and as an indie I am not going to be strongly affected. Maybe I will even benefit a little.
So sorry for all the exclusives. At least they kept the royalty rates.
SS is certainly loading up on champagne, so will many other agencies.
It is September on istock...but for now the site still works, right?
3669
« on: August 30, 2014, 06:36 »
*icy wind can be heard in the background* cue deep voice: "September is coming..." 
LOL! Oh, so true, so true, the September disasters of istock...so glad I will only be partially effected and can focus elsewhere while they sort out their "exciting new improvements"
3670
« on: August 21, 2014, 14:12 »
Autumn is coming. time for stock agencies to try "new things" and to break down and become unusable in the most important buying season.....
3671
« on: August 19, 2014, 16:24 »
I will see them at Photokina next month. Ill ask them if they have a US distributor.
3672
« on: August 19, 2014, 14:39 »
Mine is from slidekamera http://www.slidekamera.com/Very smooth and easy to control. Doesn't do vertical lift though.
3673
« on: August 14, 2014, 07:17 »
With the freedom that pond5 offers for the contributors it would be great if they made into the top level. But I think with photos, they still have a long way to go. At least for me, the income is over 90% from video.
3674
« on: August 12, 2014, 21:10 »
Whow Mirko, what an adventure! Congratulations for getting the results you wanted and best of luck with the new baby  Thank you for sharing your experience.
3675
« on: August 05, 2014, 04:46 »
RCs levels should be going down every year to compensate for file dilution with millions of new uploads. Keeping them at the same level or even raising them makes it impossible for contributors to stay at their level. You cannot outshoot the upload volume.
RCs also require optimal marketing and growth from an agency, because if the agency is losing market share, it is not the fault of the contributor, they have no influence on that.
They should just abolish the system and go back to the old canister levels.
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