It's official- 50% for exclusive - (JW response video to commission change)

[andremichel]

11 hours ago, JeffGreenberg said:

 

Forget it Jake.  Its Alamy.

The Outrage has seen its apotheosis & dissipation.

What remains are pronouncements of loyalty & seasonal wishes.

The Revolution has been muted, handled, & quelled...

The rebellion's unity and it's strength has been broken. 

 

When I hear contributors praise James West for having listened, it feels like certain contributors pushed non exclusives under the bus to save their own skins.

 

[imageplotter]

22 minutes ago, andremichel said:

The rebellion's unity and it's strength has been broken. 

 

When I hear contributors praise James West for having listened, it feels like certain contributors pushed non exclusives under the bus to save their own skins.

 

 

Completely agree. 

 

And sadly, I do not agree with the simplistic view to 'make great images and you call the shots'. If only. Boy are there a lot of e***ng crappy images coming up on the front page of many a search, often intentionally keyworded with unrelated stuff, and often from large dinosaur contributors/agencies.

 

All hail to the few, who still earn a penny or two.

[Julie Edwards]

I posted a day (and many pages ago) that I was disappointed with the sentiment "Im alright jack"

 

A lot of what is being said at the moment is guesswork and until we see the final contract, we don't know BUT this will still affect a lot of hardworking freelance photographers (press togs especially). (Yes that includes Keith..) Depending on how the contract deals with similars it MAY mean 2 shots of the same subject taken on the same shoot within a timeframe are regarded as similar and not entitled to 50%  .. ie. many of my, Keith's and other press images which, due to the state of the industry and placement in different markets NEED to to placed with multiple agencies.  I (nor the others I mention ) will place a particular single image on multiple agencies but we will shoot different versions of a subject in different ways for different markets . This will still hit news photographers hard. It MAY affect the news feed (or may not we may have to accept the 40%) .. There will still be many images placed on the newsfeed from agencies (at their existing contract).

 

Im guessing the people for who this is not a full time job, or retirees who do this as a hobby but enjoying the little income and who's images are only on Alamy are the ones most happy. 

 

For those in another job - imagine your wages being cut 20%.. would you be happy, would you accept it, or would you go elsewhere, or maybe you would not put as much hard work in... Or 2 hours added to your working day for no extra .. "oh that's ok i only live around the corner and waste my time watching telly in the evening, I don't care about bob on the next desk who drives an hour each way to work".... 

 

But remember - we still do not know the details.... until then....

 

It's a shame, especially at this time of year so few are able to think of the impact it has on others....

 

"Im all right Jack, pass me another mince pie"

 

(prepared for LOTS of reds...)

[riccarbi]

IMHO, the problem is not exclusivity or non-exclusivity, possibly it is not the commission rate either. The real problem is how badly the price-per-image-sold is constantly dropping, and that for a full-res RF picture I 'm now getting less than $17 net, on average. Usually, exclusivity is mandatory for major agencies (you know which I'm referring to) which represent professional photographers, have a tough and accurate image evaluation process, are hard to be accepted into, and (often) have low commission rates but high license fees. When James West spoke about "1st tier" agencies he cited two completely different agencies, a well-reputed (and often criticized) pro agency, and a micro-stock one; the only thing they have in common is that they sell photos and have an annual turnover higher than Alamy's. So, my question is: does Alamy want to be a pro agency with fewer photographers and higher prices or a "catch-all" microstock agency with half a billion photos one can buy for 5 dollars? 

[Skyscraperfan]

I will pursue this strategy: I will leave my exclusive images on Alamy as long as receive 50% for them. If ever have an image anywhere else, I will not just untick the "exclusive" checkmark for that images, but also restrict it to personal use only as I already did in the time between those two videos. I am not willing to accept 40%.

Imagine you have two friends who hate each other. One of them tells you, that you have to cancel one friendship: "Either me or him!". Then you should always cancel the friendship with the guy who said that you can't be friends with both. I follow this rule in all parts of life. For example if a country says "You can either visit this country or the other, not both", you should always visit the other country and not the one who forced you to make that decision.

