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Messages - Sadstock
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102
« on: February 21, 2013, 21:29 »
103
« on: February 21, 2013, 21:22 »
Just got this. There are also a couple Istock threads. http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=351633&page=1http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=351629&page=1Contributor 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.
104
« on: February 21, 2013, 17:44 »
oh I see, I would love to have those views taken away 
i think they were going to remove bot views at some point
According to the FAA link on bots rimglow provided, you can contact support to have the bot visits not show up under visitors.
Where are you seeing this?
http://1stangel.co.uk/fineartamerica/2011/06/25/what-is-a-bot-or-search-bot/
I emailed support and got this reply:
"Most of the bots are filtered out. However they are always changing their IPs so it is not really possible to keep them filtered all the time"
So, we're stuck with all those views from Washington DC.
Along with all the other stuff that comes out of DC...
105
« on: February 21, 2013, 17:41 »
looks like they did pretty well.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/shutterstock-reports-fourth-quarter-full-210500878.html
A 42% increase in revenue from the last quarter of last year, how many of you are seeing those kinds of results?
------------------- Shuttestock Stock (SSTK) closed today at $28.05. If you purchased SSTK at $21.66, the closing price on the first day it was publically traded, you would only need to get to $30.76 to have secured a 42% return.  The stock maybe a beter investment then uploading.
106
« on: February 21, 2013, 17:02 »
108
« on: February 21, 2013, 11:14 »
oh I see, I would love to have those views taken away
i think they were going to remove bot views at some point
According to the FAA link on bots rimglow provided, you can contact support to have the bot visits not show up under visitors. I think I'll do that, as it is a huge chunk of my visits.
109
« on: February 21, 2013, 09:10 »
.
111
« on: February 20, 2013, 09:29 »
157 exclusives for photos, how can it be that only 87 said iStock had their highest RPI, the other had better in Alamy or Getty or other?
Maybe they have 5000 images on iS, which might pull down the average RPI, especially if a lot were uploaded in the past six months and were hit by a brutal best match drowning, but only 25 good sellers on Alamy. Just one possibility.
------------------- Could also be that if you check exclusive on the survey you can't vote for highest RPI. All 87 who voted would then have been independents.
112
« on: February 19, 2013, 14:42 »
Very interesting to me that nearly 50% of the survey respondents did not respond last year. Is that a comment on transitory participation in MSG? In the industry? Or that the respondents have short memories?
113
« on: February 18, 2013, 20:26 »
Maybe one run through for thinkstock and another for photos.com?
114
« on: February 18, 2013, 10:54 »
I pay $600 or so, and that includes the liability and all that.
I pay another $475 for liability... sigh.
Sounds like you have a good deal. How much is insured and what is your deductible (if you are willing to say)?
$17,000 in equipment and the deductible is $250. I think I got it originally from joining ppa.com for a year. Not sure they still offer the same deal. I let my membership from PPA lapse after a year, but get to keep the insurance. Maybe there is a photographer's association or even a small business association in your area that offers something similar? I repriced a year ago and could get the same price for the insurance, but a $500 deductible was the lowest I could find.
115
« on: February 18, 2013, 10:17 »
I also pay about $600 for equipment and $1,000,000 in liability (which is a must for location shooting in the U.S.). I'm paying about 2.5% on the value of the equipment and my deductible is quite a bit lower than Leaf's. I've filed a claim after damage to a back and they paid quickly.
Leaf, is your insurance specifically for photography? If not, you could try to find some, if so, maybe general business insurance would be cheaper.
116
« on: February 15, 2013, 17:23 »
Looks like the link is working again. It still says "Locke couldn't immediately be reached for comment". I'm pasting the langauge below in case it changes.
Bruce Livingstone, who founded microstock powerhouse iStockphoto more than a decade ago and left it in 2009, is trying again with a new stock-art sales venture called Stocksy.
And he's doing it at a time when iStock is, if not necessarily vulnerable, the target of criticisms that it's out of touch with the army of photographers who contribute the imagery it licenses. To succeed, a microstock needs lots of customers licensing its photos, videos, and other works, and it needs a lot of contributors supplying a steady stream of fresh material.
It's these contributors Livingstone appears to be aiming to attract. The site describes Stocksy as "a stock photography cooperative owned and operated by artists," and it says contributors will have a stake in its success:
Our purpose is to create sustainable careers, ownership, and a long-term professional and equity strategy for our members.
