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Messages - mirkic

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51
Symbiostock - Hosting / Video and audio hosting
« on: December 16, 2013, 16:39 »
Hey guys!

I'm wondering, is anybody selling footage or sound recordings/music on it's own?

I was looking through some of the hosting solutions and, because of the enormous data size (I got around 3tb of clips and audio files that I would sell. The ones that I'm selling in "normal life", not symb:))), mostly I get over $300 per month hosting solutions due to size of data. Now, it could be that I didn't understand correctly and the price can get a bit down from there but that's a lot of money for me right now.

My question - How can I start selling my videos through Symbiostock and how can I host that? Where? Previews and streaming would be low res compressed to hell versions of the clip but (to my limited knowledge) I must host my originals somewhere so when a person buy a video, they can download it immediately. Or am I wrong?

Is anybody doing something similar?

Thanks people! 

52
...Whatever you do, you should take responsibility for you actions as anyone saying anything in the past - did. Got a ban? Deleted account? Choose your words wisely and the chat would become much more civil. Also, if you are backing something up, you should know the consequences involved or possible reaction from anyone involved in your comments. People, agencies, groups, anyone...

I think you're making some assumptions here that aren't warranted. People in some cases were not being rude or choosing their words rashly - it was two groups (contributors and agencies) facing off over unilateral power grabs by an agency. As I read what you've written, it suggests that the banned contributors deserved what they got.

I don't believe I have ever conducted myself online in a way that I wouldn't in person. I'm generally very polite although I have upset agencies by pointing out - civilly - the unfairness in what they have done/are doing. It was something of a shock to have Fotolia threaten to delete my account just for trying to stand up for ourselves as contributors. Knowing what I now know about most of the agencies, I realize that I'm swimming in a shark infested sea where ethics, fairness and long term thinking are in dangerously short supply.

It's all very well saying "this will pass" but if I were feeding my family with my stock income (I'm not; it's part time and a supplement), a lot of bad things could happen if agencies did to others what Getty did to Sean Locke (which was petty, vindictive and wholly targeted at intimidating other contributors, IMO).

I'd prefer a setting in which anonymity wasn't needed, but that's not the case.

I'll ignore the trolls and you ignore anyone who's anonymous. No need for making a huge deal out of this.

Agree with that. I don't know how that slipped my mind. Just got caught up reading last several posts about rude behavior, trolling etc...

Looking at it from that perspective, one can say that anonymity may be a solution for some folks... 

53
Hey guys!

I'm a "reader" for most part, than an active "writer" of MSG and all I can say is that when everything is gone, the money, youth, jobs, carriers, etc... all you are left with is you name! All you are leaving to this world is your name. And everything you do in this world, you should do with your first and last name beside it! Otherwise, don't do it! And I know I'll remember a few names that I came across over the years reading forums all around the web and working in microstock business.

Some I'll remember by not knowing the right spelling and some for writing smart and useful stuff. Also, over the years, I was upset that only Lobo (Pieman) didn't reveal his identity at IS and after a while I found out his real name and also got his photo on my comp (however strange that may sound :))
But it's much easier to speak to someone when you know they are "This and That" person living in this and that country, having long, short or whatever family history... It's just more personal and more civil. It's more "real". 

And also, many times, I'm not believing in many things that people I know in person are saying they did or are doing (stupid sentence) and certainly I ain't going to believe in many anonymous advice's given here to some people seeking for advice. It's ok that there is a group of people that know each others and have pseudonyms and stuff and over the years, somehow you get to know who is who but it's always harder to engage in any kind of discussion when someone on the other end is cursing, trolling, telling people they don't know s@#$t while the people telling them that are "pro's and they got the world under them"... It's easier and more civil with real persons.

If you (anyone that can't show something they did/are doing, portfolio, skill, anything that would classified them as pro's or beginners) are trying to explain something, under pseudonym, myself, or for that matter, anyone else with mind of their own, wouldn't believe a word you are saying and there goes the topic - off topic! Calling names, fighting etc.

