With due respect but new contributors or ppl, thats been less then 3 years in this business need not bother to post in this thread, reason being that you have very little to compare with since you havent been through the ups and downs in micro.

My reasoning is this: all these agencies will forever aggrevate us in some sort of way, constant search-changes, SS, being the latest, bugs and glitches, this and that, all the time. Now isnt it better to just have one agency getting wound up about, then lets say, 10 of them? As Lisa once said here, its not even a matter of uploading selling, etc, its become  a matter of fooling the system, constantly on the look-out for any scullduggery, etc. This is NOT, the way our profession should be executed, nor deteriorate into. This is perfectly true.

Now lets forget the money aspect, in the end of day, I dont think a diamond exclusive earns more or less then I do as a diamond independant with all other sites, well, it might differ with a few hundereds on either side, so what the heck, who cares?  I know! I have been in the frontline of independancy but, hell one has to draw the line somewhere and take a stand.

With SS, now going public and changing everything, well there goes the independants last stronghold, lets face it, many of us have been hiding behind the "safe" walls over there and now it turns out, being not so safe. Fragile. Also, SS does not have an exclusivity program and even if they did, its doubtfull it would benefit too much, I know, i have changed my mind a bit.
Getty, in itself has always been OK, to me, even since 1993 when came over from Stones and Image-Bank so its an obvious choice.

Ok fallas lets have some reactions here, some flaming or whatever to: am I doing the right thing?

you are not doing the right thing..

the right thing would be setting up your own site.. if you go exclusive, they don't even let you have your own site.. nobody deserves that kind of commitment.. If you don't like commission cuts and other idiotic moves, just start your own site where you get %100 of the sale.. (well apart from paypal or credit card charges)

I know but Im also a dayrate photographer, freelance and havent got the time for all that, I already run my own RM-outfit, not webb based but still, lots of work going into it, old clients, etc. I already house over 50K images of my own and its selling very well. With Micro, Im just after the easiest way, uploading, selling, etc. Not having to be at the mercy of sudden changes, etc. PPl, still believe running your own site is a picknick, its NOT, unless you have dollars to burn for advertising, your a gonner.

You're kidding, right?  

Even with sales down on all sites, Istock leads the pack.  Sales have crashed there.  Can't imagine limiting myself to fighting for the ever dwindling pool of remaining sales there.  

You're kidding, right?  

Even with sales down on all sites, Istock leads the pack.  Sales have crashed there.  Can't imagine limiting myself to fighting for the ever dwindling pool of remaining sales there.  

I know Lisa, I know but its like Hobsons choice here, cant you see?  where else?  SS, have just, in spite of promises, changed their entire search and we all know its just a matter of time before one feels the shockwaves. Theyre going public and then what? its pretty obvious to see whos going to end up buying and all.

I am still toying around with this decision, almost feel like a traitor here?  but lets face it, its all too time-consuming, uploading to gazillions of sites, be at the mercy of all these schitzophrenic changes, its no fun.
Also, IS, because of the Getty empire will most likely prevail forever, no matter how bad, I do not at all have the same confidance in any of the others.

You'd have to be crazy to do so and you should have more than enough data, indicating the current trends, for that to be obvious.

SS going public means huge investment in the business, the possibility of a major acquisition, and the intention to dominate the industry.

IS, on the other hand, are being sold off now that H&F have plundered $900M in special 'dividends' from the mothership and left it badly in debt.

There are far more exclusives who have either given up their crowns recently or seriously considering doing so and those going the other way.

Somehow I think you've got too much time on your hands this afternoon and are just looking for entertainment. You could always watch the Olympics instead.

Somehow I think you've got too much time on your hands this afternoon and are just looking for entertainment. You could always watch the Olympics instead.

nice one

It would be fascinating to compare an indie vs exclusive from the start both with 250000 downloads to see who was the smarter person.  One has made the wrong financial decision.  The data is out there!

I know I'm not very good with word problems, but you lost me on what that would prove.

Aren't you still on DT?  If so then you have many months to think about it.

He didn't say Where ... maybe a DT exclusive?   

I started in 2005 so I don't know if that qualifies me or not.

I was exclusive at an agency for a while. There are pros and cons.

