Quote

Imagine there's no Getty
It's easy if you try.
No Vetta below us
On Heroturko we'll apply.
Imagine all the shooters
Uploading right away.

Imagine there's no iStock
It isn't hard to do.
Nothing to clone or light for
And no exclusives too.
Imagine all the pictures
On our disks in peace.

You may say that I'm a steamer
But I'm not the only one.
I hope someday you'll join us
And iStock will be bygone.

LOL brilliant

Slightly OT (my apologies), but I am wondering for what period of time Mr. Bruce's no compete clause was for?

Maybe it is high time that 'Bitter' got back into the game and give Getty a black eye.

how many people would support a new agency that paid 20%, I dont see him paying anymore than that

Quote from: lisafx on September 12, 2010, 17:22

Thanks a lot Click for starting this poll and taking the time to tabulate the votes and explain them in simple language for those of us who are mathematically challenged. 

Certainly by this poll, Istock's claim that 75% (or thereabouts) will stay the same or not lose out with this are complete nonsense!

I'm glad I did it because it shows clearly what 142 non-exclusives (141 for that matter) will experience - a loss of income while iStock will make more money.

I think iStock's numbers regarding the contributors who are supposedly not affected was limited to the exclusives. Everything else would mean that a bunch of crazyheads is running that place (although it might not be far off...).

Still, these numbers and iStock's don't match, not even close. I can only explain this with the assumption that most of all exclusives who maintain their commission level are not participating in this one sided discussion and also didn't vote here either. So there might be a higher percentage that isn't actually affected.

I agree.

on istocks forum it was mentioned that something like 74% of exclusives are base level, so cannot drop. cant remember the exact figure, but if correct it left only 1 or 2 % of other exclusives not taking a hit.

for a week and a half now when hit upload button I get a message that they are doing maintenance on storage systems please check back in an hour or two. is everyone getting this or just me ?

I'd definetly be asking DT what they can do, SS, FT, 123, arent are problem BigStock has a max number in queue at a time (not sure what it is though), veer is 100 per week, canstock has no limit

Quote from: Phil on September 11, 2010, 17:29

Quote from: Albert Martin on September 11, 2010, 16:54

What is crap? Facts you are facing soon?

Why would you leave your content on iStock after changes take effect?

very simply I cant afford to drop them. The best I can do is keep deleting images as my income at other sites increases, thereby balancing the loss.

You can't balance the loss... You are at loss big deal! There are diminishing earnings and they will grow in that direction due to rising number of competing agencies as well contributors... The only way you can help yourself is to bail-out ASAP new royalty structure becomes active. At least no one will blame you for giving signal other agencies to follow istock in reducing royalties.
It IS POLITICS and we all now must be smarter than big-ass managers who messed this up! The most dangerous is to bend over and get it from behind (this time it will be more than once) which you will do if you stay there after changes become active.
Don't forget that Getty pays 20% - that will be MAX earnings on any Getty owned place and you as non-exclusive will have much less that 20%.
So, bail - out when time comes and don't look back!

yes I agree I am extremely offended by both the new rates and the arrogant patronising way it has been done. But I have bills to pay based on my stock earnings and I cant tell the electricity company that sorry I have taken a moral stand and cut my earnings by 30%.

I think it would show that are making a shirtload of money

Someone else posted here (lost the post amongst the threads, so sorry cant say who it was) that getty pay 20% for RF and it appears that Istock as a whole has to get the royalties down to an average of 20%, personally I think they have nailed the whole issue.

stop uploading, I simply can't afford to drop my port entirely but I expect to half it.
I drop to 17% and basically I have to draw a line somewhere, and that is a very begrudging 20% (much like I wont take below $0.30 subs) (I still believe agencies should offer a minimum 40%) I think it is insulting to offer so little.

I posted this in another thread but this is what I personally I think is going on is they are getting ready to set up iStock as a mid stock company. iStock is a brand name and a lot of buyers now it. With them implementing the increase in cost for the Vetta and bringing in the Agency stuff for higher prices and inviting exclusives to particpate it looks to me like this is where they are going. I then believe they will basically say....if you're not exclusive then you are being moved to ThinkStock which is our subscription site. There is a reason they started up Thinkstock and this may very well be why. I think the slow price increase in their "special collections" is kinda like going to the grocery store and paying a little extra, then the next week a little more. It's not as noticeable to your pocket book as a buyer. Why else would they introduce the Agency collection if not for this reason? Many agencies have tried mixing mid stock and microstock and haven't been to successful at it and that's why I believe they created Thinkstock.

yep I agree I think istock gets more expensive, thinkstock takes the bottom part of the market. For Istock it comes down to what their accountants have worked is the optimum price vs customers leaving (which in their arrogance they will say that TS will pick them up)

I'd guess at most 10% of contributors will leave, the new thread already has a lot I'll wait and see and then it will happen and people wont be happy but put up with it (fair enough it's not an easy decision, I can't afford to drop my port on istock, the best I can do is not upload anymore) and new people will come along and accept 15% in the hope of increasing it and take the view it's better than making nothing, and there will races to hit RC xyz (they could offer 5% and some people will still take it, look at how many people pay $50 an image to submit to getty).

certainly got me thinking. I defiently see another price rise coming next year and thinkstiock pushed to take the budget market. But I wonder how much of getty images are going to be thrown in to the mix, I have a feeling now its going to be lot with their wholly owned content. I think of thinkstock and the wholly owned content that slams the search engine, wonder if they will do the same - here's 10 pages that is 80% getty images.

This statement wil go over in history, as how to destruct your own crowdsource company - amasing to be at whitness to such folishness....
Guess the banking boy who own the place put on the thumbscrews.

Especially enjoy this piece of holy crap:

""But money isn�t going to be what makes you all happy. You want to know that this is still the best place to be, to hang out, and sell your work. You may not be convinced today like you were last week, but it�s our job to make sure you feel that way again soon.""

Apparently IS need money to run the businnes, but the contributers don't! In their oppinion....

Holy smoke - they just blew off both their feet with a double barrled shutgun...
Never ever seen anything like it.

Exodus - BEGIN!

yep, you dont need money you just to go to the forums and play and have your ego stroked and 'feelgood'

It's very hard for a diamond exclusive to leave. Basically you lose about two thirds your income at istock. if you were making $6000 you'll shouldenly be making $2000. Then you have to quickly upload your port to numerous over sites where you will have to start from the bottom with poor image placement.

Having said that I am seriously thinking about it out of principle, even though I would definitely lose money.

yep and istock know it hence they can hit them hard.

although I'd expect a number of sites to very quick to cut deals (like DT's paid upload) with any istock diamonds

I was another fence sitter always a bit too worried something would go wrong

just got the email and the form wants the ITIN. Nice of them to give us 5 days notice to go through a process that takes a couple of months (even though we dont need to)