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1
Ugh!  Trying to do my taxes and my bookmarked link to the page that has the downloadable spreadsheet file no longer takes me where I'd like to go.  Is that report just no longer available or did they hide it away somewhere?

Its been ages since I've done anything there other then request a payment so maybe I'm just misremembering where it is?

Thanks!

2
123RF / 123RF Georank - Yuck
« on: June 07, 2013, 21:19 »
123RF is introducing geographic weighting to the search, based on the country of registration of the contributor.  See the announcement from the newsletter below and the link to the press release. 

Can't wait to disambiguate my incorrectly associated images.   >:(  Really, I shot that teapot in France, and then flew to Brazil and shot it again, that's why it should get geographic weighting in both regions...


"NEW: 123RFs New Search Tab: GeoRank and how it affects you?

123RF has just released a new search ranking system called GeoRank a couple of weeks back (refer to our Press Release here). GeoRanks purpose is to float up results from contributors that are closer to the region of the buyer who is making a search and will produce a more localized search result. For example, a buyer in Europe searching for business images would get more European models compared to when the same search is conducted in USA.

For the time being, GeoRank takes the geographical information from a Contributors registered country. We understand that this has a few shortcomings - What if you shot the photo in Canada and the buyer is in USA and youre registered in Europe? To overcome this, we are rolling out a CSV import tool that you will be able to use to designate which images should be GeoRanked differently. So stay tuned for more developments as we crank up the accuracy of 123RFs GeoRank!"


http://www.prweb.com/releases/123RF/GeoRank/prweb10698634.htm?utm_source=123RF&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=contri

3
For those who care about it.

"The company will host a conference call at 5:00 PM ET that day to discuss these results. The conference call can be accessed at (866) 318-8620 or (617) 399-5139 (International), conference ID# 22693389. The call will also be broadcast simultaneously at http://investor.shutterstock.com. Following completion of the call, a recorded replay of the webcast will be available on Shutterstock's website.  To listen to the telephone replay, call toll-free (888) 286-8010 or (617) 801-6888 (International), conference ID# 85074442. The telephone replay will be available from 7:00 PM ET May 8 through 11:59 PM ET May 22, 2013. Additional investor information can be accessed at http://shutterstock.com."

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/shutterstock-announce-first-quarter-2013-200300174.html



5
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/shutterstock-contributor-payouts-surpass-150-170000568.html

This does not seem like all that much in 10 years.  I recall at one point Istock claimed it was paying $1.7 million a week (though Im sure those days are long gone).

Also apparently Turkey is the hot new market
http://www.bloomberg.com/video/shutterstock-fills-companies-visual-needs-oringer-CppxVYZNQKqH~b~6KOQy0g.html?cmpid=yhoo

7
http://www.photoattorney.com/?p=4261

I think some here were seeking the opportunity to comment on something like this in the past.

8
Ooops

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/25/humans-of-new-york-dkny-photos-hony_n_2759752.html?ref=topbar

Love there defense.  It was an internal use only full-sized mock-up that they sent to the store in Thailand to show how the unrelated actually licensed images were to be displayed. 

9
Just got this.  There are also a couple Istock threads.
http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=351633&page=1
http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=351629&page=1

Contributor News: February 20, 2013

IP Wiki

The iStock and Getty Images teams are very happy to announce the relaunch of a new and improved IP Wiki. This is a guide for contributors (and customers as well!) to some of the legal issues that can affect what you shoot and what we can accept at each site. High Fives to Shaun Lombard, Benoit Beauregard and Jeff Feltmate for all your hard work! We will update this regularly so bookmark it and visit often!

Forum Shuffle

Its been over 10 years since the forums launched and its high time we did some spring cleaning. In early March, we will be making some significant changes to our current format that we hope will make it easier to find the latest news and updates from Headquarters.

Illustration Updates

Raster News

We're beyond thrilled to announce the imminent launch of a project that is long overdue and has been on our collective wish list for years...moving rasters to the illustration category!

Starting in the coming weeks, when clients search for illustrations they will see every vector and JPEG illustration on the site. From there they will be able to filter their search results to view only vector artwork if they choose. Clients looking for photos will no longer see ilustrations in their search results. Bortonia has created a post in the forums that should cover most questions about rasters and how it effects you as a contributor.

Vector Thumbnails on Getty Images

We've been hard at work the past several months working on solutions to the vector thumbnail color shift and cropping issues on both Getty Images and the Partner Program sites (Thinkstock, Photos.com).

We've made multiple improvements to how our system handles the generation of vector preview images. These improvements include far more accurate colors, less visible banding and compression, and better cropping.

