Jump to content

Opting out of distribution


Recommended Posts

The only thing I have done at this point about the new contract is to tick the editorial only box for everything except wildlife taken in wild places. Now I am looking at opting out of some distribution. It seems we don't really know how much the distributor gets? Is this true? I have looked at my sales for the last year and I have a lot from distributors. Most have very low amounts but a few are good or OK. I will definitely keep Japan and, possibly, Brazil. Is anyone else willing to share their experiences with the distributors?

 

Paulette

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, NYCat said:

The only thing I have done at this point about the new contract is to tick the editorial only box for everything except wildlife taken in wild places. Now I am looking at opting out of some distribution. It seems we don't really know how much the distributor gets? Is this true? I have looked at my sales for the last year and I have a lot from distributors. Most have very low amounts but a few are good or OK. I will definitely keep Japan and, possibly, Brazil. Is anyone else willing to share their experiences with the distributors?

 

Paulette

 

 

The only two distribution licences i have in the mid $$ are France and Japan. Everything else is low to mid $.  i have kept these two

Link to comment
Share on other sites

as for how much distributor gets, it does appear like we never knew, and Alamy was charging us an averaging method.  Now we will bear the whole cost, and i doubt will find out how much it is as i doubt Alamy wants to make these individual agreements public. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I opted completely out of distribution (after many years of being fully in) with the exception of Japan and USA last year as an experiment. The experiment went very well for me and I was much happier with the per image fee I received. This year I have opted into 2 more countries, South Africa and Korea. My experiment continues.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm in for the Full Monty with distributors. My experience with them has been mixed, but then so has my experience with direct sales. Prices for distributor licenses can be good sometimes -- I see the occasional high $$ and even $$$ among the tiddlers-- so I don't have any immediate plans to opt out. However, as with everything else at the moment, confusion reigns. Actually, my lowest sales recently have tended to be direct ones, usually to editorial websites.

 

P.S. For reasons unknown, I don't get as many distro sales as I used to, or at least it seems that way.

 

 

  • Love 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had my first distribution sale this year and received 1/3 of the image sale price, which was still over $100. 

 

Why is everyone ticking editorial only?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, David Pimborough said:

 

Don't forget China 😁

Good point! I also just opted out of Germany as I've a fair few low ballers there too, and I believe Alamy have a German site so maybe(!!!) they'll do better direct, at least I'll get a better share.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, David Pimborough said:

 

Becaase the proposed contract changes that Alamy are unilaterally imposing on July 1st which basically means that the photographer is liable for any comeback on image misuse by a customer who bought an image through Alamy that the contributor is unaware of because Alamy don't tell us who they sell but they want to skirt all responsibility.

 

Sounds messy but thats basically what its about.

 

 

I would add the lack of transparency of the licence fee on Distribution sale starting with the new contract. The structure setting our earnings as a % of what Alamy receives from distributor means that there is now no needs to tell us how much the original licence was for, and why would they since they probably want to keep these away from each distributor. Add fact Alamy has refused to address this issue 4 weeks in, is one of main reason I have removed all but 3 markets, 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, kimba said:

David, ok I get it - the same reasons we always checked "Editorial Only", just more so now.

 

I continue to have mixed feelings about ticking the editorial use only box with some images. Something I often do is search for a subject that I'm confused about (e.g. a building) at other agencies with edited collections to see if they have set similar images as editorial only.

  • Love 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 05/06/2021 at 00:08, Phil Crean said:

Good point! I also just opted out of Germany as I've a fair few low ballers there too, and I believe Alamy have a German site so maybe(!!!) they'll do better direct, at least I'll get a better share.

 

 

German sales can be low, especially for such a rich country. However, I've had a few good ones.

 

I'm sticking with full distribution for the moment despite the kerfuffle. Might change my mind later on, though.

 

 

  • Love 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 06/06/2021 at 04:33, meanderingemu said:

 

 

I would add the lack of transparency of the licence fee on Distribution sale starting with the new contract. The structure setting our earnings as a % of what Alamy receives from distributor means that there is now no needs to tell us how much the original licence was for, and why would they since they probably want to keep these away from each distributor. Add fact Alamy has refused to address this issue 4 weeks in, is one of main reason I have removed all but 3 markets, 

 

In my limited experience with other agencies, calculating contributors' earning as a % (often 50%) of what the agency receives is common practice. Alamy might have been something of an exception up until now.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, John Mitchell said:

 

In my limited experience with other agencies, calculating contributors' earning as a % (often 50%) of what the agency receives is common practice. Alamy might have been something of an exception up until now.

