Yes, it's brutal how AI is eroding the market for classical photographers.
When I think about it, Yuri Arcurs was earning between 25k and 50k USD with a single photo shoot 15 years ago.

Nowadays, the earnings after costs such as photo equipment, insurance, models, props, etc. are brutally low. If you don't have top 1% skills, it's not worth it anymore.

The same applies to Illustrators, who earned really well back then. There was a time when shutterstock had no subscriptions for vector graphics. The buyers had to pay the full price (20 - 30 USD / download).

So all those who take or create generic motifs will slowly switch to AI.

But this trend won't be limited to the creative industry. With intense competition across other industries, businesses will need to automate processes and leverage AI to boost productivity in order to survive. This shift is inevitable and we can expect to see the outcome in various sectors in the following years.

But let's end on a positive note!
I'd like to wish you and everyone else here a merry christmas and a wonderful start to the new year!

Yes, it's brutal how AI is eroding the market for classical photographers.
When I think about it, Yuri Arcurs was earning between 25k and 50k USD with a single photo shoot 15 years ago.

Nowadays, the earnings after costs such as photo equipment, insurance, models, props, etc. are brutally low. If you don't have top 1% skills, it's not worth it anymore.

The same applies to Illustrators, who earned really well back then. There was a time when shutterstock had no subscriptions for vector graphics. The buyers had to pay the full price (20 - 30 USD / download).

So all those who take or create generic motifs will slowly switch to AI.

But this trend won't be limited to the creative industry. With intense competition across other industries, businesses will need to automate processes and leverage AI to boost productivity in order to survive. This shift is inevitable and we can expect to see the outcome in various sectors in the following years.

But let's end on a positive note!
I'd like to wish you and everyone else here a merry christmas and a wonderful start to the new year!

There's an old marketing rule that says, when faced with an oversaturated market, there are two options. You either go up or you go down. (Sell Rolex's or sell copy watches). But don't stay in the middle. Its the middle ground that will be eroded.

Unfortunately, that middle ground is where most stock photographers are, and what you said about the top 1% is so true.  That's why I decided to go to a premium specialty agency and there's room to move there (not that I am top 1% but it has made me into a better photographer this past year). The people who went AI (copy watches ) have a good chance as well, but that area is becoming incredibly saturated as well, so only the smartest ones (finding sought-after niches, etc) will survive, I fear.

Quote from: AM24 on December 23, 2024, 11:59

Quote from: Andrej.S. on December 23, 2024, 07:00

Yes, it's brutal how AI is eroding the market for classical photographers.
When I think about it, Yuri Arcurs was earning between 25k and 50k USD with a single photo shoot 15 years ago.

Nowadays, the earnings after costs such as photo equipment, insurance, models, props, etc. are brutally low. If you don't have top 1% skills, it's not worth it anymore.

The same applies to Illustrators, who earned really well back then. There was a time when shutterstock had no subscriptions for vector graphics. The buyers had to pay the full price (20 - 30 USD / download).

So all those who take or create generic motifs will slowly switch to AI.

But this trend won't be limited to the creative industry. With intense competition across other industries, businesses will need to automate processes and leverage AI to boost productivity in order to survive. This shift is inevitable and we can expect to see the outcome in various sectors in the following years.

But let's end on a positive note!
I'd like to wish you and everyone else here a merry christmas and a wonderful start to the new year!

There's an old marketing rule that says, when faced with an oversaturated market, there are two options. You either go up or you go down. (Sell Rolex's or sell copy watches). But don't stay in the middle. Its the middle ground that will be eroded.

Unfortunately, that middle ground is where most stock photographers are, and what you said about the top 1% is so true.  That's why I decided to go to a premium specialty agency and there's room to move there (not that I am top 1% but it has made me into a better photographer this past year). The people who went AI (copy watches ) have a good chance as well, but that area is becoming incredibly saturated as well, so only the smartest ones (finding sought-after niches, etc) will survive, I fear.

May I ask what are these premium agencies ? Since you mentioned twice. Just interesting to check.

'Premium' is the word that they use to describe themselves (not mine) but they are commonly known as Midstock agencies, who pay much higher commissions than Microstock. For example, Shutterstock Offset who sells licenses at $250 each.


....


