isnt one pay as you go sale several times more than a subscription?

ss has a lot of customers, i am not surprised that many are taking up pay as you go. and if istock customers are migrating, i would expect them to choose a plan with what they know.

when v/a was pushed to the front of the search engine for months, many customers must have moved to the next big brand they know - shutterstock.

O, that is interesting to hear. I have read that they are offering pay as you go, but I thought that 90% would still come from subscriptions. This must be a major headache for istock.

So it is now down to the exclusive collections, Vetta or the special collections from getty (hulton archive, csa etc...) as a USP.

Because istock is a pay as you go site with high prices, SS is a subscription site with much lower prices. So even with less traffic, istock still makes more money.

Thank you for the transparency. Only istock has ever given out numbers, and they mentioned roylties paid, not download numbers.

If you keep up a good relationship with the people here, you will always get the best content.

I just sold my first video! On istock !

landscapes and nature do sell, but you are up against some very serious competition. Maybe it will inspire you to work harder and become a true master landscape artist.

Here are some successful portfolios from istock:

http://www.istockphoto.com/search/portfolio/416793/?facets=%7B%2225%22%3A%226%22%7D#1a83ae6d

http://www.istockphoto.com/search/portfolio/3250705/?facets=%7B%2225%22%3A%226%22%7D#13b1d38d

http://www.istockphoto.com/search/portfolio/2511572/?facets=%7B%2225%22%3A%226%22%7D#3a49668

Just do a search for landscape and sort by downloads.

All these files show excellence in photography, concept and photoshop development.

Some have men as models, and maybe getting a man to pose for you in a business suit or with a laptop working outdoors is maybe possible for you?

Good luck!

I just uploaded 21 files to clipdealer in 90 minutes! I guess uploading to a server in Germany is faster than transferring overseas.

Does anyobody have any experience with them? They had a stand at the microstockexpo, seems to be a small team based in Munich.

gostwyck,

there are unhappy exclusives, yes. But to quit the exclusive contract, especially if that is the major part of your income? I doubt it. Doesn�t really make financial sense.

If they really want to lessen their dependency on istock, they will do more assignment work, add other projects, many are good with computers, so they write software, apps, or simply sell other digital products over the internet.

That brings a lot more stability then quitting exclusivity if you have 5000+ portfolio. Why would you want to trust the other agencies, that, if you read around here - don�t seem to have much of a good reputation? All I see is threads about complaints...

So if you want to lessen your dependence on stock, then adding other sources of revenue makes a lot more sense.

None of the other agencies is publishing any numbers how much they pay out to contributors. Traffic may have dropped two thirds, but istock is now paying out 1.9 Million a week, that is a 10% increase to last year when Kelly announced paying out 1.7 Million.

The only thing I can see happeneing is if they keep pushing those Rc demands up. If next year they release new targets with even higher levels and people foresee dropping another level, then yes, I can imagine people might want to look around.

But as you know most stock artists see themselves as digital entrepreneurs, they are usually not limited to stock. They�ll sell whatever they can, they are very flexible.

The people that do quit the exclusive contract are probably those who don�t just do stock but have another part time job, spouse etc... to keep them going.

So - my prediction: high ranking exclusives who are seriously considering to quit would first spend a year building up other sources of income while watching how istock develops. It is always possible that the management changes course and recognizes their artists as customers who pay a lot of money for the right to sell on the istock marketplace.

Good quality people are hard to replace. For all the talk of "crowd sourcing" - the crowd only serves as an open entry point, you then have to gradually discover the talent and nurture it up the ranks. And all the while make sure the competition does not steal your talent.

Thinkstock is up:

http://siteanalytics.compete.com/thinkstock.com/

 

Yup, you can look at the chocolate, but only touch the wrapping and read the labels...for now...;-)

That is correct.

You can upload 100 year old files, but the istock exclusives cannot place their content with the partner programm for 18 months. Or otherwise send it straight to the partnerprogramm, then wait 18 months to put it o istock.

I sometimes send the outtakes directly there.

Independetns have their content placed with pp without a delay.

Yes, you got a login to read their information.

Sorry, you cannot send them photographs. At least not yet. :-)

But you can use all their resources. They have excellent creative briefs.