It's looking doom and gloomy for Crestock too - getting my payouts once every 3 months instead of once a month is a huge red flag.  I'm glad they're not a major part of my income. 

If stockxpert goes that will be a huge loss.  Getty would be foolish to lose them, as the most popular free site, http://sxc.hu points right to it as "premium search results" when designers are trying to find a certain image.  Brand identity/awareness is well established with the stockxpert/xchange brands.  Never met another designer who wasn't already familiar with them.

stockxpert? will certainly do better than 123rf, bs or canstock combined. sometimes will even beat ds or fotolia.

i don't think any particular category excels. i see so many people images with 0 downloads across the board and i wonder why. i think you just need to do the category really well. a good picture sells a thousands times.

Hi Gostwyck,

 You said if you are not at a company than the comparison is meaningless, I disagree you don't have to be with an agency when we are talking numbers, strictly numbers. Yuri is now focused on Macro this year big time. Monkey business is about to release something that changes their complete distribution structure to expand. Beside they are a rep, they represent photographers they are not their own photographer, they asked me to join them. I have been in the business much longer than they have by a long shot with personal sales in Macro and I do not split my returns with other photographers like MB does. MB is making a good move but they had to go to representation to make serious money. I make a great deal more than $200k a year by multiples of that number on my own ( not bragging just trying to share a point ) I also said that my acceptance rate is 95% in Macro. They take everything I give them, more than Micro does.
 If you have ever read one of my posts here on calculating figures you will find I am one of the biggest advocates out here about talking NET figures, it is more often the Micro guys that don't take the toilet paper into account. I account for even that.
 How did I become a Getty shooter or the other thousands of people that shoot for them? Do we posses some special E ticket to the fun park? Nope just hard work, a solid education in photography as well as being highly motivated. You will find the highest payed shooters almost "all" share these three qualities. There are a few that are not formally schooled but it is rare.
 I never wrote this as a slam on Micro but like someone said earlier it looks like the Micro people are  starting to become just as accusatory as the Macro groups these days. I was just sharing that there are three tiers that work together after there were very poor comparisons made between Macro and Micro by using Alamy which is not even considered as a direct outlet for images by Macro shooters.
 Sure I might have photos up there but I didn't put them there one of the distributors might to add to my revenue stream. really please don't be offended and do some studies a lot of this will show I am correct.
 Yes there has been a tremendous fall in Macro over the past few years ( due in part to Micro ) from $1500 RPI over lifetime to $400 over lifetime but the return is still much bigger than Micro if you know what to shoot and how to keep your overhead down to a small number. I spend $50 dollars a shot NET and they average $400 NET in their life. I have Macro "RF" photos that have made $14,000 in their life.
  If I had produced 3500 new shots for Macro instead of Micro my per image cost would have doubled but my return would more than make up for it. 3500 times 400 equals $1.4 million dollars. I don't expect I will ever see those numbers in Micro from 3500 images, at least not what I have seen in the year+ that I have been involved ( I have made just over 55,000 in the first year at Micro, one dollar per image short of covering my overhead per image on all 3500 images ) that would be an annual RPI somewhere around 15-16 dollars a shot, no where near what Macro returns my efforts. I don't dislike Micro that is why I am here writing and adding images to the market I just wanted to compare apples to apples and show that there are still three healthy tiers for photographers to choose from, it is not a battle between models. Micro might be a good device for selling motion since the use will be almost entirely web based so there are lots of good opportunities in Micro. But more than that, if you like it then that is the best reason of all to stay in your comfort zone
 I also looked strongly into Micro adding 3500 images at 10 agencies so I think I probably have a pretty good observation point  in all these markets as a private photographer.
 One last thing I am co-owner in two Macro sites so I have some great access to numbers in this business from hundreds of photographers right off the spread sheet. This also helps me arrive at my previous statements. I am sorry you disagree. Bad information is not good for anyone.
 I will still say it, there is room for all three tiers and this is not a war between those tiers. I am sorry this was not clear. I hoped I was able to make my point a bit more valid.

