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Hi!  I just joined Alamy as a US based contributor 1-2 days ago.  The website seems nice, they claim to have a couple(kidding, more than 2mil) million stock photos, but I still have some issues, so I'll put them in bullet points;

 

  • If Alamy is so big, why do they have so few US based reputable clients?  Dailymail.co.uk uses them, but few others do.  Compared to [redacted], which seems universal in size and scale, Alamy seems basically like a small company (Chrome even marks Alamy as a typo!!)
  • What are your average sales?  I'm not asking price, that might be too much, just average sale volume (eg. 1000 licenses/month)
  • With (supposedly) 90 million images, how do mine ever have a chance at being discovered?  Just like YouTube and many other growing platforms of this size and scale, discoverability seems impossible.
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If you take the time to search and read through the forum threads you will find a lot of answers to most of your questions.

You seem to have a lot of negativity regarding Alamy so why have you joined in the first place?

 

 

Craig

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OP, the US is not the world. It is quite possible to have a successful business elsewhere. For your information, Alamy's turnover is about one third of the image licensing turnover of the other company you mentioned but it is far more profitable and has no long-term debt. Hardly "nothing".

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  • With (supposedly) 90 million images, how do mine ever have a chance at being discovered?  Just like YouTube and many other growing platforms of this size and scale, discoverability seems impossible.

 

 

I am curious, what is a biulder, as in your name? If it is supposed to be bobdabuilder then I would recommend you check your spelling on all your keywording. Good keywording is essential but useless if not spelt correctly.

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Fellow Listreaders, I think these questions are meant to be serious, it's just that something is lost in posting.

 

My own serious reply to the OP is that I do better on Alamy than I do with that famous agency you mentioned and that Alamy has sold images of mine to (American) publications that I am very proud to be in including The Washington Post and Saveur. 

 

Finally, while Alamy does have tens of millions of images, it's collection isn't very broad. There's tons of travel and the big lifestyle brands, but everything else is spotty. There are definitely big gaps that the right person could fill.

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Are you sure about that Brian? 

 
Verified but no images. Why would someone join and then immediately launch a not so subtle attack on the place they just joined?
 
A typo on Chrome. Really? I do not have a copy of Chrome but maybe someone who does should check it out.
 
The entire post does not ring true to me, unless he/she/it is employed by a competing Library.
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Thanks to all of you (Brian, mostly) who actually took me seriously as these concerns I have expressed are serious.  I hope those of you who criticized my username know how shallow and sad that personal attack is.  This is not helping my first impression at all.  

 

Bobdabiulder is the username I use because, generally, if I spell it "builder", it's taken, therefore I try to be consistent in my "misspelling".

 

I have never heard of Alamy before, and the only way I found it was by searching and finding that they have the highest commission.  A quick search in the news tab of google.com shows 1 to 2 actually articles with stock from Alamy, which is not very promising.  In addition, the backend/my Alamy pages look like one step up from Craigslist.

 

To you doubting my legitimacy, I have hundreds of pictures high quality enough for stock websites, but I've never uploaded 99% of them.  It requires you to do an initial submission of 4 images, 16 more of mine are already QC'd.

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Are you sure about that Brian? 

 
Verified but no images. Why would someone join and then immediately launch a not so subtle attack on the place they just joined?
 
A typo on Chrome. Really? I do not have a copy of Chrome but maybe someone who does should check it out.
 
The entire post does not ring true to me, unless he/she/it is employed by a competing Library.

 

 

Chrome desktop still says Alamy is a typo.  Unemployed.  4 images on sale, soon to be 20 at next indexing.  Why would I launch an "attack"?  Because I was questioning the legitimacy, and my first impression didn't help.

 

Note to self: Alamy has a large and yet vicious community

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We may have vices but they're not on show here.

Alamy is recognised as one of the best in the business for treating its contributors well, so you can expect a vigorous response here when you sound off at without good reason, and you have none, because you've been here precisely one day.

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Are you sure about that Brian? 

 
Verified but no images. Why would someone join and then immediately launch a not so subtle attack on the place they just joined?
 
A typo on Chrome. Really? I do not have a copy of Chrome but maybe someone who does should check it out.
 
The entire post does not ring true to me, unless he/she/it is employed by a competing Library.