Stocksy pays the highest royalty in the industry as well as dividends and patronage performance returns to artists, 50 percent on regular sales and 100 percent of extended licenses. By design, Stocksy pays out all profits to artists. In addition to paying dividend and patronage fees to artists on a yearly basis, each member of the co-op owns real equity in the company.
Livingstone declined to comment for this story.
Stocksy will face plenty of competitive challenges, and not just from iStockphoto, which since 2006 has been part of old-school stock-art firm Getty Images.
The microstock industry's growth was fueled by the abundance of low-cost, high-quality digital cameras and the Web, which provided a quick way to reach a global marketplace. Now there are dozens of microstocks around, including Fololia, Dreamstime, and Shutterstock, which is confident enough of growth that it went public in 2012.
But iStockphoto evidently is a source of talent for new microstocks. A case in point is photographer Sean Locke, who with 12,781 images and more than 900,000 sales is one of its top five contributors and a person who earned nearly all his income from sales through the company.
A week ago, iStock said it is terminating its relationship with Locke. According to his blog post on the subject, iStock was displeased with Locke's actions involving a Getty Images licensing deal with Google and with the fact that Locke had begun working with another stock-art firm.
"They also knew (somehow!) that I had joined this new stock site, even though it was closed to all but a relatively small group, and declared that this was against the 'spirit of the exclusivity agreement,'" Locke said.
Contributors often sign exclusivity contracts that pay them higher royalties if they agree to sell their imagery only through one microstock. Shutterstock founder Jon Oringer thinks exclusivity is bad -- "As a microstock photographer it just doesn't make sense to be exclusive to any one agency," he said in a January blog post -- but it's common. Now, though, Locke said he's moving his portfolio to multiple iStock competitors.
In a statement, iStockphoto laid the blame on the termination on Locke's helping a competitor:
In addition to other factors, Mr. Locke was actively recruiting exclusive iStock contributors to work with a competitive venture which is directly at odds with his relationship with iStockphoto. Given these actions, we made the decision to part ways with Mr. Locke under the terms of his exclusive agreement. We are excited to continue to work with the tens of thousands of contributors committed to the continued success of iStockphoto and Getty Images -- and wish Mr. Locke the best in his future endeavors.
Locke couldn't immediately be reached for comment about the recruiting issue. In his post, though, he said the severed relationship was liberating.
And the strong relations with contributors from iStockphoto's early days have faded, said Lee Torrens, author of the Microstock Diaries blog.
"iStock's soul is long gone," Torrens said. "They wiped out the entire content team, which was what kept the community functional...With the absence of leadership, old-time exclusives [exclusive photographers] are starting to jump ship. That probably doesn't hurt customers, but it bruises their reputation inside the industry."
Another photographer given the boot is Rob Sylvan, who also is author of "Lightroom 2 for Dummies." "I am very glad that I quit when I did and am no longer reliant on them as a source of income. I would urge any other iStock contributor to make sure you have a solid backup plan in place, and any exclusive contributor to start working on an exit strategy," he said in a comment to Locke.
iStockphoto said Sylvan "is identified as an administrator of a competitive venture's social media page, which, again, is directly at odds with his relationship with iStockphoto."
Some seeds of Locke's discontent were sown by the Getty deal with Google Drive, under which photographers' works could be used on Google Apps' online services for tasks such as word processing and presentations. The deal granted Google Apps users rights to 5,000 images, but they can be downloaded to a local computer and have copyright information and other metadata stripped out.
Locke objected to the Google Drive deal on iStock's forums, and a ruckus ensued with many photographers objecting. iStock scrambled to pull together its explanation as users howled.
Yesterday, iStock told CNET News it hopes for at least some changes to the Google Drive deal: "We can confirm that contributors were paid royalties for the use of their content in the license deal with Google. We are working with Google to refine the implementation which we believe will address some of the concerns raised by contributors."
Stephen Shankland
Stephen Shankland writes about a wide range of technology and products, but has a particular focus on browsers and digital photography. He joined CNET News in 1998 and has also covered Google, Yahoo, servers, supercomputing, Linux, other open-source software, and science.
117
« on: February 13, 2013, 22:26 »
there is something that I do not understand... 
There are 204 people who are working full time in this industry (about 29%),
but only 7% said that microstock are the primary source of income...