Con: Not all buyers frequent all of the agencies. Each site has it's own clientele and even if your stuff fits with the clientele of a particular agency, you will no doubt sacrifice many sales from other sources.

Pro: Being exclusive means preferential treatment in search results which does boost sales considerably.

Con: Being exclusive, according to the terms, means you cannot sell your stuff anywhere else, that includes the stuff they reject. As many have pointed out, by selling on multiple sites, you tend to get all of your stuff up somewhere, even if one rejects, another accepts. If you put time into a shoot, and money and they decide to pass.... you're left holding the bag.

Pro: There's usually an incentive in higher commissions etc. Enough to make up for sitting on a bunch of work you can't sell? Not for me but to each their own. In addition, it does cut down on the time and energy required to upload to multiple sites.

Pro: There is something to the argument that you compete against yourself by selling on all these different sites, especially the bargain basement ones that almost give the shots away. Being exclusive to an agency means that your work is only available at one place which, if enough do that, gives the agency more clout to compete. If you want a particular shot and it's only available at one place, you go to that place and pay whatever they're asking.

Con: that benefits the agency more than you. It's a mutual symbiotic relationship so if one wins the other tends to as well (too bad the agencies don't see that) but I doubt you'll find the pluses out weigh the minuses.

You'd have to be crazy to do so and you should have more than enough data, indicating the current trends, for that to be obvious.

SS going public means huge investment in the business, the possibility of a major acquisition, and the intention to dominate the industry.

IS, on the other hand, are being sold off now that H&F have plundered $900M in special 'dividends' from the mothership and left it badly in debt.

There are far more exclusives who have either given up their crowns recently or seriously considering doing so and those going the other way.

Somehow I think you've got too much time on your hands this afternoon and are just looking for entertainment. You could always watch the Olympics instead.

Hi!  well as I said Im strongly thinking about it, I might be crazy even thinking about it, your right!  then again, for me its not a matter of the money, I know 46 IS, exclusives also with many Vettas and they are earning more as diamonds, then I am being an indie diamond with my 6 other sites. If I go through with it, its purely because I think all these sites takes up too much time and add to that the constant hassle.
Now tell me this! SS, is going public and normally that should benefit, so in that case, why have they changed their search? theres a thread at SS, where every single one screams they are down, so why? for the fun of it? experiments? at the cost of us?
Frankly I dont think theres more security as an independant anymore.

best.

...With SS, now going public and changing everything, well there goes the independants last stronghold, lets face it, many of us have been hiding behind the "safe" walls over there and now it turns out, being not so safe. Fragile...

Know something the rest of us don't? What's changing?

Even taking SS out of the equation, I'd still say that exclusivity at istock is a mistake. If SS closed up shop tomorrow, I still wouldn't opt for the crown. I can do better elsewhere, even without my SS income.

Even taking SS out of the equation, I'd still say that exclusivity at istock is a mistake. If SS closed up shop tomorrow, I still wouldn't opt for the crown. I can do better elsewhere, even without my SS income.

And here I thought I was the only one that thinks there is more to stock than just SS and IS.

Quote from: pro@stockphotos on August 08, 2012, 11:31

It would be fascinating to compare an indie vs exclusive from the start both with 250000 downloads to see who was the smarter person.  One has made the wrong financial decision.  The data is out there!

Well, there is a chap called Yuri who claims to be earning between $5M - $10M in royalties. Let say the actual figure was $7M and he was exclusive at IS with an average royalty of $7 per sale (at 45% commission). He'd need to be selling an unlikely 1M images per year (over 83K per month) just to equal his earnings as an independent __ plus the stability of his income would be subject to much greater risk.

I have a friend who was independent for the first 4 years and then switched to exclusivity in 2008. They are now back as an independent (with a list of reasons why as long as your arm). We share data so I know the numbers on both sides of the coin. Exclusivity became marginally advantageous for about 18 months, when IS introduced the price increase for Exc images and also Vetta, but when sales began to slide in 2011 (and earnings at SS continued to grow) then it quickly became an ever-increasing liability.

I'm pretty sure Yuri would have an RPD closer to $15 if he is at 45% and minimally without getting anything into Vetta/Agency/or having ELs he would likely be over $10.  Maybe it doesn't change anything but $7 is much lower than what his RPD would be.