So I do not see exclusivity as "If your photo is at Alamy, it can't be at another agency" but as "If your photo is at any other agency, it can't be at Alamy".

[Russell]

16 minutes ago, riccarbi said:

half a billion photos one can buy for 5 dollars? 

$5, is something of an exaggeration. On that well know alliterative agency more like $0.25.

[John Walker]

44 minutes ago, Julie Edwards said:

I posted a day (and many pages ago) that I was disappointed with the sentiment "Im alright jack"

 

A lot of what is being said at the moment is guesswork and until we see the final contract, we don't know BUT this will still affect a lot of hardworking freelance photographers (press togs especially). (Yes that includes Keith..) Depending on how the contract deals with similars it MAY mean 2 shots of the same subject taken on the same shoot within a timeframe are regarded as similar and not entitled to 50%  .. ie. many of my, Keith's and other press images which, due to the state of the industry and placement in different markets NEED to to placed with multiple agencies.  I (nor the others I mention ) will place a particular single image on multiple agencies but we will shoot different versions of a subject in different ways for different markets . This will still hit news photographers hard. It MAY affect the news feed (or may not we may have to accept the 40%) .. There will still be many images placed on the newsfeed from agencies (at their existing contract).

 

Im guessing the people for who this is not a full time job, or retirees who do this as a hobby but enjoying the little income and who's images are only on Alamy are the ones most happy. 

 

For those in another job - imagine your wages being cut 20%.. would you be happy, would you accept it, or would you go elsewhere, or maybe you would not put as much hard work in... Or 2 hours added to your working day for no extra .. "oh that's ok i only live around the corner and waste my time watching telly in the evening, I don't care about bob on the next desk who drives an hour way way to work".... 

 

But remember - we still do not know the details.... until then....

 

It's a shame, especially at this time of year so few are able to think of the impact it has on others....

 

"Im all right Jack, pass me another mince pie"

 

(prepared for LOTS of reds...)

 

I must say that I haven't read any posts as 'I'm all right Jack'.  All I see are post from contributors explaining their situation and how the changes affect them individually.  As a pensioner working part time on my photography, I'm in a better position to have my portfolio exclusive to Alamy.  That doesn't mean I don't understand how it affects full time photographers who need to have their work across multiple agencies.  Plus as mentioned, we don't yet know the full details.

[spacecadet]

1 hour ago, andremichel said:

 it feels like certain contributors pushed non exclusives under the bus to save their own skins.

 

That's unfair. I've pushed no-one under anything.

I could have borne the cut in income but I'm pleased not to have to. Alamy have re-thought a decision and changed it.

 

[John Morrison]

Can I recommend the Alamy drinking game: you have a Martini whenever Chuck has a Martini. The days fly by...

[BobD]

1 hour ago, Julie Edwards said:

I posted a day (and many pages ago) that I was disappointed with the sentiment "Im alright jack"

 

A lot of what is being said at the moment is guesswork and until we see the final contract, we don't know BUT this will still affect a lot of hardworking freelance photographers (press togs especially). (Yes that includes Keith..) Depending on how the contract deals with similars it MAY mean 2 shots of the same subject taken on the same shoot within a timeframe are regarded as similar and not entitled to 50%  .. ie. many of my, Keith's and other press images which, due to the state of the industry and placement in different markets NEED to to placed with multiple agencies.  I (nor the others I mention ) will place a particular single image on multiple agencies but we will shoot different versions of a subject in different ways for different markets . This will still hit news photographers hard. It MAY affect the news feed (or may not we may have to accept the 40%) .. There will still be many images placed on the newsfeed from agencies (at their existing contract).

 

Im guessing the people for who this is not a full time job, or retirees who do this as a hobby but enjoying the little income and who's images are only on Alamy are the ones most happy. 

 

For those in another job - imagine your wages being cut 20%.. would you be happy, would you accept it, or would you go elsewhere, or maybe you would not put as much hard work in... Or 2 hours added to your working day for no extra .. "oh that's ok i only live around the corner and waste my time watching telly in the evening, I don't care about bob on the next desk who drives an hour each way to work".... 

