My first thought on reading the Alamy news this morning was that it is time to sign up at Picturengine.  It seems to me when even Alamy is comfortable cutting rates, the long term writing is on the wall.  Dollar amounts for traditional licenses have fallen so low the only way I can see this being sustainable for the photographer long term is if we are keeping 70% or more of the license.  I can live with the new reality of lower prices but I can't live with the reality of giving most of it away to the "agencies" who represent us.  Let's make technology work for us for a change.  Is a place like Picturengine the answer?  I don't know if it will be them or someone else who makes a difference in the end but I'm inclined to to support the organizations that are trying to make our lives as image creators better.

I'm gonna put my money where my mouth is.

P.S. I have absolutely no affiliation with Picturengine

Which is exactly why I supported this site first as a buyer and then as a contributor.  If I see a drop in earnings or search engine tweaking that benefits site earnings at the cost of contributors, I will no longer support this site as a buyer!

When are these companies going to realize that at the microstock level there is a huge crossover between the buyers and sellers.  Screw one and you screw both.  Istock was able to get away with selling images at much higher prices than their competitors because whenever they raised prices many buyers took solace in the fact that they were going to make more money at least on the selling side.  Between that and the intense loyalty both buyers and sellers had at istock they were able to make it work ..... until they pushed too far and started lowering commissions.  123rf is doing the same thing only it won't take them as long to fall apart as they don't have the loyalty and earning power that istock did.

Again, at the microstock level when you anger and alienate your contributors you are also angering and alienating many of your buyers.