Slim.  No staff, no knowledge of the business, no marketing.  What is the 30% commission to FAA for?  Rent of online storage space?  Stock agencies take a cut because they cultivate buyers.   If one is to do all of their own marketing, you'd be better off with Symbiostock and keep all the profit.

Yes free is free.   If DT is using your images that you sell else where to sweeten the pot over the competition, then you are complicit in your own destruction.

Who ever the deal is with, they could have made the same deal with any other agency.  Its all comes down to which agency is going to cut the lowest deal.

Believe me, this deal does not hinge on the 20 images of mine they selected.   

I'm glad to see my BS detector has been properly calibrated after a few years in this industry.  As soon as I see any message from an agency praising my work, I reach for the opt out lever.

The latest email I got was from Deposit Photos asking me to upload more. 

Says Walmart to Vlasic:

Here is the deal.  We'll take your product, sell it to our customers for a really, really low price.  Our customers will be ecstatic to get your product as such a low price.  And think of all the exposure your company will get!

Oh and by the way, if you don't take the deal, there are two other companies lined up to take it.  And next year we'll be offering you even less of a profit margin because our customers expect "falling prices".  Sign here.

I think these agencies are at a crossroads.  Price has been driven down to the point of extinction.  They have to have good exclusive quality in order to survive but can't attract it with low commission rates.

Agencies without a good portion of quality exclusive content have nothing to offer the market other than price and have to compete with well funded SS (who doesn't even use exclusivity in their business plan). The only other option is to offer exclusive content which requires paying out a higher commission rate.

Maybe we'll look back at this moment of turmoil with a smile.  Some of these players will simply die out and we'll see a resurgence of specialty stock.  Who wouldn't want to put their various images (food, people, urban scenes etc) with agencies who specially market those categories to specific buyers.  This one stop shopping model just dilutes all images to the same rate regardless of there real value.

At least flipping burgers or waiting tables you can interact with humans.  Maybe even meet the love of your life. 

My guess is the image reviewers flip through the images on the way to the fridge to get more WOW snacks.

I think the word "exposure" is used these days like a magician would use something like "Abacadabra" - misdirection. 

"This poll may help to show how many have taken up Microstock recently."

Among those who choose to participate in this poll.

Consider it advertising.  Clicking on the link goes to the microstock site.

Limited names to choose from is my guess.  As long as they spend the money advertising, it doesn't matter what its called.   What was Amazon?

At least they won't have the embarrassment factor FAA has when someone goes there expecting fine art and finds a bunch of squirrel photos.

Society6 is a similar art site with certain works selected to be in the "store"

FAA is basically a printer,  totally open with no selection process or quality control.  Only when an image is ordered is there any check on quality.

Microstock sites have screening processes mainly for quality issues (noise, white balance, commercial viablity etc.)  These tend to be non-subjective like "no shadows"

Boutique stock agencies have curation where images are selected based on the agencies aesthetic.

Thanks for reminding me the payout was at $50.  Silly me waiting endlessly for it to reach $100.

Curated - looked at the website of my images before acceptance.  Not individually curated.  Unless there is something I don't see.   I think a lot of it is done by the other artists on the site?