I don't understand it either  I'll have to see if I can figure out how that 'happened' when I look closer at the numbers next week.
--------------------------- Trust Fund?
118
« on: February 13, 2013, 10:16 »
Leaf, to be sure I'm understand the meaning of the exclusive number (currently 222.1), it is still in a score of 100 = $500 a month?
This means that the score 222.1 = 500 x 2.221 = $1,110.50 reported average income for an exclusive Istocker?
If so then the reported combined non-exclusive total (all the poll results with a number total excluding the exclusive Istock number) is 259.4 which = 500 x 2.594 = $1,297 reported average income for an independent?
119
« on: February 12, 2013, 20:03 »
Leaf, thanks so much for doing the survey every year. The data is invaluable to helping us understand the industry.
120
« on: February 11, 2013, 22:15 »
This little quote just popped into my head. Could not resist
121
« on: February 11, 2013, 21:38 »
One big problem is that such images need to be model released and the model needs to have a physical as well as an email address and a phone number. Generally the types of people in the images you are describing don't have some or all of these things, so you can't submit the images. For some sites you could do them as editorial, but they don't sell much.
122
« on: February 11, 2013, 21:27 »
Oringer must be running around giving high-fives to anyone he meets right now. Those financial projections will be so much easier to reach with Mr Locke's portfolio on SS ... and not on IS. What a gift!
So he is submitting to the sub sites, always thought he opposed putting his images there. That is big news.
-------------------- Unless I missed it, he did not say where he would be submitting, only that his stuff would be on a few sites shortly.
123
« on: February 11, 2013, 18:38 »
Sean - Sorry to hear this news. I'm sure you will land on your feet. I've always greatly appreciated your willingness to speak up regarding problems at Istock in a constructive way which has benefited all Istock contributors. I have to say that I really don't understand their thinking on this. Given how well known you are in the micro world, treating you like this and freeing up your portfolio to buyers who don't shop at Istock does not make any sense to me. This is going to affect some buyers decision making in a bad way for Istock. I have to figure it is the Stocksy connection, given it happened to Rob as well. Is there a Getty mole in Stocksy? Sounds like they are hopping mad about what Bruce is doing and want to make an example of you. I think it will go the other way with lots of people who have never heard of Stocksy now wanting to find out more about it.
125
« on: February 10, 2013, 20:24 »
I guess that's part of the problem. Everyone wants to make things about me. Well it's about all of us. Yes, this is my account. I'm Lobo on iStock. I'm the horrible monster.
Maybe leaf will let you speak your mind. I can assure you I've read plenty of terrible things in my 11 years with iStock so you won't hurt my feelings. One thing you might consider: swearing and cursing at me might only go towards proving my point as to why you were banned in the first place.
As for the REASONS people are typically banned: it comes down to civility. There are people who seem to have an interesting way of omitting certain facts related to the loss of their privileges. I won't call people out but if you consider the inherent tone present here it might be easier to understand.
These forums have lurkers too. People who would like to participate are hesitant because there is rarely anything constructive going on. It seems to be a catch all for anger and rage. I read these forums everyday. Don't think for a second I don't.
Anyway. Have at it. I'll leave you all now and let you prove me wrong. Thanks for reading. Apologies for any grammar or spelling issue. I'm typing this on my phone.
------------------------------------------- I agree that there is a lot of anger on MSG, but consider the position that contributors to IS and to all the other agencies are in. We are basically over a barrel and the agencies know it - play on their terms or take our marbles and go home. Contributors own and create a product that is becoming more and more a commodity every day, so our returns will shrink over time to the point that likely within a couple of years this will not be a viable industry for most. In fact, I think that MSG's existence (with all respects to Leaf) reflects the stress that contributors face in the face of this ongoing change. While I think this change is inevitable given the technology and the global nature of the business, Istock has been the prime enabler of the acceleration of this change, so it gets the lion's share of the anger. Hopefully everyone at IS who reads this forum appreciates that. As to the idea that there is rarely anything constructive going on MSG... http://www.microstockgroup.com/general-stock-discussion/a-list-of-partner-programs/http://www.microstockgroup.com/general-stock-discussion/selling-rf-images-is-really-not-that-hard-php-developers-wanted/http://www.microstockgroup.com/product-resale-forum/faa-the-largest-art-site-in-the-world/
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