 

Any of these agencies make how much you earn next year based on total licence fees.  Changing the approach at the same time it affects contributors doubly would be a major fact.

 

This could have been addressed when brought up.  The silence in documenting this, or talking about it since seems underhanded on their part. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

John, I don't check "Editorial Only" for photos of my own objects, food that I've made myself, personal lifestyle, etc. and plants and veggies or things/objects that are now gone (but even those I weigh the options). 

 

I'm currently going through my portfolio and am surprised that all of my editorial ticks are gone. I don't remember going through it before and making all of my images commercial. All of my sales have been editorial, so I'm not worried, but, it's weird. Maybe I did untick everything a while back when Alamy hinted that we would make more money if we didn't tick editorial. That is not really the case in my experience. 

Edited by kimba
Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, kimba said:

 

I'm currently going through my portfolio and am surprised that all of my editorial ticks are gone. I don't remember going through it before and making all of my images commercial. All of my sales have been editorial, so I'm not worried, but, it's weird. Maybe I did untick everything a while back when Alamy hinted that we would make more money if we didn't tick editorial. That is not really the case in my experience. 

 

I do remember getting Alamy emails over the years urging/requesting that restrictions be dropped in order to make images more saleable.

 

Now we are being held personally responsible for agreeing to those sorts of requests. Yes, I know legally they will have all that covered  but I am commenting on the approach and suggestion from Alamy - the nudge nudge

Edited by geogphotos
  • Love 2
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

59 minutes ago, John Mitchell said:

 

German sales can be low, especially for such a rich country. However, I've had a few good ones.

 

I'm sticking with full distribution for the moment despite the kerfuffle. Might change my mind later on, though.

 

 

 

 

i am still debating on some markets.  The reports of the numbers in China based ones made me remove it, and i did remove after the change all the former Yugoslavian republics since i never got a licence at other than low-lowish $ from them, but still under reconsideration.    

 

I also have to check if someones comment that all images with any restrictions are not made available.  If this is true, it removes some of my fears liability wise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, meanderingemu said:

I also have to check if someones comment that all images with any restrictions are not made available.  If this is true, it removes some of my fears liability wise.

+1; This would be useful to know.

 

Kumar

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, Doc said:

+1; This would be useful to know.

 

Kumar

 

 

Actually just realised this was pretty easy.  Went to the listed Canadian distributor, and i clearly have images for sale there that i have market "For Editorial Only",  so restricted images are offered with Distributors.  Note on this one the restrictions, as well as RM/RF info are transferred and made clear to potential clients.  

 

 

I have now added a "Not for Personal use" restriction on one image to see if that gets updated. 

Edited by meanderingemu
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 09/06/2021 at 08:40, meanderingemu said:

 

 

Actually just realised this was pretty easy.  Went to the listed Canadian distributor, and i clearly have images for sale there that i have market "For Editorial Only",  so restricted images are offered with Distributors.  Note on this one the restrictions, as well as RM/RF info are transferred and made clear to potential clients.  

 

 

I have now added a "Not for Personal use" restriction on one image to see if that gets updated. 

 

My experience at another place suggests that it depends how technologically sophisticated individual distributors are. Some agencies appear to have "real time " updates of modifications passed along by the Mother Ship (i.e. Alamy in this case), while changes can take ages to show up on other, clunkier distributor websites. Not sure what category that Canadian distributor is in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, John Mitchell said:

 

My experience at another place suggests that it depends how technologically sophisticated individual distributors are. Some agencies appear to have "real time " updates of modifications passed along by the Mother Ship (i.e. Alamy in this case), while changes can take ages to show up on other, clunkier distributor websites. Not sure what category that Canadian distributor is in.

 

 

just checked the one i changed yesterday to No Personal use, still is available there for that purpose.   Will check again tomorrow, in case they both have overnight updates that don't sync 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

55 minutes ago, SRJUK said:

I feel like I'm asking a really dumb questions here... but where are you lot 'opting out' of distribution countries?  I don't see any option anywhere to do such a thing.

You can only opt out in April.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.