With my real name, I'm more careful what I'm saying and if I'm wrong with anything I'm gonna sooo apologize cause I'm just like that in "real life"...  there is no trolling or continuing fighting etc... You stick with yourself.

You are what you are! Your name is all you are left with. Well, at least in my case. Everything will pass. This will pass. Good and bad will pass and all you left is your name. Will it be clear and shiny or dirty and muddy, it's up to you!

Whatever you do, you should take responsibility for you actions as anyone saying anything in the past - did. Got a ban? Deleted account? Choose your words wisely and the chat would become much more civil. Also, if you are backing something up, you should know the consequences involved or possible reaction from anyone involved in your comments. People, agencies, groups, anyone...

Except, off course, if you change your name legally. Than you're off the hook and you can do anything :))) Joke :)

54
Nice app but it crashes constantly on Galaxy S3 when I try to buy Pond5 or anything else! To bad cause I would buy it, that's for sure. Also, think about adding automatic "check interval" every half hour, every hour, two hours etc...

And please, NOTIFICATION on new sale :) That's a must :)

Thanks!

Just saw that there is different thread for Android users... sorry :)

55
@gostwyck

Well, I got nothing to lose, more to gain! My Getty sales are still higher than my Istock sales (footage) and they will remain to be higher cause I can only imagine how will my sales plunge after 30 days waiting period (even now I see few to no sales at all at Istock). But you never know with Getty. One month they are up 600% and the next they are non existent!
I know I'll make double at least what I make now at Istock, with 10 other agencies...
Also, prior to 2006 I was selling at SS, Fl, 123RF, CS, SC, BS, etc... Got accounts already and I know the "scratching head" feeling when some photos sell at certain agencies and others don't ... Different markets, different search placements, different buyers etc.

I gave Istock one whole year (almost) since starting this topic last year. And nothing. It wasn't me!
So, I'm more than willing to give more than one year to all the other agencies and see what will become out of that. Last year I was in doubt, and you can read that from my first several posts here! Now - no doubt :) Can't wait to start! 

@mattdixon

Got some wicked upload speeds and it's only limited by the agencies server speed. And I'm uploading since 26th November last year! Done with Pond5, Shutterstock, Motion Elements, Fotolia, ClipDealer, ClipCanvas. 2000+ clips uploaded at each agencie. All approved at SS, opted out of course, P5 keyworded and ready for inspection (a bit in dilemma there cause I don't know the review times there so I don't know when to "send them" for review). Clipdealer, awesome "thingy", they review the clips prior to entering metadata - so no "work for nothing"! Like that one a lot! Alamy hard drive with CSV already there, 123rf CSV also, as P5, RevoStock etc...

Shutterstock, Revostock, Canstock, 123rf, are "slower" for uploading, bellow 1, 2, mbs! Yet others are between 4 and 10 mbs! Fast enough for me! And all of my footage is rendered between 97 and 100 photo jpg mov so those files are laaaarge!

Still uploading to some agencies because of their server speeds (or whatever is causing slowdown in uploading) and entering metadata to the ones that doesn't have csv ability using DeepMeta! It's easy, I search my own portfolio, copy and paste keywords and rearrange some of those at some agencies that should be rearranged and that's it. Using IS model releases, contacted support of all the agencies involved asking if that's alright etc, positive answer, of course.
Alamy, SS, Revostock and ClipDealer were the fastest in "helping" to get my clips to them. Others I didn't have to contact cause it's more or less the same :)

So, got some week or so to keyword and do some heavy copy/paste/rearrange to do and then it will be, I hope, +-10 days that my portfolio will be online at all agencies making some well deserved money that Istock couldn't provide!

Also, can't wait to report here to anyone in similar situation as me, how things are going in the first month or two.

Cheers guys! And merry Christmas! Orthodox Christmas was yesterday here in Serbia so to anyone celebrating - have a blast this year and a lot of health and love! Also, to the people around the world that already celebrated in December - the same :))))

Cheers people! All the best to everyone!