 

But remember - we still do not know the details.... until then....

 

It's a shame, especially at this time of year so few are able to think of the impact it has on others....

 

"Im all right Jack, pass me another mince pie"

 

(prepared for LOTS of reds...)

 

I am one of the retired.

I also think Alamy will have to treat live news as a special case and give the 50% If the image is used from the feed, maybe for 7 days. Once the image becomes another stock image it will be subject to the same rules as any other image.

I don't feel 'I'm all right Jack' I would have much rather seen the status quo. I also think it's better that some of us will be affected rather than all.

Alamy also have to step up and do something about the abuses that are taking place and maybe make up some of the losses that the non-exclusives will suffer.

 

As for myself I will submit to other agencies but with different work to maintain my exclusive status at Alamy.

[spacecadet]

1 hour ago, John Morrison said:

Can I recommend the Alamy drinking game: you have a Martini whenever Chuck has a Martini. The days fly by...

I'm counting them up for Christmas morning.

[Skyscraperfan]

By the was, what is with the DACS payment? Will it also go down to 40%? Some of you said that we can earn more, if we get in contact with DACS directly. Does that really work, if we do not know what happens with our images?

[spacecadet]

Just now, Skyscraperfan said:

By the was, what is with the DACS payment? Will it also go down to 40%? Some of you said that we can earn more, if we get in contact with DACS directly. Does that really work, if we do not know what happens with our images?

You can find your images with GIS, on the "have you found" threads, and with text searches on "your name Alamy", that sort of thing.

I know that I miss a few, because one year Alamy told me how many licences I had that were eligible for DACS, but it wasn't enough of a difference to justify the commission. The extra licences wouldn't have taken me into a higher DACS bracket.

BTW, if the UK leaves the EU, DACS will no longer have to pay royalties to non-UK photographers.

[Skyscraperfan]

4 minutes ago, spacecadet said:

BTW, if the UK leaves the EU, DACS will no longer have to pay royalties to non-UK photographers.

 

Don't worry, Britain will never leave the EU. They are not that dumb.

[Steve Valentia]

On the issue of marking images as "exclusive" (for those that are lagging behind on this, as I was), I've just got this 2nd email from Contributor services. The first one was extremely unhelpful, and this is the response to my "you have to be kidding me" reply.

 

We are planning on implementing a couple of new features that will make this task easier for you, one of which is a filter in AIM that will let you see images that aren’t marked exclusive. This will be released before the contract goes live, so you’ll be able to mark any that aren’t exclusive then.

 

[Steve Valentia]

3 minutes ago, Skyscraperfan said:

 

Don't worry, Britain will never leave the EU. They are not that dumb.

 

Have you been watching the news in the last 18 months?

[Skyscraperfan]

1 minute ago, Steve Valentia said:

 

Have you been watching the news in the last 18 months?

 

Yes, and they still do not have a deal. So they will probably do another referendum and stay in the EU.

Then Brexit is no longer an excuse for a commission cut.

[Steve Valentia]

48 minutes ago, Skyscraperfan said:

By the was, what is with the DACS payment? Will it also go down to 40%? Some of you said that we can earn more, if we get in contact with DACS directly. Does that really work, if we do not know what happens with our images?

 

Yes it really works. I've bypassed Alamy with DACS for the last 6 years. You need to give an estimate of your published sales (books, newspapers, magazines) which can be done from your Alamy sales history. You also have to give specific ISBN numbers of publications and book titles, but not ALL of them. So, this may be possible from reading threads here like "Images sold this month", or from your own research or your own non-Alamy sales. It's worth the effort.

[Starsphinx]

51 minutes ago, Skyscraperfan said:

 

Yes, and they still do not have a deal. So they will probably do another referendum and stay in the EU.

Then Brexit is no longer an excuse for a commission cut.

You might want to try extending your news services to beyond UK MSM.  Then you might pick up some of the facts like the transit agreement just announced, and statements from people other than Juncker and Verhofstadt making it clear there will be no grounding of UK flights, no blocking of medication or whatever we are supposed to be panicking about this week, no extensive customs delays etc.  A WTO rules or "no deal" Brexit is not going to cause mass mayhem - despite strong attempts to make it.

