Bill Allsopp Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 Just checked in to see if I had sold any images lately and deligheted to see I had until I saw the value, less than $10 for a 5 year licence (that's $5 to me only of course) I have always refused to join iStock and the like, now it seems I find myself dealing with them; except they are called Alamy. The question I now ask myself is should I bother wwith Alamy any more? Hardly seems worth the bother of captioning and key-wording if this is the shape of things to come. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 Sales are now all over the place. I think you just have live with the low ones and trust that higher ones will come along. Last month my sales ranged from $29 to $450. It's quite possible that the one that leased for $450 could go for $10 at some point down the road, and the $29 one could sell for many times that much. It's a roller coaster out there, and things will probably remain that way IMO. At least on Alamy the possibility is always there for making decent sales. Whereas in the microstock world, you're stuck with low returns for eternity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Allsopp Posted June 5, 2013 Author Share Posted June 5, 2013 ..... Whereas in the microstock world, you're stuck with low returns for eternity. Must agree, and why I never signed up to one. I just had to have a wee rant.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stipe Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 Selling photos through via Alamy is not that bad yet. Sometimes you discover (with joy I must say!) triple digit sales in your account which makes your day. Sometimes you have to be content with a few dollars sale. But, I still find worth sending pics to Alamy. I used to make several sales per month till half of May. Then, nothing which I find very strange, actually and I am still wondering for which reason that is happened. I don't know if someone else experienced my same situation. What I found disappointing, instead, are sales through distributor where barely you got 30% only of what you sale. I am thinking of remove those sales from my account. Other photographers did it standing to what I heard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidC Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 Stipe, it is always swings and round-a-bouts with sales for the same image sometimes making hundreds and at other times making just a few dollars - regarding the distributor rates I suppose a third of something is better than a whole lot of nothing. The whole business is changing and withdrawing your images won't increase your income. More photographers, more images, more choice does not look as if rates will ever increase again. Chin -up it is better than working for a living ! My neighbour who is a farmer spent the whole afternoon digging out a muddy ditch....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
long journey Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 My sales have also died since May. It's a little strange. I think the image collection is growing and the pie isn't Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jose Elias Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 Alamy has several problems when comparing to microstock. The main one are the fees charged when compared to the licences granted in RF. Even if in some images the fees are higher than in micro, the licence granted is so permissive that in iStock it would be necessary to buy several Extended Licences that would easily pass what Alamy charges. Even in Shutterstock I'm having several sales of $120, $90 per month (my cut) in their "Single & Other Downloads" and in the last months these are higher than most or all of the alamy sales after commission. The second problem is the amount of work alamy requires in their keywording when compared to microstock, for a reward in many cases similar to micro. Plus, in micro part of the agencies control keyword spam in the review of each image which doesn't solve spam problems but controls it a little bit. The policy about people on alamy is ridiculous. If a silhouette of the tip of a finger is seen peeking out of a corner of a building 3 miles away, you must say there's a person in the picture and you can't put it as RF! Alamy is also trying to create an edited collection, but it's really far behind the micro and most agencies in that respect. The numbers of sales are free-falling in value and numbers (at least for me). The only advantages of alamy is that you can submit RM and you have a "lottery ticket" for "THE sale". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Allsopp Posted June 6, 2013 Author Share Posted June 6, 2013 Thanks Jose, perhaps I should not be so dismissive of Shutterstock and the like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizair Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 My opinion for what it's worth is that the market is changing and it will continue to evolve. This is no different to most other industries. The technological change in photography has evolved more slowly than other industries and this has caused concern with photographers who entered the industry when the price of entry was high. That is no longer the case. And quite honestly, coming from an engineering/IT background we are still at the Model T Ford or biplane equivalent, with general photography. I have been lambasted in the past for expressing such views. But I've been in a position where I have seen such change wrought in other areas. Who now bothers to get a TV fixed? We throw the old out and buy new. The same for many other previously repaired stuff. Who here has bothered to get a toaster, iron, washing machine or such fixed, once out of warranty? The same is happening now with our gear. Having said that, I recently upgraded from a 7D to a 5DIII. Why? Because I like taking the very best image I can. But does the general population appreciate the difference for much of the imaging we produce? I am not convinced they do. We live in a throw-away society. Imaging is not immune. I wish it were otherwise. But the world is what it is. One thing is sure though, "seeing" talent will out. I just wish I had a bit more of it. Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christian58 Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 Alamy has several problems when comparing to microstock. The main one are the fees charged when compared to the licences granted in RF. Even if in some images the fees are higher than in micro, the licence granted is so permissive that in iStock it would be necessary to buy several Extended Licences that would easily pass what Alamy charges. Even in Shutterstock I'm having several sales of $120, $90 per month (my cut) in their "Single & Other Downloads" and in the last months these are higher than most or all of the alamy sales after commission. The second problem is the amount of work alamy requires in their keywording when compared to microstock, for a reward in many cases similar to micro. Plus, in micro part of the agencies control keyword spam in the review of each image which doesn't solve spam problems but controls it a little bit. The policy about people on alamy is ridiculous. If a silhouette of the tip of a finger is seen peeking out of a corner of a building 3 miles away, you must say there's a person in the picture and you can't put it as RF! Alamy is also trying to create an edited collection, but it's really far behind the micro and most agencies in that respect. The numbers of sales are free-falling in value and numbers (at least for me). The only advantages of alamy is that you can submit RM and you have a "lottery ticket" for "THE sale". Yep I am doing very well in Micro as well, similar to your own experience. However, Micro is not the answer. Micro is unsustainable in every way, continuing slashing prices, constant change of Algorithm and search, killing off tons of portfolios and right now for the average supplier, micro is really down. Just read the SS forum, doom and gloom. RM is in my opinion the only thing left, extra revenues for rights, etc. RF is OK but its still low pricing. The key factor is to find the right outlets, agencies, armed with a somewhat specialized portfolio or at least not the usual isolation and generic stuff. I have been lead to believe Alamy sell much more editorial stuff then creative, if so we are barking up the wrong tree.