56


you're not competing with your local or regional photographers, you're actually against the whole world army of photographers shooting the same subjects and using your same gear !

as the OP pointed out, he's in Serbia and $1000 is a lot to him. like all crowdsourcing, we're competing against those who are happy with a much lower rate of pay. perhaps the agencies are dreaming of an army of african photographers, willing to work for $1/day.

 I'm no African but I would love to be one right now and ask you what did you mean with this remark about Africans!Maybe I'm wrong with what I'm writing here but please, READ AGAIN what you've wrote. Ok?

sorry, just saw this. Um, you are being a bit touchy I think?
I'm married to a Sth African so i have an insight into Africa too. I didn't mean anything awful, only to point out how cheap labour is there - much as it is in China now - and they will happily work for far less that what we will, because our cost of living is so much higher.

No, I'm sorry... as I stated, nervous breakdown :(
Anyways, point taken and right on spot :)

Few days and my ports will be live at, I think, nine agencies... I have a good feeling that it will all go better than "well"...

57
never mind the question, the clips are approved but weren't processed by the server... it's ok :)

58
I agree to a certain point with Gostwyck. Also, would choose better comparison than "army of Afrikans happy to work for one dollar per day" :) Yet she was talking about agencies... never mind... it's not important! I'm kinda "touchy" when it comes to people rights and stuff :) Sorry for the offense, it wasn't on purpose and I don't want or have any time to argue or fight :) I misunderstood the post. 

Thank you all for kind words and wishes! I hope they all come true... and I hope I'll be able to endure! And again, minute ago I was browsing through some of the clips that are approved on Shutter and when I saw that you can click on a clip and pick out one out of ten or so thumbnails?!?!? I was deeeep under, slumbering... It's a whole different world out there alright :) I'm happy cause I can change thumbs... LOL...

One thing, when I click Portfolio: Approval status - I got some batches of clips since November with * to it? like this

616120 *   12/12/2012   17

And they all count into "pending approval" but when you click on them they don't have any thumbnails. Some don't even have names of the files. But when I'm on my contributor homepage I have minus all of those files with * next to them - pending.

Thanks people!

59


you're not competing with your local or regional photographers, you're actually against the whole world army of photographers shooting the same subjects and using your same gear !

as the OP pointed out, he's in Serbia and $1000 is a lot to him. like all crowdsourcing, we're competing against those who are happy with a much lower rate of pay. perhaps the agencies are dreaming of an army of african photographers, willing to work for $1/day.

You've missed the point of Antistock's comment here (btw it is from February) and the reply you wrote isn't really something you should so easily write without further exploration, knowledge or experience so please edit it. I'm no African but I would love to be one right now and ask you what did you mean with this remark about Africans! Also, country standards in the world differs a lot from one continent to another, but so is intelligence, education and knowledge. And for example, my video clips, sound effects, songs or photographs - cost as much as yours or anyone else for that matter on every single agency! So it's work, socialization, learning and not working for rotten and corrupted agencies that wouldn't gave you a chance on breaking certain figures (earnings)!
 
Also isn't microstock all about quantity of MICRO payments? 25c per image x 100, let's say, Shutterstock? Or odd istockphoto 7c sales? You, me or anyone else is competing with everybody in microstock but mostly with ourselves (laziness, stupidity, fear etc), and I don't see how a photographer from, let's say Serbia who is "happy" with 1000$ (but I just don't see a person in the world that would stop there - heeeey, got 1000$, I'm done for this month, ain't working no more till the next one) is a threat to you?

Great photo/video/sound/illustration/whatever/ can be a gold mine and it will sell no matter the origin or state of residence of a photographer may be! Also, mediocre/bad/forced/material will not sell and it will never sell! Maybe I'm wrong with what I'm writing here but please, READ AGAIN what you've wrote. Ok?

60
Well, almost one year later, I pushed all I had into producing new videos (that time, money and my newborn daughter and five year old son allowed) to Istock and 800 videos later (650 online, 300 pending) my income was dropping and now my crown is too! The money I reported in the beginning of this thread, when I was considering dropping exclusivity is now halved! Yup! So, when the graph hits zero sales, we get zero $$$

I gave up exclusivity for photo and video at Istock yesterday and the day before!
I gave them the best I could in this year and they gave me RR....

