If the newest poll is disheartening, it may really be that it is just more accurate the previous polls, which may have been overly optimistic.  Perhaps things may not be going downhill as much as y'all fear.

A few years ago, I posted a reply questioning the annual poll because the data and the results coming from it didn't look right.  There were obvious problems with the understanding of basic terms such as "median", no use of requisite standard deviations, one shooter who claimed an income of nearly half a million USD annually with a portfolio of one thousand images, etc etc.  The income per image of the of the average shooter, as reported by this poll, was about 3 times what I would have expected from my informal anecdotal networking with other stock photographers.  My comments on the poll were countered with great and negative vigor by a number of the members of this forum.  Statistics very much like these were among my principal duties during my 36 year tenure as a clinical microbiologist in a metropolitan health laboratory and such calculations were checked very closely by the state laboratory inspector during yearly unannounced inspections.  So, I was confident in my assertion about the forum poll and it was obvious I was not going to convince anyone, so I chose not to continue the discussion, confident that eventually there would be others also with doubts.

BTW, Please do not assume that my attitude is in any way hostile.  Rather, I think that sjlocke deserves a lot of credit for his initiative and obvious talents for coding-- and I probably deserve some unkind words for the patronizing tone of the first part of this sentence.  Mea culpa, really.   .   I received the one and only written reprimand of my long career for taking the initiative and putting in place some tools that very much remind me of Sjlocke situation.  This is istock-Getty's loss.  I'm thinking that there are a number of stock photo managers around the planet who are even now salivating at the possibility of adding this photographer and his impressive portfolio to their library.

I used to do quite a bit of estate work, so I'd like to share a bit.  The procedure is much the same if a person (in this case the photographer) dies or is declared incompetent by the Court.  After death, a Personal Representative is appointed by the Court, or in the case of incompetence a "Conservator" .  This PR used to be called the Executor.  The PR is often named in the will and the Court will almost always automatically appoint that person.  At that time the court will issue a paper, called "Letters" to the PR.  In the case of incompetence, these are called Conservator's Letters.  In a death situation the are called Personal Representative's Letters.  Additional certified copies of the PR Letters can be issued but there is usually a small fee, several dollars per Letter.  The PR will send a PR letter to the Agency which will then send royalties to the PR during the period the will is being probated.   Sometimes in a large or complicated estate, probate can go on for years. In the case of incompetence, the royalty payment arrangements are usually permanent until the death of the ward (incompetent  person).  In a probate (death/probate) case, the PR collects the royalties until the estate is settled.  The royalty income during probate will usually go into the residue of the estate to be distributed as directed in the will.  When the estate is settled, the PR will pass ownership of the agency photos to the beneficiary and will notify the photo agency of the change of ownership.  Sometimes a copy of the will may be requested by the Agency.  This is usually sent by USPS certified mail.  Then the Agency will make the necessary paperwork changes and business will proceed as normal with royalty payments made to the beneficiary.  You may ask "What if the photographer has no will (called intestate)." No, it rarely goes to the Government. The often surprising answer is that there is usually no such thing as no will.  In the USA everybody has a will.  It is written automatically by the state that is the deceased person's legal residence. (this may vary from state to state).  There are specific rules here about who inherits, this being determined mostly by the closeness of bloodlines.  Often the order is spouse, children, parents, siblings, etc etc.  When a person makes a will, he or she is CHANGING the will made for them by the state.  Only if an individual dies intestate and has NO living relatives does the estate wealth go to the government.

I hope this helps.  It may seem complicated but it really is just a large collection of simple, usually logical, steps.

My post is there using this username (oldsalt19).  There is a note by my post that says "Your comment is awaiting moderation"

From personal experience, I think that they will need to do more than that.  Basically, their business model is flawed.  I do scientific photography with the microscope.  I was able to upload slightly under 100 of these images before they stopped accepting my work.  What I managed to upload sells very well; better than any other agency.  So well, in fact, that several times I have had as much 20% of my Fotolia portfolio downloaded in one day1!  When I emailed them to remind them of this and ask why they would no longer accept my work, they didn't answer the question.  What they said was that their evaluation team was "independent" from their sales team and that they did not communicate(?)  Hmmmm.   How many sales-based organizations do you know in which the company buyers and sellers do not talk to each other?  Although some of my work is still there, I no longer send them anything.