Moving forward, all vector files moved to GI and the PP sites will have their previews generated by this new system. We still have a large backlog of files to move so clearing these is our biggest priority, but at least we know that their previews will be far better than those we've made in the past.

We are also working towards reprocessing the existing thumbnails over the coming weeks. Once this is complete we will let you know however please understand that moving the backlog of files is still our main priority at this time.

Google Drive Update

First, we would like to thank you for your continued patience in this process. Getty Images and Google have been working very closely together over the past few weeks to resolve your concerns with the presentation of your content in Google Drive and we are in full agreement about the importance of protecting your intellectual property. We are in the process of working together to refine the messaging around end user rights and restrictions, as well as to ensure that the metadata is associated with the images in Google Drive. This work is in progress and we are looking forward to spelling out all of the changes for you as they are completed in the near future.

Pinterest

This month, iStock will be joining the ranks of inspired pinners around the globe. Similar to our other social media channels, we'll be inspiring a broader creative audience with the quality and breadth of our content, while also driving brand awareness and traffic.

You'll notice boards like Tips and Tricks, The World of Mobile, Design Elements and Free Images to engage creatives with iStock's current free image of the week. We will also be highlighting our exclusive artists and showcasing locally relevant work; all attributed and linked accordingly. In addition to this, we will only be using small, watermarked images that link directly back to the file close up pages.

We know weve talked at great length in various threads about Pinterest and specifically about copyright protection. Getty Images is taking steps to add all iStock content to Image IRC in 2013. This means that all your content will be fingerprinted.

ImageIRC is a technology platform that enables images to be identified and attributed to their creators wherever they appear on the web. Currently, the ImageIRC contains over 139 million premium still images from 200 individual partners worldwide.

If youd like to read up a little more on Pinterest
Pinterest Terms of Service
Pinterest Copyright

Follow us at Pinterest.

Microsoft Update
We are on track to have all of the iStock content on Microsoft removed by the end of March.

10
The conference call can be accessed at (888) 396-2298 or (617) 847-8708 (International), conference ID# 22016130.

Calls like this often have a nugget or two of useful information.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/shutterstock-announce-fourth-quarter-fiscal-170000589.html

11
General Stock Discussion / Cheapest microstock?
« on: February 11, 2013, 07:13 »
For what it is worth (given that the data is compiled/analyzed by a agency), thought this was interesting. 
http://www.mystockphoto.org/microstock-agencies-price-comparison-2013/

12
Obviously not everyone has voted for December results yet, but it is pretty striking that Istock is below FT for the month at all.  Is it just that people are voting before the partner program results are in or are people really seeing their total IS income dropping below their FT earnings?

http://www.microstockgroup.com/index.php?page=PollResults

Note that Istock is still shown above FT on the right hand column poll results because Leaf uses a moving average, not just the results from the past month.

13
General Stock Discussion / Sean's Plan B?
« on: November 29, 2012, 21:54 »
Just saw this on Sean's blog http://seanlockephotography.com/2012/11/29/welcome-to-accordstock/.  Seems like a good idea to promote his brand and as he points out since the zoom on Istock is broken, he's set it up so that you can zoom on his Istock images though Accordstock.

But it also seems like a good start on a Plan B for him in case something really bad happens to Istock since Sean will have an established site that could start selling his images at the flip of a switch.  He also suggests that other contributors could in the future showcase their work on his site as well.  Could Sean be running his own agency someday?

If anyone hears about any Accordstock partner programs, let me know I'll add them to the list.
http://www.microstockgroup.com/general-stock-discussion/a-list-of-partner-programs/  ;D ;D ;D

15
Veer / Veer goes Vetta sort of
« on: September 24, 2012, 16:03 »
http://www.veer.com/about/veerroyale/?em_812_amr_1_Roya_all

"Veer Royale is a collection of the sweetest images weve got. Our photo editors have hand-picked a select group of photos, illustrations, and vectors that are highly stylized, well-crafted, and have strong aesthetic appeal. In other words, the best of the best."

But it seems like it is at the same prices as before, so what is the point?  Hey look at us, we have pretty images!  ???


16
General Stock Discussion / Photoshop fail
« on: July 02, 2012, 12:05 »
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/retired-nasa-astronaut-killed-jet-ski-accident-involving-son-article-1.1106326

Tragic story, but OMG, what is up with the hack job on the photoshop?  Do we need to see a picture of the guy with a beach background? 

Does the Getty photographer own both images?  I think this is the front page image for Racephoto's new site!