Already uploaded my whole port to three other sites and waiting the "excl time" to end. Doing two more sites. For now, got over 2000 files approved on each! That's awesome! Also, being able to upload and to see what "internet" and "programming" can do to a "upload and keywording process" is equivalent to a seeing a spaceship in my parking lot! Happy as a dog with a beefsteak! It took me two days to keyword (from excels copy/paste spreadsheet) almost 1500 files at Shutter! I couldn't believe it! And maybe a bit over 5 minutes to get the job done at Pond5 with csv upload! For 2500 files!!! Revelation! I hope the sales follow these "good vibes" I'm feeling! But it won't be hard to get over the 400$ mark that my Istock sales are sitting right now (without Getty/SFX Apple sales, those are bringing some good money but video sales are one month non existent and one month over 500$ so "waiting" for those to happen and couldn't be able to relay on those also added up to dropping my excls). We will see.

So, just wanted to let you guys know that I'm done with "nervous breakdown" :) Whatever happen, I'm really confident that I will do good!

Feeling a bit scared (six years looking at one site, many hours per day, every day) cause it's a bit traumatic :) Heck, I'm scared sh****s! But don't have much to lose! I think I can only gain by doing this! 

Keeping my Audio exclusivity for now cause the guys at audio sector are doing fair job for now... with some minor glitches.

Oh, and RR letter got me a bit over the edge, I forgot about that :)
Cheers guys! Will let you know how it goes!

61
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Note from Rebecca Rockafellar
« on: December 07, 2012, 21:35 »
Hey guys, I just can't take it anymore! I think I'm going to be banned for this, at Istock, hope note here :). Maybe but I wrote a bit longer than usual so I'm gonna paste it here, just to keep it alive... And I'm sorry in advance for the length of the writing. But this is just plain offensive, disturbing and ignorant! And stupid! Nervous breakdown again... tic-toc...

We've been thinking for some time that we need to make changes to how we communicate to the contributor community at iStock.

Some time? Ages... FAILED!


We created the iStock HQ alias to post from last year, because we thought it would be a good vehicle through which many different people could contribute. 

It's not a good vehicle, it's a broken vehicle! FAILED

And frankly, I had watched the forums for some time and was not excited about getting myself or other key members of our team pulled into conversations that often carry on well beyond their useful life and end up wasting valuable time for all parties involved, even sometimes ending in personal attacks.

You should try READING it instead of WATCHING it! We've wasted weeks,months, years - asking, begging, shouting, we've waisted more than valuable time and are wasting more of it as we speak cause files aren't selling, site isn't working, and now you've decided to speak! You don't have any moral rights to say anything about "WASTING TIME"!!! FAILED!

In the ensuing year or so, things have gotten even uglier on the forums.  I accept that part of the problem is that we aren't communicating enough, and another part of it is that there have been a variety of issues that have you worried about iStock performance.

Again, you need years?! You need a year to understand something that thousands of people are speaking out loud in those same forums?! FAILED!

I don't want to turn this into a revenue thread, so will just say that any rumors of iStock's impending demise are incorrect.  We are still, by far, the number 1 microstock site revenue-wise.  That said I'd like to continue on the subject of communications

Your revenue, Getty's revenue, not contributors revenue! Demise is happening over four years now... oh, and yeah, we know you don't want to turn anything into revenue... you're Getty... FAILED

To dispel one more rumor, we do read the forums, in fact there are many people across Getty Images who read the forums every day.   On the worst days it is like watching a car-crash something horrible that you cannot look away from.

Yaaaay, whoooooraaay! You read forums now! But you need a year to answer... LOL... FAILED DOUBLE!

We get it, you guys are mad.

No! We, mad?!?! After just a few years? Why would you think that? FAILED!

And reading the forums for the past year has made it clear that some of you think we are lazy, incompetent, greedy or uncaring.