 

 

Chrome desktop still says Alamy is a typo.  Unemployed.  4 images on sale, soon to be 20 at next indexing.  Why would I launch an "attack"?  Because I was questioning the legitimacy, and my first impression didn't help.

 

Note to self: Alamy has a large and yet vicious community

 

 

Actually Alamy has a very helpful and friendly community.Your original request did come across a little strange and certainly not based on any recognisable facts.

 

I have had many sales to US based clients so I don't think you are right with that first remark. I wonder how you came to this conclusion, maybe by a web search for images used by Alamy? 

 

Btw Chrome (including desktop or any other version) certainly does not mark Alamy as a typo for me. And that is after trying quite a few different country versions!

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The best way to see if Alamy is going to work for you is to give them a try (as you seem to be in the process of doing).

 

Remember, though, that Alamy is not a microstock agency. You won't make 1000's of licenses per month.

 

See this recent thread for more realistic expectations.

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Probably a waste of time, but ok...

 

Dear OP, if I get it right from your posts you are currently unemployed and have a collection of "hundreds of high quality pictures". Maybe you are in a difficult situation and desperate to find a new source of income. Given your bad mood I don't know why you joined Alamy as a contributor at all, but I think you might have some unrealistic expectations, so let's get the things straight from the beginning on: A portfolio of only hundreds of pictures is by far not enough to give you any significant financial contribution to remedy the difficult economical situation you might be in. Such a small portfolio will net you a few dollars per year. Maybe 100 or 200 if you're lucky and if your pictures were well keyworded - which they are currently not. You're committing the usual beginner's faults in keywording and captioning. I suggest you read the last few pages of this forum, especially the almost weekly newbie question threads. 

 

 

Christoph

 

Edit: now John beat me by a minute in posting

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"Your original request did come across a little strange and certainly not based on any recognisable facts"

 

Sure, strange is a fair assessment.  No recognizable facts?  Do the google search I did for yourself.  No lies were presented, but some was speculation and opinion.  

 

 

 

"...you are currently unemployed and have a collection of "hundreds of high quality pictures"... difficult situation and desperate to find a new source of income... "

 

I am in no desperate need of income, this would be extra as I have plenty of other money.  Maybe I misspoke.  I have no boss, not no job.  Please link me some helpful hints as my pictures are "currently not" well keyworded.

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"Your original request did come across a little strange and certainly not based on any recognisable facts"

 

Sure, strange is a fair assessment.  No recognizable facts?  Do the google search I did for yourself.  No lies were presented, but some was speculation and opinion.  

 

 

 

"...you are currently unemployed and have a collection of "hundreds of high quality pictures"... difficult situation and desperate to find a new source of income... "

 

I am in no desperate need of income, this would be extra as I have plenty of other money.  Maybe I misspoke.  I have no boss, not no job.  Please link me some helpful hints as my pictures are "currently not" well keyworded.

 

Come across as less of a tit (sorry, don't know the US equivalent), and people here will be very helpful...

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"Your original request did come across a little strange and certainly not based on any recognisable facts"

 

Sure, strange is a fair assessment.  No recognizable facts?  Do the google search I did for yourself.  No lies were presented, but some was speculation and opinion.  

 

 

 

"...you are currently unemployed and have a collection of "hundreds of high quality pictures"... difficult situation and desperate to find a new source of income... "

 

I am in no desperate need of income, this would be extra as I have plenty of other money.  Maybe I misspoke.  I have no boss, not no job.  Please link me some helpful hints as my pictures are "currently not" well keyworded.

 

Come across as less of a tit (sorry, don't know the US equivalent), and people here will be very helpful...

 

 

Thanks.  Not sure if I'll get banned for spelling out the US equivalent, but generally we'd say a word that starts with "D" and has few letters.

 

EDIT:  I've got this "-7" by my name, it's kinda depressing.  Now I've got to go be helpful!

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"Your original request did come across a little strange and certainly not based on any recognisable facts"

 

Sure, strange is a fair assessment.  No recognizable facts?  Do the google search I did for yourself.  No lies were presented, but some was speculation and opinion.  

Not knowing what that particular Google search was makes it a little hard ☺ but if you were searching for Alamy and other agency usages it is not always incredibly representative, images do still get used a lot in print. My latest sale for example is to a Japanese magazine, print, over $150 and does not appear in a Google search.

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