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Best Stock Photo Sites of 2020 - Really?


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Stock Photography Index by Great Escape Publishing

https://greatescapepublishing.com/bsc/the-best-stock-photo-sites-of-2020/

 

It's not new, but the impression at first glance is that most agencies are more in favor of buyers than sellers (contributors).

 

Stay safe,

 

andre

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Hmmm... Alamy scored 4th, higher than I was expecting having seen previous comparisons. But good news.

 

It looks like continuing with a non subscription model to set themselves apart is the way to go.

 

Not sure about #1... 😝

Edited by Steve F
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If one were to consider it correct, it just another thing that shows theres not many nails left. There must always be a "next thing" though, but I have no idea what form it will take, I probably will not be around for it at my age and with my values though.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Although it completely pains me to say this, with Unsplash's latest image release of an additional 2 million full sized images it should be there. I hate the idea, but if MS started the devaluation of images, Unsplash may be part of the industries sad fatal demise (free images to be funded/supported by ad deliveries in the browser et al) in the future. I find the whole thing so weird I wonder if the company has been founded just to sell it to one of the big boys for closure.

 

 

https://pdnpulse.pdnonline.com/2017/08/unsplash-ceo-tries-to-justify-copyright-grab.html

https://www.dpreview.com/news/2164828014/unsplash-releases-massive-open-source-image-dataset-with-2m-high-quality-photos

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No big fan of MS here, but I don't see what SS has to do with Unsplash.

I tried real hard to stick with Alamy and other macro stock sites for many years.  Most have fallen away although I still supply Getty too.   This month, so far, I have $5 net at Alamy on two sales.  Not that different from microstock.  So far this month I have at SS $79 (58 sales) and at AS $86 (34 sales).  The future is here.  Like any sensible business person, I will follow the money.

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6 hours ago, Reimar said:

No big fan of MS here, but I don't see what SS has to do with Unsplash.

I tried real hard to stick with Alamy and other macro stock sites for many years.  Most have fallen away although I still supply Getty too.   This month, so far, I have $5 net at Alamy on two sales.  Not that different from microstock.  So far this month I have at SS $79 (58 sales) and at AS $86 (34 sales).  The future is here.  Like any sensible business person, I will follow the money.

 

 

With respect I am not sure that I would call that a business - more of a hobby for some pocket money.   I can't say that my own situation is very much different. But given this level of money I don't think we are dealing with those sort of hard, crunch business decisions that compel us to act in a certain way  even if against our preference. We can chose which 'agency' we want to support and which we don't.

 

Shutterstock is exploitative and driving the whole stock business into the ground, Alamy though not perfect has a much fairer, sustainable approach. 

Edited by geogphotos
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On 08/08/2020 at 02:22, alexandersr said:

Shutterstock #1 , really?  they pay 10 cents to contributors per photo in annual subscription plan. 

 SS was good for me one year ago. It"s no longer the case. I stopped to upload there. 

I now support Alamy with exclusive images only  and still put some pict on AS . I was on all major MS (before coming  to Alamy) , but it is a waste of time now. (Pond5  is a joke, Getty never reached IS, DT is dead, and so .... )

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I'm always pleased that former micro contributors have turned to Alamy. Yes, more competition but at least on a level playing field.

 

When we started I'm sure that we all got an ego boost from the simple fact that somebody wanted to to use one of our very own photos 😁 How much more satisfying when they also pay the proper fair price from a decent agency rather than just buying what is cheapest and 'good enough'. And you also get some information about how it is being used.

 

I'm thinking hard about stopping contributing to G because the fees have just become pathetic. I may well do so even without the expectation that going exclusive at Alamy will compensate fully for the loss of revenue. There is only so much one can take of being treated like a fool with stupid sub-$1 fees. There is no satisfaction in it at all knowing that a global media company is taking advantage of what you have created. 

 

We are not talking about life changing about of money here so doing what feels like the 'right thing' can be more important that a few extra $.

 

It could be a good time for Alamy to recognise the positivity that is coming their way and do something to act on it. 

Edited by geogphotos
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8 minutes ago, geogphotos said:

I'm always pleased that former micro contributors have turned to Alamy. Yes, more competition but at least on a level playing field.

 

When we started I'm sure that we all got an ego boost from the simple fact that somebody wanted to to use one of our very own photos 😁 How much more satisfying when they also pay the proper fair price from a decent agency rather than just buying what is cheapest and 'good enough'. And you also get some information about how it is being used.

 

I'm thinking hard about stopping contributing to G because the fees have just become pathetic. I may well do so even without the expectation that going exclusive at Alamy will compensate fully for the loss of revenue. There is only so much one can take of being treated like a fool with stupid sub-$1 fees. There is no satisfaction in it at all knowing that a global media company is taking advantage of what you have created. 

 

We are not talking about life changing about of money here so doing what feels like the 'right thing' can be more important that a few extra $.

 

It could be a good time for Alamy to recognise the positivity that is coming their way and do something to act on it. 

 

I didn’t need to think all that hard about leaving G. Started things in January and migrated my whole G collection to Alamy by June. Fees at G were latterly, frankly, on same level as MS.

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14 minutes ago, Malcolm Park said:

 

I didn’t need to think all that hard about leaving G. Started things in January and migrated my whole G collection to Alamy by June. Fees at G were latterly, frankly, on same level as MS.

 

Yes, I removed all my own from Creative when they dropped RM and that only took six months. My problem is that I submit to Editorial through an agency and the contract requires two year's notice. I'll see what the next sales statement looks like and mull it over a bit more. 

 

As my revenue there drops down it gets closer to the amount I am losing through the 40% on Alamy non-exclusive images because they are my best images - also I do see some shopping around ( search on Alamy sale appears on Getty but could be co-incidence).

Edited by geogphotos
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I gave notice on G about a year and a half ago. They removed my images within two weeks. It's a move I do not regret at all. Just Alamy now (a significant part of my collection is private and not for sale though, it is used to support causes) Dumped distribution and all the other add-ons, just have Alamy UK handle sales now. Am very happy with the license rates they have been getting me as well as the simple 2 way share.

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19 minutes ago, Panthera tigris said:

I gave notice on G about a year and a half ago. They removed my images within two weeks. It's a move I do not regret at all. Just Alamy now (a significant part of my collection is private and not for sale though, it is used to support causes) Dumped distribution and all the other add-ons, just have Alamy UK handle sales now. Am very happy with the license rates they have been getting me as well as the simple 2 way share.

 

 

Mine were also off the site within two weeks but they had a rule that they could not go elsewhere before the six months were up when they let you know if any images had restrictions etc. 

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Yes, Getty is mostly MS as well.  Except this year I had one sale for over $3000 gross.  So I'm not going to bite the hand that feeds me.

As for Alamy:  I'm now up to $20 this month on 7 sales.  That looks a lot like MS to me.  While SS/AS is up to $86/$87.  Yes, this income is not going make or break my finances.  But I'm not going to throw money away either.

Edited by Reimar
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