Best,
Jonathan

Quote

Why don't they do what they would really like to and make IS exclusive only?

It's clear to me that they have been on the path to exclusive only ever since Getty bought the company. Every move they have made leads in that direction and they haven't come right out and done it in one swoop because financially it makes better sense to do exactly what they are doing. But one way or another you can believe that that is the final goal.

Lisa, DeepMeta is so easy, fast and convenient...

Well, the program itself might be easy, but here's what Mac users have to contend with...

Monday, October 05, 2009
DeepMeta v1.4 Beta 6 available for Mac
Try out the latest test version of DeepMeta for Mac OS X. Also required for some server changes at iStock. (NOTE THE DATE)
_________________________

Mac with PowerPC processor
DeepMeta cannot run on PowerPC Macs. There are no current plans to add support for PPC. Sorry.

Mac with OS X v10.6 (Snow Leopard)
The current test version of DeepMeta does NOT work on OSX Snow Leopard (v 10.6). We hope to resolve this soon. Thanks for your patience.

___________________________

For the test versions, you will first have to install the "Mono Framework" for Mac OS X (you find it on the same DeepMeta download page). You only have to do this once. For upgrade to subsequent versions, you only need to download the small DeepMeta.zip file.

___________________________

Some Mac users are going to have issues. I'm not sure I want to troubleshoot the software for free. And awhile back, even DeepMeta uploaders were having issues.

I'd rather spend my time shooting and uploading. When the IPTC data doesn't work AT ALL on istock I'll figure out what I want to do then. Until then, my workflow works ok as is. No third party software installations necessary.

Sales were OK last month, I don't expect them to suddenly rival the big sites, it will take time.  Compared to all the other new sites I have tried, they are doing well.  I expect more from them because they have the Corbis connection but we will have to see if they really want to push microstock.

Quote from: PixelBitch on November 25, 2009, 11:15

RM images are generally placed on an image exclusive basis, that is the whole idea behind RM, exclusivity,...to try and place those same, or similar, images on a micro site is not only irresponsible but also a potential breach of contract with the rm agency.

Quote from: hqimages on November 25, 2009, 09:07

* sigh

If you upload the same stuff to an RM site, that you have on istock for 1/10th the price then no, it won't work for you, and you're also giving company 2 a bad name, since a client really doesn't want to pay out all that money, and then come across the same image on an rf site at a much cheaper price..

Pick a price for your individual and unique image, then go find the sites that reflect that price..

I would hope so, but then there are pricing discrepancies across the board for the same image, but the guys head is turned slightly to the left or whatever (it doesn't break the rules, but still why is the client paying extra $$ for something that is almost identical as another image in the photogs RF portfolio).. or if you make vectors, you would make a new one for RM, that in reality looks the exact same as what you already have on RF..

The image exclusive standard has been made a lot more flexible on RM in recent years..

Quote from: KonaHawaii on November 24, 2009, 19:01

If anyone is finding macrostock a success, I'd be surprised if they wanted to broadcast it here.

Oh I wouldn't be surprised if someone does come along here and tell you how wonderful his RM is doing on macrostock 

Which is best? Stock Photo Express, ProStockMaster or Cushy Stock?

And to think I thought the difference was one charged a lot more for images than the other.

I may be cynical but I've always thought macro-stock has a big element of the "Emperor has no clothes about it" - put a high price-tag on something tell people its good, and they will buy it no matter how tasteless and awful it is. Sorry to say but Yuri's examples in this article prove that for me.

Yuri just made an interesting post today about the difference in Micro and Macro imagery. 

check it out
http://www.arcurs.com/what-is-macro-stock/

I would have to agree - some of the images he linked would be rejected in a flash at a micro agency.  Yet, they are gobbled up by Getty and sell well.