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiskerke Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 Related: in debate about who's taking prices downward, new evidence = Getty; Getty appears to now be primary stock provider to HuffPost; Alamy was getting us $27-29 gross/image?; reports are Getty contribs will get pennies per image; Alamy did NOT go down that microbial path, AFAICT... (not true? correction details appreciated) Yes and we all told Getty that was the price to undercut here on this forum. I for me have been very pleased with 3 or 4 HP's a month. Let's hope it's not entirely true. wim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan_Andison Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 1.>> I despair 2.>> you can submit RM and you have a "lottery ticket" for "THE sale" 1. As do I -- streak of workdays without missing license since March 15 appears to be ending today. That's about 50 straight days of mixed smaller & bigger licenses. Smaller = padding. If you start now shooting/processing at rate of 5 total minutes/image, you, too, can have 100K salable images in 4 years @52 40-hr weeks/yr. Your stats may vary if unreleased RM is not your thing. 2. See #1. No longer a lottery for some -- adequate volume/variety/salability = reliability. (knock knock) Related: in debate about who's taking prices downward, new evidence = Getty; Getty appears to now be primary stock provider to HuffPost; Alamy was getting us $27-29 gross/image?; reports are Getty contribs will get pennies per image; Alamy did NOT go down that microbial path, AFAICT... (not true? correction details appreciated) Heck, I need to pick up the pace.... I thought I was doing well with a 1000 images this month. That's only have the rate you mention Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Borniet Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 Shooting and processing 1 image every 5 minutes is one thing. Keywording them is what eats my time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christian58 Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 " who's taking prices downward, new evidence = Getty;" not my experience and certainly not in RM. might be RF or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Azure-images Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christian58 Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 Must confess I dont get anything of these last posts????? as far as the Getty RM house collection, myself and the ones I personally know there are doing splendid! and with large sales, many over four figures.. The rest of Getty, no I dont know anything about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidC Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 Related: in debate about who's taking prices downward, new evidence = Getty; Getty appears to now be primary stock provider to HuffPost; Alamy was getting us $27-29 gross/image?; reports are Getty contribs will get pennies per image; Alamy did NOT go down that microbial path, AFAICT... (not true? correction details appreciated) Yes and we all told Getty that was the price to undercut here on this forum. I for me have been very pleased with 3 or 4 HP's a month. Let's hope it's not entirely true. wim Have you noticed the massive proportion of HP sales that are now RF - I do hope they are not operating on the buy once use as much as you like principle - but fear that this may be the case........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Semmick Photo Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 Alamy has several problems when comparing to microstock. The main one are the fees charged when compared to the licences granted in RF. Even if in some images the fees are higher than in micro, the licence granted is so permissive that in iStock it would be necessary to buy several Extended Licences that would easily pass what Alamy charges. Even in Shutterstock I'm having several sales of $120, $90 per month (my cut) in their "Single & Other Downloads" and in the last months these are higher than most or all of the alamy sales after commission. The second problem is the amount of work alamy requires in their keywording when compared to microstock, for a reward in many cases similar to micro. Plus, in micro part of the agencies control keyword spam in the review of each image which doesn't solve spam problems but controls it a little bit. The policy about people on alamy is ridiculous. If a silhouette of the tip of a finger is seen peeking out of a corner of a building 3 miles away, you must say there's a person in the picture and you can't put it as RF! Alamy is also trying to create an edited collection, but it's really far behind the micro and most agencies in that respect. The numbers of sales are free-falling in value and numbers (at least for me). The only advantages of alamy is that you can submit RM and you have a "lottery ticket" for "THE sale". Sums it up for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Semmick Photo Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 Who works 52 x 40 hour weeks a year in a normal job? I dont. 5 minutes per image? Not a chance in the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jools Elliott Posted June 15, 2013 Share Posted June 15, 2013 Must confess I dont get anything of these last posts????? as far as the Getty RM house collection, myself and the ones I personally know there are doing splendid! and with large sales, many over four figures.. The rest of Getty, no I dont know anything about that. As another Getty contributor I can also atest to this. Since the beginning of the year I have been working hard on getting stuff into the RM side of Getty and been suceeding. I've seen consistent sales every month from what I do. Hoping that this month is similar or better to the last ones. I was starting to get sales here on Alamy but that has dipped. Am I worried? Nope as I am taking on one of the things Jeff Greenberg said a while ago..."get out there and shoot something new as much as you" or words to that effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted June 15, 2013 Share Posted June 15, 2013 >>Getty appears to now be primary stock provider to HuffPost Clarification: this applies to HuffPost USA edition (Alamy still supplying to one or more non-USA editions) Most of my Alamy HuffPo sales have been Vancouver images, so I guess they are still buying (?) images for the Canadian edition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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