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CanStockPhoto.com / Re: Left CS yesterday
« on: December 02, 2007, 13:09 »
I hate being misquoted.
I don't follow this site (or any other microstock discussion sites), but I got an anonymous tip and felt compelled to respond.
Below is exactly what I said. I never said anything along the lines of increasing that part of the site. I also didn't say we had no plans of allowing opt-outs at some point, I said we just cant guarantee it.
I can't guarantee that we will allow opt-out for subscriptions. The subscription option was brought about by market pressures - it's no secret that the subscription model is continuing to increase in dominance. So as such, we got on board.
I understand that some photographers don't want their images used for this purpose - but the reason we have not allowed an opt-out is purely from a logistics standpoint. Just imagine all the customers that would be pissed off if the image they searched for was not available once they bought a very expensive subscription. We can't very well market the site as having "600,000 images for credits, X for subscriptions". It would be a nightmare trying to separate the two and not making our customers confused and angry. So it's not a matter of us being stubborn - it just comes down to logistics.
I am sure you already know, but I think it's important to keep in mind what subscription images are used for. These are buyers who download mass amounts of images and only actually use a very little. They may try 30 different images for a mockup, and only use 1 in the final product. The VAST majority of subscription downloads are never used. So while the per-download fee is comparatively very small, the actual return for your work is quite a bit higher. The majority of the time your images are being purchased for the possibility of being used - opposed to credits where the majority of the time your images ARE used.
Anyways, just thought I'd let you consider that. Sometimes photographers don't truly understand the different usage of the subscription vs. credit buyer. If you are able to accept the per-image commission, I think you'll realize that subscription sales are actually a very fair deal in the end.
I don't follow this site (or any other microstock discussion sites), but I got an anonymous tip and felt compelled to respond.
Below is exactly what I said. I never said anything along the lines of increasing that part of the site. I also didn't say we had no plans of allowing opt-outs at some point, I said we just cant guarantee it.
I can't guarantee that we will allow opt-out for subscriptions. The subscription option was brought about by market pressures - it's no secret that the subscription model is continuing to increase in dominance. So as such, we got on board.
I understand that some photographers don't want their images used for this purpose - but the reason we have not allowed an opt-out is purely from a logistics standpoint. Just imagine all the customers that would be pissed off if the image they searched for was not available once they bought a very expensive subscription. We can't very well market the site as having "600,000 images for credits, X for subscriptions". It would be a nightmare trying to separate the two and not making our customers confused and angry. So it's not a matter of us being stubborn - it just comes down to logistics.
I am sure you already know, but I think it's important to keep in mind what subscription images are used for. These are buyers who download mass amounts of images and only actually use a very little. They may try 30 different images for a mockup, and only use 1 in the final product. The VAST majority of subscription downloads are never used. So while the per-download fee is comparatively very small, the actual return for your work is quite a bit higher. The majority of the time your images are being purchased for the possibility of being used - opposed to credits where the majority of the time your images ARE used.
Anyways, just thought I'd let you consider that. Sometimes photographers don't truly understand the different usage of the subscription vs. credit buyer. If you are able to accept the per-image commission, I think you'll realize that subscription sales are actually a very fair deal in the end.