Reading the forum for the past year... again. LOL! You, lazy, incompetent, greedy? Uncaring?!?! Nooooo! Those scripts/zoom/RC's/best match/web design/site management/ are wicked stuff and the royalty structure clearly shows that you guys are caring and not greedy! Do you remember Punctum day? No? Canister levels? No? FAILED!!!!

The reality is that there are a few hundred people across Getty Images working as fast and as hard as they can to drive iStock forward.

Errr... I would love to say to this - "hey, Istock is going backwards" but If I say that I would be saying that Istock is going into some shiny and good times... so... yeah... Istock is going forward... towards a cliff... FAILED!

I can't easily convey in a forum post how hard it is to do that, how complex this business is, but presumably that's why you have chosen us as your distributor, so you dont have to worry about things like marketing, ecommerce, localizing into eleven languages, search engine relevance, global website scalability (the list goes on and on). Weve got that end of things.

No, you can't convey! We didn't choose you, we've chosen Istock several years ago and Istock right now is a website where I have to think about search engine relevance (best match and google), have to implement plenty of THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE so I/we can have a easier way arround - deep meta, Livestock, SJlocke's Greasemonkey scripts, Stockperformer, this performer, that blog, this chart etc... global website scalability - LOL... that does not exist, and the list goes on and on, believe me, you got something but it's not the end of things... FAILED BIG

IMO, if we could to step back together and do a collective reset, we would return the forums to a more productive place for sharing of information about the iStock business, be that HQ to the community or peer to peer.

We can't step back together because you want to walk alone. Collective shut down is what you did (Getty), not you Rebecca. Forums were productive as you say but you have broken it. Now you want it back? Nope! FAILED!

It is not a very civilized place at the moment.  I'll take part of the blame for that since we changed our communication style this past year and aren't sharing enough information, but I will need all of your help to turn the tone around.

Ok, the thing with YEARS is getting boring and old! You are mentioning years and years for years now... Stop!
You to blame? Why? 
You are saying that you aren't sharing enough and now you want us to take hands and make a forum a better place? Should we sing? You need OUR HELP??? WHAT ABOUT ALL THOSE LOCKED THREADS IN THE HELP FORUM?!?!?!? FAILED!

It is a well-known internet phenomenon that people are more rude from behind a computer because it is easier to be rude to someone you have never met, particularly if they are posting from an alias.

Yah... so you've decided to take off your aliases and start posting with your real names... Did anyone told you that you have PASSPORTS OR GOVERMENT ISSUED ID OF EVERY SINGLE CONTRIBUTOR AT ISTOCK YET WE DON'T KNOW YOUR NAMES FOR HOW LONG ... YEARS? And we get to go through strict procedure but hey, hey, hey, here comes the fraudulent downloads... HOW THE HACK?! FAILED BECAUSE THIS IS INSULTING!!!

We're going to come out from behind the HQ alias, as it were, by having some of the key people that are working on the programs that you care about log in with their own membernames and start to directly communicate with you. We feel this is the right thing to do to help change the tone.

Check the writings above.
And what's with the "tone"? You, people from Getty, created that "tone" and now you want that "tone" out of here? Why? I don't see a point! FAILED!!!

We may also be sharing things with you that our competitors would find interesting.

If any of your competitors find anything interesting in your secret sharings about Istock business they would probably go bankrupt if they follow it so FAILED!

I cannot see any way around this, but there are guaranteed to be times when you want more information than it would be wise for us to give. 

Now you are talking like a true Gettyian citizen! Thats the rhetorics we, the people, are used to here, in this not so civilized place in the past year or so and thats the same time youve been watching and reading forums.. and several hundred from Getty too this is so LOL AND FAILED!!! Do you realized that with this sentence youve just wiped clean everything youve wrote above?

And we're just going to say that, and ask that you understand this reality.

Being a Gettyian again!

Your part in this reset is to listen, ask sensible questions, be patient as we tackle any issues that arise, and try to take the vitriol and hyperbole down a notch.

