looks to me similiar, and also you have to think about that monday is mostly no day for buying a picture.
Monday starts by presentation layouts, what have done over the weekend.

It looks to mee, just subjective, that the wave is breaking. Any big agency what is at the market had downsized the midiocrazy Constributors in the last two years ... what allmost means Freelance- Grafikers, Designers, Fotographers and high talented Hobbyists...(what, as i think, are the exceptions).
Most of us who are "inside" of the advertising business know, that this is a personal business with a high grade of networking. Somebody had this
mentioied some month befor.
I do Pictures and i bought pictures, i also recommend Pictureagencys in personal contact, with big clients without getting any earnings from that.
It is kind of service in my kind of business. I also often be recommended for a tip about a good pictureagency. I can't send them to a link waht gives me a profit from my recommendation. This is Service, not business! If i would earn for recommendation i would lost my reputation!!! This is what most agencys don't understand.
But the numbers show it up!
Any agency what abused constributors lost a lot of traffic,  lost earnings or stayed at the level they're choosed for constributor abuse. Gaining more from constributors work for a short time, not by more marketing or better prices for custumers. Because best marketing was, is, will be, refferal!!!
Prices? Do anyone think the Price is relevant for a picture you have to search for a half Hour or one or more? For a project what should spend your client a gain of 2-20% of its exchange? Are clients of Pictureagencys earn less than 0.30 $ at the hour? Or do they can't aritmetic? Any price what is lower than 50$ never interested any of my clients.
All of this thought were allready written down.

But current, they all have it through. IST, FT, DT and 123. In my case, they all lost and loose permanent. I also.
SS did not and SS is permanent  going from one bme to the next for me.
But i don't think that this is a reason for beeing blissfull. We all could earn more ... even SS.

And, at the end...i see a light at the horizon... when all big agencys have come to their position by support of constributors...and all what abuse them fall. How many times will it take until someone catches the coherence?
123 will tell them by falling faster than a stone. No agency was faster to kill the rising by abuse constributors.

try both...1:10 of the accepted ones will be at SS, have a look which of them sells more and then if you can, make a decission. This will take you 1-2 years.
Meanwhile if you don't give up you will have  learned something about this business... you will have learned you have not to decide between one of them....

Seems like 123 prefer constributors with a high rate of uploads, like me....but the earnings drop titaniclike since the new announcements of earningstructure.
Good bye 123....what a pitty you cant count higher than 4!

IST was once the No1? really...i'm not kidding....just online since three years.
SS will roll over the market in the next two years...they never misbehaved to contributors and not to customers.
Since i joined there i ask myself each month when i can close any other accounts...
especial FT who is engaged in making themselves dispensable.

By the way...I realize much higher earnings than in this thread manifested.

Meanwhile I found 3 Images in my bestselling 100 set back to 1 Credit basic price for non selling. Well, FT, this is my answer: they go to all other agencies what can sell them!
You get them first and exclusive and you can't sell them.
That's not my problem it's yours.

With best regards.

naturaly...any good idea is nothing worth without structure, marketing and distribution.
I also declared my regrets.

maybe this is a sign of clarity! If the constributors don't understand the corporate image..they should be rejected :-)
FT sells images now to minors who leads advetising agencys. That make sense to me, they also handle their constributors as kids....so it is consistent.
They are a kindergarten.

what targets should the alliance have?
what ammount does any of you would pay for an organisation what "start" to fullfill these targets?
First of all, any money goes to fundraising (website, PR, getting Members, office, coordination, pay the people who do the job...and no one at the front has to be a micro, because she/he would be executed by al the big agencys.)

Nobody has a RPI over 4$ a day only he have only 10 images online and one or two special shots what do there job as cash cows, and even then it means over 1460$ p.a. with 10 Images. Or over 14.600$ with a hunderet. I don't believe this without any proof.
My best is a RPI of 34$ over 34 month at one agency, and this is really unusual.
My RPI overall is at 13,61 EUR and my RPD is at 1,4$ at the moment (after 34 month in business, was doubled the high at my beginning). And nobody should tell me that this isn't a number for beeing in there since 34 month.

Theories about this and that and what happend somewhere in other countries and other branches doesn't help much. In my opinion.

the stakeholder should get money out of this donation pot. The attorney also for advice.

Okay, okay, i wasn't clear enough, my fault. I also have to confess that i'm more than often not fair in my postings about FT but they leave me in an mixture of fear and frustration all the time, that needs a valve sometimes. Maybe i'm too emotional in this case, but i had so much sympathy for FT at my beginning and they run roughshod over it all the time...thats hard to bear.