Alamy has copied the micros with a carrot/stick jump through the flaming hoop tiered commission model. Enjoy.

https://www.alamy.com/terms/contributor-contract-changes.aspx?

MSG used to be pretty active. Now there's a handful or less of new posts or replies daily.

I'm not familiar with the company. How do you feel about companies taking this firm of a position in politics? Reading further into this shows it's not really about supporting Biden but removing Trump. Would you continue to support them if they firmly were against your preferred candidate? What if it was one of the top three micros wanting to get rid of Biden?

I have a feeling this will quickly go off the rails into hate but I wanted to see if we could have some debate on companies openly trying to influence elections. 

https://www.featureshoot.com/2020/04/introducing-photographersforbiden-a-new-project-by-feature-shoot/

How much do you need to grow your portfolio annually to maintain your current income with microstock? Just curious if much has changed with running on the hamster wheel and into the growth wall.

I was going to do a poll but there are too many variables. I'll start

Average Portfolio Size: 450 (down from about 2,500 a few years ago)
Years Doing Stock/Micro: 12
Photo/Video/Illustration/Other: Photo
Annual Portfolio Growth Needed: Around 25%

This is for micro photos only. Don't include macro, POD/print, video, illustration or non-photo stats.

What is Return Per Image Per Month? It's the calculation of how much you earn for each image you have per month. This can be measured for each micro site or all sites combined. For this poll use all sites combined. This ins't scientific but just a loose figure of where you're at. I realize you may have 1,000 images at SS and 500 at IS and your income may vary from $100 to $500 each month. Loose average of the two combined is fine and using the past year stats should be fine. 

Why is RPIPM helpful? Because if you keep track of it month-to-month or year-over-year it can give you trending of how each site is performing or how you're performing overall. So if in 2015 your RPIPM was .10 cents, 2016 was .15 cents, 2017 is 20 cents, it's likely 2018 will be 25 cents if your efforts have been consistent. If it was instead .15, .10, .05 good chances are it will be around .02/.03 for 2018. So in other words, is the trending showing you growth or that you're wasting your time? To some of you who have been here a while I know RPIPM doesn't matter. For me it has been really helpful it knowing where to focus my time. It can also help newer people answer questions like "is this worth my time" or "can I make a living at this?".

Calculation examples

You earn $1,000 USD on average per month across all micro sites and have an average of 1,000 images with all of them.
$1,000 divided by 1,000 images = $1 RPIPM

You earn $100 USD on average per month across all micro sites and have an average of 1,000 images with all of them.
$100 divided by 1,000 images = $.10 RPIPM

So let's say the poll shows that most people earn $.25 cents RPIPM. If you need to earn $60,000 to quit your day job you could use the $.25 cents RPIPM to calculate that you'd probably need around 20,000 images. 20,000 images x .25 RPIPM = $5,000 Per Month x 12 = $60,000 Per Year. You can then use that to calculate how long it would take you to get there. If you can get 10,000 images accepted per year it would take two years. If you can 1,000 images accepted per year it would take 20 years.

https://petapixel.com/2017/05/25/beware-500px-now-sells-photos-fotolia-without-credit

I don't remember getting an announcement from 500px about this. Why does that not surprise me?

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e0ac5bb0-2db0-11e6-a18d-a96ab29e3c95.html#axzz4B4yGZRXZ

Apple just increased app developer share from 70% to 85%. So if Apple takes now takes 15% and developers end up with 85% why is stock photography the exact opposite?

ETA: Looks like that link now has a paywall so try this

http://www.streetinsider.com/Analyst+Comments/Apple+%28AAPL%29+Shows+Developers+Some+Love+-+UBS/11724884.html

This is Adobe's online portfolio sharing site. It has been around for a long time and I've heard almost nothing about it. Anybody use it? If so, do you ever get contacted by buyers?

Canon, Nikon, Sony and other camera manufacturers offer an option for pro support. You need to meet certain requirements but get discounted repairs, faster turnaround and other benefits. Have you used any of these and how good or bad are they?

This article just dumbfounds me. http://petapixel.com/2016/01/26/this-22-year-old-is-shaking-up-political-photography-with-creative-commons-images/

Maybe this kid's family is rich and he doesn't need the money but I kinda doubt it. So he probably could have licensed these images to pay for some or even all of his tuition but didn't. He could be making money but instead is okay seeing others make money from his work. And it looks like he has paid for all of the equipment and travel out of his pocket. And wait for it... he's going to be an accountant. He's going to advise people on what to do with their money. I think he better hold on to that camera. He may need it to make money after the accountant thing doesn't work out.

It amazes me that there are so many people out there who are probably barely getting by working multiple jobs just to live check to check. And as a hobby they gladly give away their photography that they could be making money from. Why don't they just also go to their job every day and refuse to accept a paycheck? Why do I never see beauticians, mechanics, carpenters or any other person who provides a service freely give away their work? I don't get it.

Free usage. This came up in another post so I decided to start a new topic. Seems that creatives just give work away and that's just the way it goes. But lately I've been noticing a lot more ranting and backlash about it.

http://beezlystreet.com/2015/04/28/exposure-now-legal-tender-for-photographers - Does a pretty good job of showing how ridiculous it all is
http://petapixel.com/2012/01/10/this-photograph-is-not-free
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2a8TRSgzZY - A classic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5IV23g-fE - Harlan Ellison -- Pay the Writer (NSFW)

I get contacted constantly with requests for free usage, exchange for exposure, and other usually meaningless offers. Some creatives get angry and respond angrily. Some creatives ignore the requests. Some creatives just give-in and hand over their stuff for free. I don't do any of those. I respond politely but firmly and work toward getting them to pay. I think this industry as a whole needs to stop the freebies and move more toward an exchange of equal value. You don't give unless you get. And I mean money. Not exposure or credit. Not all people end up buying but a decent percentage do. You just need to politely say no and tell them what you're willing to accept.

Now if they're willing to offer something tangible I'd consider it. Maybe it's a new local restaurant and they're willing to offer $200 in gift cards to cover my $200 licensing fee. Great! But I've had restaurant owners propose I spend thousands of dollars out of my pocket for me to put prints in their restaurant because it's a "high traffic restaurant and would be great exposure for you". Hahahaaahhaaha, no. Here's a few examples of what has worked for me and this also applies to discount requests.

[The Make You Famous] Our super well-known company would like to use your image and we'll give you credit. This will be great exposure for you.
[Me] Sounds great. Using my images requires a very reasonable fee of $XX in addition to giving me credit. Would this work?

[The Small Broke Company] I'm starting up a small business and don't have any money but would like to use your image. 
[Me] Totally understand. I'm a small business too and my fees are affordable for any budget. That image is only $XX. Would that work?

[The Carrot] We'd like to use your image. We always hire photographers and will make sure to add you to our list for future work.
[Me] Sounds great. What I'd like to propose is you license the image for a very reasonable fee of $XX now and after that we can discuss discounts for future work.

How do you usually respond and what's worked for you?

This is why my focus this year is my own site and building my personal brand and direct sales. It's almost impossible to keep up with all of the shady changes at all of these sites.

http://www.epuk.org/news/an-open-letter-from-epuk-to-alamy-regarding-the-new-contributor-contract-terms

"Alamy, it seems is trying to establish a perpetual and irrevocable contract with images that they have previously sold on our behalf at a time when this was not the case, which allows them to continue selling them even after the contract with the photographer has been terminated. While this may have advantages for Alamy it has significant disadvantages for the photographer. The provision would last for the full term of copyright and we see it as unreasonably extensive."