Remember youve shut down this place (forums)! You are the ones that should LISTEN! You should ask very, very sensible questions and with a smile on your face cause there are some mad people here You have said that.

Over the next few weeks you will see various Getty Images employees participating in the forums on the topics on which they are experts to provide first hand information where it's needed. 

No need, to late, were used to work in the dark, with a broken website and to sell images and videos and other medias that nobody wants to buy What would we get with these participants? More sand in the eyes and keep it peaceful while sales are going down? This is how it was - Example: Hey, the best match is broken LOBO/KELVIN/CANT REMEMBER ANY MORE WHO: TALKING ABOUT best match IS FORBIDEN! THIS TOPIC IS LOCKED AND YOU MAY BE BANNED FOR MONTH!!! NEW EXAMPLE: Hey, the best match is broken Hello there, we cannot talk about best match so please be kind and never come back to this topic!  FAILED!!!

As always Lobo will be there to provide additional support and to help us keep the conversation productive.

So if Lobo doesnt come out behind his alias everything you are talking about is flushed down the drain right?

I don't expect I can reassure everyone here that we have your best interests at heart, but we do.

Youve ripped the heart out of this Calgary finest long time ago stop the sweet talk.

That's because our interests are aligned when iStock is successful we're all successful.

This is very scary cause Istock, at the moment, is far away from success! So where does that put you?

Very much looking forward to some civilized and constructive conversations with you all.
Rebecca


You lied in plain sight many times. What do you expect? No, really, what do you expect? You lied many times! You lied! Simple as that! You are behaving like dictators, ok, its private property but this got to stop!

Again, if you can do ONE thing out of all of those that youve wrote about up there, you would make some contributors happy, mostly the new ones!

This kind of conversation is telling me just one thing that I need a life and some sleep! Now lets see some Lobo action and a monthly ban 

62
I am in a very close situation to the OP... ;)

However I have not experienced that huge a drop in sales as he explained.  I contribute to every media type with over 1500 videos. The RC did cut my income by 34% over night and I have seen a slide in sales ever since.

My advice is: Put a time limit in your portfolio to perform or fail at iStock. If it gets better stick around and work your ass off, if the downside continues try Non Exclusivity and if non of it works then change your strategy and or career while doing this as a hobby on the side.

For trying non exclusivity be sure to have a pre-emptive plan that has most of your content live or metadata filled on other top sites first. It will be suicide to move without having firm ground.

In the end you can always return to Exclusivity if you feel it serves you better. 

As long as you have your health it serves you nothing to worry and maybe fall into a stress related panic attack or opportunistic disease.  It goes without saying that times look hard ahead but things have a way of working out in the end. 

Wish you the best in your decision.

Well that's about how I summed it at the end!

There is a time limit on Istock now and it's not short and not to long so I wouldn't "relax" to much... After more and more talk and thinking, I'm staying with Istock and do my best of the best ever! After that period I will be certain that it wasn't me, it was something else responsible for this and that.
I calm my self down more than I could ever imagine with a little help from my friend (his name is not Valium :))))
Thanks everyone for your advices and opinions!
Anyways, I'll keep you guys posted about things (if any that matters really appear).
Thanks everyone again.

63
Just a bit of clarification on the matter in hands.

50% of my failure is my own fault that happened in my life by a odd streak of circumstances, bad luck, depression, lack of confidence in my own work and a bit of laziness etc... Other 50% I blame on Istock!
Also, there is a lot of "my own choice" regarding piracy that I wouldn't ever do! I'm sure things would be different if I had gone down that road and copied successful portfolios etc... I didn't. I think (another story about ideas, copyright and inspiration and stuff)

I picking my self up and starting to do again what I have done my whole life - being creative for the sake of my own feelings and dopamine or whatever is the chemical that our brain is pumping into our body (or vice versa) so we could feel "happiness and pleasure"... I lost "that" feeling somewhere down the road chasing money and well being for me and my family... I can blame internet to a point, hyper production, not getting into your own work with enough of your soul etc... one can argue that stock is business and only that, and it should and can be done just like that - cold, sterile, strategic, smart, calculated etc... I agree... but it CANNOT be only that. At least not for me. And there I've lost it down that road. Only me to blame for that...

