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Nostalgic for sales of yesteryear


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11 minutes ago, Olivier Parent said:

May I ask what kind of license that was?

I don't know yet, I will see when the Sales page is updated this evening. It's so low that I wonder if it costs Alamy more in their staff's wages to deal with these deals than they make at eleven cents per shot. With the $ fees I always used to console myself saying that at least it would buy a coffee, but the $0.04 to me wouldn't even pay for the little wooden stick that you stir your coffee with. Its all pretty lamentable.

 

I just had a look, and its RF. I will put more details here this evening when I know.

Edited by Colin Woods
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3 hours ago, Colin Woods said:

I just had two sales for 11c each, so 4c to me! That's 40% of Sh***Stock's miserable payout. So, yep, I am nostalgic for those early sales.

Well, Colin, I just saw this, and you have me beat.  I posted my 5c sale today in the "new low" thread.  Looks like a bulk deal for Alamy.  Not so much bulk for us.

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4 hours ago, Alex Ramsay said:

First ten sales (in 2007) - $1152 gross, taking just under a year

Last ten sales - $216 gross, taking just over a week

 

Alex

 

Working on the time scales.  $216 x 52 = $11,232     Assuming the same or similar income every week for a year.😉

Allan

 

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2 hours ago, Colin Woods said:

 

Those two pie-in-the-face eleven cents sales were RF 1600x1000 pixels to China. As they are RF that is all the data given.

 

I guess it's a Chinese distributor then, so Alamy has no control over the pricing. It sounds as if eleven cents can go a long way in China.

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Using a first 10 sales, last ten sales comparison as some have used here, I come up with these rather totals:

 

First 10 2003 = total $2134 Average $213.40

Last 10 2021 =   total $254 average  $25.40

 

The latter compounded with two .25 cent "any size, any placement, in perpetuity", editorial licences this week.

 

Depressing!

 

Rob

 

 

 

 

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My personal view as to what is killing/has killed the good fees is the digital camera. If we were still only able to shoot on film there would be a lot fewer photographers.

 

JMO.

 

Allan

 

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12 hours ago, Colin Woods said:

 

Those two pie-in-the-face eleven cents sales were RF 1600x1000 pixels to China. As they are RF that is all the data given.

My four were also RF to China.   But I also had one RM for 25/10 cents.  None mention novel use.  I wonder what the explanation for this is.

Is Alamy's new logo: "Microstock without the volume"?

Edited by Reimar
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3 hours ago, Reimar said:

My four were also RF to China.   But I also had one RM for 25/10 cents.  None mention novel use.  I wonder what the explanation for this is.

Is Alamy's new logo: "Microstock without the volume"?

 

Aren't these really Chinese distributor sales? I imagine that microstock prices are the norm in China.

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5 hours ago, Colin Woods said:

But many people would still be willing to supply their images to agencies that license images for cents.

 

I think that there was a greater difference between consumer cameras and even serious amateur cameras in the 1960s through the last popular film cameras.  The amateur photos in the 1930s and 1940s may have been more likely to have been taken on bigger negatives with better lenses.  Newspapers could use lower resolution, but probably amateurs were less likely to take the news photos. 

 

The newspaper I worked for in 1975 used 35mm cameras, but not brands that I'd heard of.  The press prep guy developed the photos.  I remember seeing Speed Graphics for sale in a local camera shop in 1965 in Fayetteville, N.C., but don't remember seeing any press photographers using them. 

 

Dunno.

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In 2008 Alamy licensed one of our images to concierge.com, for one of the "very secondary" pages. Back then concierge.com was a travel web site by Conde Nast, which I think became Conde Nast Traveler, not the present-day concierge.com, which is selling hospitality software solutions.

The license fee was $100.

I remember feeling insulted by the amount, given the client's pockets and how popular (=number of eyes) the web site was.

 

Fast forward 12 years. We just got a statement from an aggregator agency. There, there's a bunch of licenses from G. for 1 (one) cent ($0.01) each. Our commission is 50%. They round our commission up, so we do get a whole (!) cent per license. I think that sets the new low record. We'll have to write to the aggregator and politely ask what kinds of rights G. grants for 1 cent.

 

How things have changed. :(

 

GI

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First ten: $815  (Feb 08 to July 09 - I was a slow starter)

 

Last ten: $192  (Jan 11 to Apr 11)

 

Quite a few 'Personal Use' sales for peanuts popping up these days. However, I was delighted to get a $1600 Exclusive sale last year so the incentive is still there.

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On 10/04/2021 at 09:04, Reimar said:

My four were also RF to China.   But I also had one RM for 25/10 cents.  None mention novel use.  I wonder what the explanation for this is.

Is Alamy's new logo: "Microstock without the volume"?

 

 

were you four RF to China through distribution like Colin.  The $0.25 would be direct (40% commission for non exclusive), so you can't even opt out

Edited by meanderingemu
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On 10/04/2021 at 13:03, John Mitchell said:

 

Aren't these really Chinese distributor sales? I imagine that microstock prices are the norm in China.

 

I was curious based on payout amount and %.  since i always saw mine rounded up. Went in Contributor contract

 

"As soon as a licence is purchased by a Customer we will report to you online the relevant details of such licence. We may round fractions of a cent up or down at our discretion."

 

Seriously, this is discretionary? 

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1 hour ago, meanderingemu said:

 

 

were you four RF to China through distribution like Colin.  The $0.25 would be direct (40% commission for non exclusive), so you can't even opt out

Yes, the four to China were distribution sales.  The 25/10 RM sale was another direct sale of an image of Puerto Vallarta for an editorial website (no novel use anywhere).

Edited by Reimar
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3 hours ago, Reimar said:

Yes, the four to China were distribution sales.  The 25/10 RM sale was another direct sale of an image of Puerto Vallarta for an editorial website (no novel use anywhere).

 

Fortunately, I haven't had either of those types of sales yet (famous last words). The PV ones are definitely troubling as Alamy has control over the pricing. I imagine that distributors can charge whatever they like.

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34 minutes ago, Olivier Parent said:

 

Allan, I have to disagree with you on this particular point.

You could say the same for any technological progress that had eased the taking of pictures, like Autofocus for example.

Digital cameras have been an opportunity for photographers, allowing them to get better images, to see the results on location, to experiment all sorts of things at no cost… 

Digital cameras never forced their users to sell their images for peanuts… 

When I get a low fee for one of my images, I do not blame the camera… I blame:

• contributors to microstock who have been doing all they could to fuel this insane race to the bottom (and sometimes do not hesitate to complain here about the situation, which I find pathetic)

• me of course, for not producing images worthy of better income (better, less generic photographs, or more in line with demand…)

I will not argue on the subject, I have already done it several times on this forum and elsewhere and obviously, everyone sees noon at his doorstep so, JMO also ;).

 

Yes, it seems to be a traceable thread of sorts:

 

digital technology ---> increased ease of production ----> huge rise in supply of images ---> birth of RF ----> rush to microstock ---> saturated markets ---> declining prices overall ---> starvation (I was hesitant to add this one).

Edited by John Mitchell
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