I think the video market is a good indicator of the success off he different business strategy teams of the different agencies.

Video is a growth market, it is new. I would expect significant growth year over year for at least the next 5 years.

There is so much material missing, which means so many customer projects cannot even be started because the stock content is not there. Because video has even more variation possibilities than photo, I think you will need a much bigger video collection than photo collection to cater to the needs of the clients.

It worries me a lot to see that istock diamond exclusives are reporting a drop in sales. I can understand the photo business hitting a saturation point, but not video.

And I agree they could have completely dominated the video market if they had wanted to. But you cannot become the market leader if it takes months to bring the products to the market. All the other sites have much fresher content than istock.

However the quality IMO is the best on istock. It is also the only agency that has rejcted my files so far and they�ve added very helpful explanations to the rejection. The video team is doing amazing work, I am so sorry that exclusives are leaving.

And like eyeidea pointed out, the RC system can badly backfire on you if istock itself has a bad sales year even though you yourself have worked hard and improved your portfolio. When the customers leave and buy elsewhere - this is not the fault of the artist, we have no control over that. The RC system can only truly work if there is constant growth.

For a mixed media artist there is also the problem that you can never truly rise with the RC system, because you will never produce enough volume to reach higher levels. Under the old system you could gradually move, it was slow but your lifetime work added up.

Paul! Thanks for lifting the veil, I�ve been wondering who you are.   The blackaddr reference put you into a certain region and age group, but otherwise...

I would appreciate adding getty, corbis, stockfood etc...because for me it is just an image market. the prices on the micros are no longer "micro" and if I look at my sales on getty, i see that they sell my images for 5 dollars as well.

I know the name is still microstockgroup, but many here are reporting RM sales as well, so  - why not?

Are you this fotovoyager?

http://www.istockphoto.com/user_view.php?id=482239

With a killer Portfolio and nearly 400 V/A files? And you have quit exclusivity?

What a loss for istock 

now imagine someone in these countries running the error page through a google translator

I don�t know what to say. I seriously hope the site was hacked. I�d prefer that to what I am seeing.

The competition must be opening champagne bottles tonight.

I�m already getting the first concerned emails from other members of the German forum who can�t believe that istock would be so unprofessional.

Could someone kindly post their video conditions? I have tried to sign up, but get an error page. Hope they didn�t get istock�s bug.

just because older files were accepted doesn't mean they have to do it today. laws change, standards evolve.

some agencies will delete old files, some won't.

welcome to the world of stock

you will also run into cases where files are accepted and then two years later deactivated. it all depends how much different companies enjoy suing each other.

on istock we had many car images deactivated, electric guitars etc...

and - it is always your duty as a photographer to find out if your image conflicts with any law. just because an agency accepts a file doesn�t mean you are not liable or that it is legally ok.

if you really want to do stock, you�ll learn about thee things.

for instance you can�t take pictures of the eiffel tower in paris at night - because the light show is trademarked. during the day - no problem. you can�t take pictures of the sydney opera house, all kinds of gardens and buildings and castles.

all kinds of wallpaper prints are trademarked as well.

so it is not just objects.

deleted and sent as site mail. I think this would be too much off topic.

Characterstock = People shots, working with actors

So, the fastest turnaround time seems to be clipdealer, they usually accept my clips overnight or in a few hours. SS seems to have a 48 hour turnaround, on pond5 everything is still in the queue, clipcanvas got their first batch today, let�s see how long it takes.

No other sales yet and I obviously cannot see what is happening on istock.

I am still uploading to istock as well, but I suppose now it will take 5 months before the files go on sale.

Clipdealer, clipcanvas and Ss don�t show download numbers, which will make them my first "go to agencies" unless any of the others sell significantly better.

Keeping my sales numbers private is extremely important to me. I learned my lessons with the copycats.

I must say the uploading interface is extremely easy on all the other sites. I really don�t understand why istock never invested in improving their system.

"Totally off topic, but:

You're referring to laws that changed more than 10 years ago. Since 2000 comparative marketing is allowed in Germany (under certain conditions). See here (sorry, in German only, the English version does not contain the references to German law).

Now back to IS (and everyday I read these threads I feel my decision to pull out start of this year was the right one...)"

I am sorry, but I�ve been in enough court cases with competitors since 2000 to know better. You can�t take a wikipediaquote and build a business strategy on it. Law is like medicine, it evolves all the time and you need a specialist lawyer who has the absolute latest verdicts. Sometimes regulations even change during your own court case and the outcome of your court case is completly different to what your lawyer predicted at the onset.

"Vor Gericht und auf hoher See ist man in Gottes Hand"  (Before a judge and on the high seas you are in God�s hand)

So I would stay away from anything that could be misconstrued as comperative advertising, unless I have money to burn on lawyers.

But back on topic.

Quote from: cobalt on November 28, 2011, 18:37

So you always bring in your own models to a location? (Apologies if this is a VERY stupid question...)

Definitely.

BTW, I got called out on my "a couple images get sales, and wallah - they show up" spelling - not to worry.  That's how we spell it on another board to make fun of people who can't spell it and continuously spell it wrong, and I forget the world isn't in on that joke.  So, voila!

It does make sense. I�ll recommend this solution from now on. Maybe you have now saved a photographer and a business in Germany, who knows ;-)