Oh and the petition that is smashing numbers demanding a WTO exit.  Over a quarter of a million signatures most of them within the past week when the threat of a second referendum became serious.

UK voters were asked to decide - UK voters decided Leave - it is happening, it will happen.  Oh and it will not be the total horror nightmare being made out.

[Skyscraperfan]

Just now, JeffGreenberg said:

 

You will restrict your 40/60's to $19.99 licenses.

This effort applauded by others facing 40/60, IMO.

But why not restrict to only the highest potential prices?

They will be rarer than lower priced, but...

With the highest prices I would lose more - at least per image.

 

Of course that is only hypothetical now, as all my images are exclusive at Alamy at the moment. However, if I find a better deal elsewhere (like 60%), I would upload the image there, untick the exclusivity box at Alamy and restrict my image at Alamy to personal use. Before the changes I would just have continued with an unrestricted, but unexclusive image here.

[Alex Ramsay]

20 minutes ago, Starsphinx said:

You might want to try extending your news services to beyond UK MSM.  Then you might pick up some of the facts like the transit agreement just announced, and statements from people other than Juncker and Verhofstadt making it clear there will be no grounding of UK flights, no blocking of medication or whatever we are supposed to be panicking about this week, no extensive customs delays etc.  A WTO rules or "no deal" Brexit is not going to cause mass mayhem - despite strong attempts to make it.

Oh and the petition that is smashing numbers demanding a WTO exit.  Over a quarter of a million signatures most of them within the past week when the threat of a second referendum became serious.

UK voters were asked to decide - UK voters decided Leave - it is happening, it will happen.  Oh and it will not be the total horror nightmare being made out.

 

I think it would be diplomatic if we were to avoid the subject of Brexit on this forum. Contributors will have many differing and strongly-held views, and there are plenty of other places to debate such matters.

Alex

[Steve Valentia]

23 minutes ago, Starsphinx said:

UK voters were asked to decide - UK voters decided Leave - it is happening, it will happen.  Oh and it will not be the total horror nightmare being made out.

 

Tell that to the money brokers who are deciding how much my pension (hard-earned over 40 years) is currently worth, when converted from Sterling to Euro (I now live in Ireland).  It's been dropping like a stone since Brexit was announced and the cack-handed handling of the leave is making it almost not worth having.

[MDM]

26 minutes ago, Starsphinx said:

You might want to try extending your news services to beyond UK MSM.  Then you might pick up some of the facts like the transit agreement just announced, and statements from people other than Juncker and Verhofstadt making it clear there will be no grounding of UK flights, no blocking of medication or whatever we are supposed to be panicking about this week, no extensive customs delays etc.  A WTO rules or "no deal" Brexit is not going to cause mass mayhem - despite strong attempts to make it.

Oh and the petition that is smashing numbers demanding a WTO exit.  Over a quarter of a million signatures most of them within the past week when the threat of a second referendum became serious.

UK voters were asked to decide - UK voters decided Leave - it is happening, it will happen.  Oh and it will not be the total horror nightmare being made out.

 

Nobody ever voted for a no-deal Brexit , leaving the customs union or the single market as these questions were never asked and the vast majority of the population of the UK (or any other country) would not have been able to give an informed opinion in any case. And your statements about the no extensive customs delays etc are not based on fact but on soundbites and no evidence whatsoever.  Massive customs queues look very likely from where I am sitting. And look what has already happened to sterling and what is almost certainly going to happen with a no-deal Brexit. 

 

[MDM]

5 minutes ago, Steve Valentia said:

 

Tell that to the money brokers who are deciding how much my pension (hard-earned over 40 years) is currently worth, when converted from Sterling to Euro (I now live in Ireland).  It's been dropping like a stone since Brexit was announced and the cack-handed handling of the leave is making it almost not worth having.

 

Why did this get a red arrow - simple truth. 

[BobD]

this is going way off topic. Please in you want to discuss brexit start another thread.