Other 50% of Istock guilt I don't wanna repeat cause we all have some down's with them so it would be boring to chew on that story again.

And to clarify something else - I got around 1300 videos, 2000 audio's and less than 200 photographs... So my portfolio CANNOT be taken (to a point) into discussion with photographers portfolios. It's a mash-up of medias and my work (portfolio) is "mediocre", "good" and a few examples of "excellent" works (by my standards and mostly in audio, few in video and few in photos) so I'm the biggest critic of my own work and I'm sorry now that I let some of the clips into my library but other part of my brain is telling me - hey, that can be useful to somebody, you are (me) not a trend-guru so you can pinpoint stuff that will sell and stuff that will not... etc...

I think you get point... It's on the individual to decide when is enough of "this, that"... It's a net of choices and circumstances that lead to a certain event but in this story it's the same thing with one more side involved in those circumstances :) Istock.

Thank you all for your clever thinking and words and time writing and replaying in this topic...
Yes, I feel welcome here :)))

64
Thanks to all that replied and gave their two cents on the matter!

I will follow closely my friends and my brother but their portfolios are waaaay different than mine and smaller for that matter. Also, I cannot linger for another three months and end up in a summer slope at istock. That's the main problem! If the sales were "ok" or "steady" flat line... I would wait. But like this, no matter what I do, it's like someone pressed a button that say - BELLOW1000$GUY!

Also, I re-lived in my head all the possible (most of) scenarios, all the variations of leaving, not leaving, working 100% on this and delaying that, even staying with Istock and working harder and smarter than before... but hey - I remember last year when I invested in my equipment with such confidence - Istock going down? My sales with 3.500 files online going down... No way! I will always have enough to pay for the bank loan and for the car and bills... I was saying that and I jinxed (cursed) it! Moron! Who could of known!
I could swear that I wouldn't ever fall bellow 500$ a month... and bellow 300 at getty... and wallaaaaa! I did last summer! And in november with getty! 140$ month!

Anyways! Thanks everyone for their opinions! They do mean a lot to me! And helping me making my descision... I will post here when things changes and how will they change...

65
If you are asking for RC levels - Audio was at 35% and fell down to 30% in 2012 and video was silver before the RC's and now it's, well 25% or default :(
No help to offer, I'm afraid, but you are one that was really shafted by the splitting of media.
Is there any real benefit in being exclusive for video? Would you consider becoming exclusive for one (video) to test the waters?

Well, the bigger part was me without a proper equipment but that changed and I gave a big shoot at working again but Istock gave a shoot at my head with everything (mine and several more people I know)...
I didn't understand your question, did you mean - consider becoming non-exclusive? If that's the question, than hell yes! I'm not considering it, I'm on a verge of doing it but my common sense is telling me that I need another opinion of other people on other markets itself cause being exslusive so long is a bit blinding for the world around you. I don't know anything except what I read in the forums (last couple of months)...

66
Thanks for the replay's guys! They do help to get a different perspective on the matter!

@Cobalt
All those things you wrote are pros for me to turn non-exclusive! Faster review times, constant flow of things, new markets etc. Also, it sounds unbelievable to me that I cannot reach that amount of dl's on all other agencies but hey, I had a record with 11 days without a single dl in 2009 soooo everything is possible and that's why I'm asking for opinion from people already "somewhere" else.
And regarding friends and co-workers  starting out or working with other agencies, believe it or not, two of my close friends and my brother are quitting exlc at Istock or already did it in the last couple of days so, no, I cannot follow anyone's progress and that's why I'm here. And I know it's already been talked about and maybe even too much and also it's rude to just jump in and ask for people to tell you how are they doing elsewhere so one can jump boats but that's why I'm telling my own numbers just to help anyone else that is thinking the same thing about microstock global... Thanks Cobalt for the info.

