By paying us 0.25-0.38c for our shots. Sold SS took the lolly and f#%#&d off leaving us with the suits and beancounters! who really dont know a damned thing about the photography business.

by paying SS contributors 0.25c per download and turning a once very sustainable industry upside down. he could not have done it without the support of people willing to undersell their own worth.

Yep . Sad and astonishing buy hey everyday more free sites were photographers and non photographers give happily their images away for some sort of ego boost.

But not only is SS responsible of the state of the industry. Unfortunately bean counters, business sharks and other unscrupulous people have destroyed the industry with the help of millions of contributors. Fortunatelly there are still some agencies and production houses that try to fight this policy.

Quote from: Zero Talent on January 11, 2018, 14:59

Quote from: Clair Voyant on January 11, 2018, 12:51

by paying SS contributors 0.25c per download and turning a once very sustainable industry upside down. he could not have done it without the support of people willing to undersell their own worth.

Let me turn this around. 

He is a visionary entrepreneur, a Clair Voyant! He, he! 
He enabled a multitude of talented people to tap into a market and a revenue stream they would have never been able to access otherwise. I'm one of them and I'm very grateful to people like Oringer, for the extra, unexpected 6 digits bonus I was able to earn during the last 4-5 years.

He deserves to be rewarded for his courage to innovate and revolutionize a market, to take risks very few dared to take.

Zero Talent. You say this because you simply didn't experienced how it was before.

Very probable!

The golden days nostalgia is specific to small group of old-school professionals, overwhelmed by the innovative crowd-sourcing business model implemented by entrepreneurs like Oringer & Co.

I am certain that I could never have reached the required level to sell macro in those golden days, to penetrate the exclusive photographer's club, en-vogue back then!
Therefore, I am very happy for this unexpected opportunity that fell into my lap! I already stated on few occasions that Microstock paid every semester of my daughter's out-of-state, expensive university, preventing me or her to go for one of those predatory loans, leading to long term crippling debts. And all that only through a part-time effort, done mostly during weekends.

Rest assured, I'll enjoy the ride as much as I can, no regrets, no looking back!

Quote from: Zero Talent on January 11, 2018, 14:59

Quote from: Clair Voyant on January 11, 2018, 12:51

by paying SS contributors 0.25c per download and turning a once very sustainable industry upside down. he could not have done it without the support of people willing to undersell their own worth.

Let me turn this around. 

He is a visionary entrepreneur, a Clair Voyant! He, he! 
He enabled a multitude of talented people to tap into a market and a revenue stream they would have never been able to access otherwise. I'm one of them and I'm very grateful to people like Oringer, for the extra, unexpected 6 digits bonus I was able to earn during the last 4-5 years.

He deserves to be rewarded for his courage to innovate and revolutionize a market, to take risks very few dared to take.

Zero Talent. You say this because you simply didn't experienced how it was before. Now I am heading to a 7 digit figure of profits only made on Istock in the last few years. But even if arrived very late to the golden years of macro when with a few hundred images you made over 1million/year I can remember well my single 5 digit sales. You have to live on your time. And the digital revolution changed everything and made possible the strong devaluation of images as a whole.
So although nothing would have changed much if Oringer or Livingstone wouldn't have existed, as other would have taken their place, the fact remains that those individuals were responsible to the sudden drop of value of all images in general. Although I think it was inevitable I cannot thank them.

Exactly!

And they also know that individual microstock photographers have no bargaining power.

Wrongly posted

Quote from: Clair Voyant on January 11, 2018, 12:51

by paying SS contributors 0.25c per download and turning a once very sustainable industry upside down. he could not have done it without the support of people willing to undersell their own worth.

Let me turn this around. 

He is a visionary entrepreneur, a Clair Voyant! He, he! 
He enabled a multitude of talented people to tap into a market and a revenue stream they would have never been able to access otherwise. I'm one of them and I'm very grateful to people like Oringer, for the extra, unexpected 6 digits bonus I was able to earn during the last 4-5 years.

He deserves to be rewarded for his courage to innovate and revolutionize a market, to take risks very few dared to take.

Best answer here by far.

Mirco

a year or two later Jon came along and sprung the "brilliant" idea of subscriptions, 0.25-0.38 and that was the landmark, then the reductions in royalties all started and from there on we have been on a steady downhill slope in pricing all the way.

Subscriptions are not unique to microstock. Music and video have gone the same way.

Because SS is overvalued by the market with over optimistic growth projections  probably really only worth 1/3 of that ;-). Which is still nice going. Most of the wealth comes from stock value rather than profit generated by his company ;-).

So are you shorting Shutterstock?

... I'm very risk averse

You actually provided a counter-example to OP's dilemma: Oringer is not risk averse and this is a necessary condition to be a billionaire 

Quote from: Zero Talent on January 12, 2018, 10:48

Quote from: Pauws99 on January 12, 2018, 07:41

... I'm very risk averse

You actually provided a counter-example to OP's dilemma: Oringer is not risk averse and this is a necessary condition to be a billionaire 

Quite an also a condition to be begging on the street ;-).

Being a risk taker is a possible, maybe even probable condition (for some) to end up begging on the street  , but NOT a necessary condition.
On the other hand, becoming a billionaire without being a risk taker is virtually impossible.
Therefore, being a risk taker is a necessary condition to become a billionaire. Of course not a sufficient, but definitely a necessary condition.