Meanwhile, over at Shutterstock...

[geogphotos]

Shutterstock has been bad news for stock photography ever since it was founded. It started by offering 50 cents for reject slides. Photographers who should have known better were drawn in on the basis that these slides would otherwise be in the rubbish bin. Guess what, buyers were happy to buy the rejects for pennies and the photographer's selects on a 'proper' stock site went unsold. Good enough and cheap as chips became the rule of the day.

 

You have to have sympathy with all the newbies who have been sucked into this. 

 

I have much less sympathy - none at all really, the exact opposite to be honest - for those who know full well what is going on and continue to take the pennies. 

 

The single best thing for the future of our industry would be the disappearance of Shutterstock. 

Edited February 23, 2021 by geogphotos

[Cal]

On 21/02/2021 at 17:22, Reimar said:

Over the last running year, all three (AS, SS, and Alamy) produced about the same income ($1600) for me.  Portfolios are about the same.  A far cry from my halcyon days, but better than 1/3 the income with just Alamy.

 

Posts like this make me think I'm missing a trick by being mostly exclusive here, but then I don't think I can bring myself to prop up the MS industry. In the end I go through this thought process every few months and still have not changed my mind.

[geogphotos]

1 hour ago, Cal said:

 

Posts like this make me think I'm missing a trick by being mostly exclusive here, but then I don't think I can bring myself to prop up the MS industry. In the end I go through this thought process every few months and still have not changed my mind.

 

Be assured that a lot of people have gone through that process and many have succumbed. Offhand I can't think of anybody who has made a success of tyhring to combine both Alamy and MS. If such a person exists they have kept quiet about it. 

[Brian Yarvin]

Ian, while there are at least a few who do, it's been my experience that they aren't shooting editorial or travel content. In my experience, both do very poorly at the big micros, but still life and concepts are another matter entirely.

Edited February 23, 2021 by Brian Yarvin

[John Mitchell]

6 hours ago, Joseph Clemson said:

 

They made me laugh and cry last week when they proudly announced that, since I had sold 10 video licences since January. I was now entitled to the princely rate of 20% (up from 15%). The only trouble is that nearly all my sales at SS are via a subscription clippack which nets me a grand total of 35 cents (up from 26 cents) per sale. 

 

You'll not be surprised to hear I'm in the process of deleting my SS video portfolio and growing my exclusive collection at P5 which pays 60% on a retail price you set yourself.  Sales are only occasional but at least they give me a feeling of satisfaction, rather than the feeling of being utterly exploited, indeed shafted, one gets at SS.

 

Alamy, if you are listening, I would rejoice to be able to shoot new comercial and editorial video and to be able to place it here. Even at a 50% commission rate, the occasional sale would feel like bliss compared to what has been experienced at SS.

 

The sad thing is that even with what they are doing, SS are retaining some contributors who can't afford to lose more revneue by shifting, and also gaining newcomers who know no better. I do hope the SS contagion doesn't spread further. Removing my content from them is a small, but important drop, in a large ocean towards discouraging other agencies from following suit.

 

I'll probably pull my remaining video clips as well. My last video sale a couple of weeks ago netted me $2.00, a fraction of what I used to get.

 

P5 has never worked for me. I wonder if making videos exclusive there helps matters.

[geogphotos]

1 hour ago, Brian Yarvin said:

Ian, while there are at least a few who do, it's been my experience that they aren't shooting editorial or travel content. In my experience, both do very poorly at the big micros, but still life and concepts are another matter entirely.

 

 

I'm sure that you are right. Shooting for micros must be a completely different approach to editorial stock - after all the entire business model is based on volume eg) generic images that lots of people want. Secondary editorial stock is almost the complete opposite. 

[Joseph Clemson]

2 hours ago, John Mitchell said:

 

I'll probably pull my remaining video clips as well. My last video sale a couple of weeks ago netted me $2.00, a fraction of what I used to get.

 

P5 has never worked for me. I wonder if making videos exclusive there helps matters.

 

Until recently SS has always sold video in greater amounts for me and for a similar return per download as P5, which is why it is so painful to see the SS commission rug snatched from under my feet. I don't do much micro-stocky video (or photography), so I don't ever expect to sell a clip multiple times. I do soft-editorial, often of local subjects nobody else would bother to cover, so it's nice to get a half-decent payout on the rare occasions when they do sell.

 

My main P5 portfolio has been non-exclusive up to the end of 2020 and has sold at the rate of approx 1 sale per month per thousand clips (a similar rate to photos on Alamy). My exclusive portfolio has sold at a rate of almost twice that (quantity and revenue) but that portfolio too small to draw significant conclusions on the figures at the moment. It is growing so I may have a better idea by the end of 2021.

 

[John Mitchell]

1 hour ago, Joseph Clemson said:

 

Until recently SS has always sold video in greater amounts for me and for a similar return per download as P5, which is why it is so painful to see the SS commission rug snatched from under my feet. I don't do much micro-stocky video (or photography), so I don't ever expect to sell a clip multiple times. I do soft-editorial, often of local subjects nobody else would bother to cover, so it's nice to get a half-decent payout on the rare occasions when they do sell.

 

My main P5 portfolio has been non-exclusive up to the end of 2020 and has sold at the rate of approx 1 sale per month per thousand clips (a similar rate to photos on Alamy). My exclusive portfolio has sold at a rate of almost twice that (quantity and revenue) but that portfolio too small to draw significant conclusions on the figures at the moment. It is growing so I may have a better idea by the end of 2021.

 

 

Good for you. I'm just a dabbler when it comes to video clips. Haven't shot one for a couple of years in fact. However, it was pleasant to see the occasional video sale on SS for an OK-ish price. Now it's just peanut shells. 😕

[Vitor from Portugal]

On 27/05/2020 at 15:59, vpics said:

I thought we were not allowed to discuss other agencies on here!

 

Me too 😁

[meanderingemu]

4 hours ago, Vitor from Portugal said:

Me too 😁

actually these are the forum rules

 

• This is an Alamy forum so it’s not the place to be attempting to damage the Alamy brand through defamatory comments or promoting competitors. You also should not post anything defamatory against our competitors or customers.

 

Impact of changes at other stock agency on the business, even Alamy has used it to explain pricing changes and approach, are hardly defamatory.