17
Just got this email from Getty.  I'm no longer a Getty contributor since I'm no longer exclusive, but they keep sending me the emails.  I can't log in to see any more about the new program and I've removed the links in case the links are unique to me.  

Sounds to me like they are embedding their search directly into customer specific applications so customers could search for images from within that application directly rather then through a browser.

Note the phrase I've highlighted which scares the crap out of me since any time Getty introduces a new licensing model contributor's get screwed.  
-------------------------------------------------------------------
   
Introducing Connect by Getty Images

Dear Getty Images Contributor

We wanted to be sure you know about an important and exciting new addition to our business offerings.

Connect by Getty Images is a new tool set that enables customers to use our content as part of new businesses that they are building, primarily online, where traditional license models simply do not work. The term Connect is an umbrella term for our Application Programming Interface (API) solution. This solution embeds Getty Images content, metadata and search functionality directly inside customers publishing tools, products and services, often completing the workflows that are key to our customers businesses. The number of ways customers can potentially apply this functionality is as varied as their businesses are.

Theres a lot more information and news about Connect on our Contributors Community site at xxx and in the Community Forum on the site at xxx

If you havent checked in to the Community site in a while this is a great time to do it, for updates about Connect as well as all of the latest news and image needs!

Cheers,

Getty Images Contributor Relations

18
Interesting post. 

http://www.microstockdiaries.com/are-you-selling-extended-license-rights-for-subscription-level-royalties.html

I did not realize I was selling ELs for sub prices. :-\  (I have not actually checked that Lee is correct, but suspect he is.)

19
Veer / Is Veer on a monthly review schedule?
« on: January 02, 2012, 09:03 »
Just realized that in October, November, and December, I've had one review per month about 30 days apart, regardless of when I uploaded the images.  Are they on a monthly review schedule per contributor rather then on a first uploaded first reviewed schedule?

20
Wonder how easy is it to rig the earnings poll?  I would guess that poll results influence where people upload with companies that move up in rankings getting a burst of uploads.

Leaf, is there any data you track or can share that would help the community identify trends that might be a bit suspicious?  Graphs over time showing the number of votes per company, so a big spike in votes one month to the next would be easy to spot?  Information about the number of voters that only vote for one company?

Know some people don't like/care about the poll, but as somebody else pointed out, what else do we have?

21
Veer / Veer newsletter indicates addition of AIC as new partner
« on: November 04, 2011, 14:57 »
October newsletter notes that they've added aic.com as a partner. 

Apparently prior newsletter indicated they added Matton Images as one as well.  Did anyone save their old newsletter?  Can you check to see if they've announced any other partners?   

Thanks

22
General Stock Discussion / Dreamstime makes a good change
« on: October 20, 2011, 14:17 »
Just reread this blog post and saw at the very bottom of the comments that DT has changed its policy and will embed copyright info into all its purchased and thumb images!

http://blog.picniche.com/microstock/do-microstock-agencies-violate-photographers-dmca-copyright/

This is a great change and hopefully others in the industry will follow.  Thanks to bobbigmac for grabbing the attention of the agencies.

(I recall somebody had started a thread about bobbigmac's blog post, but I could not find it, so started a new thread)

23
Veer / Is Matton Images a Veer Partner?
« on: October 19, 2011, 13:44 »
Was hoping somebody from Veer could confirm if Matton is or is not a partner.

http://www.microstockgroup.com/general-stock-discussion/matton-images/msg224064/?topicseen#new

Thanks!

24
General Stock Discussion / Stock Photography Mystery Shopper?
« on: October 13, 2011, 15:29 »
This thread got me thinking http://www.microstockgroup.com/fotolia-com/fotolia-partner-sales/msg223313/?topicseen#new

Given the lack of transparency in accounting that we face with our agents/distributors and their partners, I think somebody could start a business mystery shopping for individual contributors.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_shopping   for those who dont know about it.)

Ive got a busy day job, so this is beyond me, but I bet a number of contributors would be willing to pay to see how long it takes to show up in the contributors account and how much the agent/distributor actually pays out.  

The big hurdle is getting the agencies/distributors to not object to this when a contributor comes to them with a problem transaction fund this way.  I can imagine some agent/distributors taking the position that anyone buying images on your behalf is seeking to manipulate their system and will close the contributors account rather than work to resolve the issue.

Clearly this would not work on high volume images since it would be hard to identify individual transactions, but most of us have a few more niche images that rarely (if ever in my case) sell.  

Added to note that if you are posting here under your real name that you might not want to state you have/intend to buy your own images, regardless of how well intentioned you might be.  People have had their accounts closed for doing so.  

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