@Sharpshot
Yeah, that's the main problem, to make a stand where I could "rest" for a month or two regarding money... But staying like this, it's my sanity and Istock or to just blew it all away and jump hard (and I can do that really well, work and warm up the seat :) ) on other sites...
Already comunicating with Alamy, SS and few others that have option to send in a hard drive with CSV metadata and they would do all the keywording and uploading for that amount of clips etc...
I think I can survive a couple of months, till the summer tops :) And I know, I'm smiling but it's a serious matter but what else can I do :)

@Aeonf
If you are asking for RC levels - Audio was at 35% and fell down to 30% in 2012 and video was silver before the RC's and now it's, well 25% or default :(

67
Thanks for that. And you are right, it's down to a person to make their own calls... I am aware of every single agency and already in the motion with some of them. And that's the only question I'm asking - is it possible to make those numbers with this kind of portfolio and new content coming in? And I know, one cannot give that answer because there are many things involved but just an insight into possibility... Thanks anyway!

68
Hi to everyone here. My name is Mirko Pernjakovic aka Mirkic and I'm exclusive with Istock in video, audio and photo and I'm on a verge of a nervous breakdown cause of it. Here's my portfolio as an introduction and a bit more on myself.

http://www.istockphoto.com/search/portfolio/1104769/?facets=%7B%2225%22%3A%226%22%7D#142a61d5

Don't know how to shorten the link... sorry.

Anyways, I'm with Istock since 2006 and started out as a photographer mainly because there weren't audio or video at the time. When that kicked in, I stopped with photography and started with video and then audio. It was a healthy relationship until last year and now, I won't repeat everything regarding new RC stuff and sales slowing etc. But here's the deal - I depend on Istock's and Getty's income (getty footage) around 50% a month. I live in Serbia where a 1000-2000$ is a lot of money (well, it used to be and now it's a bit less but it's still serious money) and I cannot gamble loosing that amount of monthly income (much less than a 1000$ since summer 2011) but I cannot sit calmly and wait for a miracle to happen. I had a burst of uploads in summer/fall/winter and nothing happened with those. They tanked big time. Just my old files keep selling ("keep selling" is a relative term, remember, much less than a 1000$).
Anyways, I had a bad luck with my equipment three years ago (I was conned by a man that sold me my equpm. in the first place) and since than my uploads got thinner and so did the sales.
I picked up myself somehow and invested in new equipment, got a bank loan (very expensive one) and started working again and then Istock tanked even more for me.

I contacted every single person I know (video and audio, inspectors and managers)  including top, top, top contributors form audio and video mostly, asking them plain and simple about the future and telling them with most honest intent that I just don't know what to do anymore. I got various answers. Most contributors (top) told me the same story - we'll hang in there to see if it's a trend for another two, six, twelve months and after that we'll see... but they all report a down curve on sales. Pretty big one. And most of the management that I know told me that it's solely my decision to stay or go but they want me to stay off course. And don't get me wrong, I got an average portfolio and I'm a small fish...

Anyways, I was calmed to a point. Started thinking again to give them another chance... but that just varnished last night when Audio announced what they announced. That was over the top.
My video sales are horrid - if I'm lucky I'll get 20 sales a month...

Here's the last year numbers for video sales in 2011:
Jan 10
Feb 19
Mar 24
Apr 11
May 16
Jun 12
Jul 14
Aug 17
Sep 15
Oct 20
Nov 17
Dec 9

And just as an example, dl's for 2010 are 300% - 400% bigger and even more for 2009 depend's on the month. Audio's been more or less the same but dropping in the last months and the only thing that kept 2011 money the same were Getty footage sales that equaled the numbers from the past.

Sorry for such a big introduction and for the long reading but my question is down to this - from your experience, could I make more than 20 freaking dl's a month if spread my portfolio around? Got a 2000+ video clips. Not all on istock due to rejections. I'm considering to drop audio too but that's even more exotic story than this one...

Sorry again for the long reading and if there is any videographer reading this or anyone got something clever to say (everything right now is more clever than I can think of), please share your thoughts.
Thanks in advance.
Mirkic

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