As a sidenote, the more I think about the watches analogy, the more it may answer the OP's question. With regard to watches, in the end it was the smartphone that wiped out the market - or at least the copy watches side. BUT there is still a market for the very expensive ones. For example, Longines, who's watches sell for up to $10,000 each. Interesting, huh?

So, it makes one think. Is AI the copy watch or the smartphone?   

I'll side with what majority seems to believe, which is that Microstock is on its deathbed with AI placing final nail in the coffin.   At some point these famous photographers like Yuri were paving the road and showing what's possible with skill and hard work.  Not anymore; microstock is nowdays "Uncle Pete hobby", which for average contributor can hardly even finance cost of gear.  I look sometime at amount of work Brutally Honest Microstock guy Alex Rottenberg invests, shooting, technology, extremely well researched blogs - and what does he have to show for it?  Few 100's a month.

It's really a shame because photography, when done properly, is form of self expression, art and can bring lots of joy beyond just financial aspect.  In particular this downright despicable mess AI is creating.  Today, while researching potential trip to Alaska next summer,  I went to Adobe (as customer would) and searched for "Chilkoot Lake".  Wanted to throw up when I saw results - some guy spammed with 100s of AI generated shots of grizzly bears that look about just as ridiculous as anything I have ever seen.   Shooting wildlife is art, waiting, patience in the wild, having proper equipment/lens - not this.   AI is downright evil in my view, not just in photography.   Why don't all these Googles and Apples (and Adobes) invest effort in figuring how to save the planet that is dying in front of our eyes with human caused global warming,  instead of working on software algorithms that won't mean anything once Planet can't support life anymore.   Sorry for rant, just very bitter about it.

Bravo! I really enjoyed reading you. There are the people who have a conscience and who are conscious, there are the others.

I'll side with what majority seems to believe, which is that Microstock is on its deathbed with AI placing final nail in the coffin.   At some point these famous photographers like Yuri were paving the road and showing what's possible with skill and hard work.  Not anymore; microstock is nowdays "Uncle Pete hobby", which for average contributor can hardly even finance cost of gear.  I look sometime at amount of work Brutally Honest Microstock guy Alex Rottenberg invests, shooting, technology, extremely well researched blogs - and what does he have to show for it?  Few 100's a month.

It's really a shame because photography, when done properly, is form of self expression, art and can bring lots of joy beyond just financial aspect.  In particular this downright despicable mess AI is creating.  Today, while researching potential trip to Alaska next summer,  I went to Adobe (as customer would) and searched for "Chilkoot Lake".  Wanted to throw up when I saw results - some guy spammed with 100s of AI generated shots of grizzly bears that look about just as ridiculous as anything I have ever seen.   Shooting wildlife is art, waiting, patience in the wild, having proper equipment/lens - not this.

Yes, Go High or Go Low.    Either be very serious or make it a hobby. I decided hobby in 2012 when I saw what was going on with agencies, cutting our returns, along with the supply being far more than the demand. There was a false belief, being promoted by agencies like Shutterstock, that there was a hug untapped demand, and that there was potential for growth of the business.

I think you hit the point very well, that AI ended the slow death of Microstock accelerating the final crash.

So what can the average photographer do?

Improve your skills. Produce outstanding work. Go niche and then niche down even further. Be different. Be unique. Find specialty/premium/midstock agencies that will pay higher $$$ for top quality work. Or stay in the microstock area and aim for higher SODs. Do lots of research.

Look for other markets. For example, there's a whole booming market of bloggers who need better photography to compete in that saturated market. Write blogs aimed at them to teach them how to produce better photography. Start social media channels (Youtube, Instagram, etc) targeting these audiences. Look for ways to monetize your skills and knowledge. Think of ways to sell (your knowledge or imagery) directly to them.

The basic principle is that people need imagery. Everywhere more and more bloggers, social media posters, websites, etc, absolutely NEED images. The demand for great imagery has never been stronger. So, that is not the problem. The problem is the massive competition to produce it. AI and smart phones fill part of that demand. So look for ways to fill the rest.

The other is research. 80% of what is coming is just fluff and duplicates.

Find a few niches

That is soooooooooooooo true!

Ok, because its Christmas and because I don't compete in this market anymore, I'm going to give everyone one of my major tips on how to find niches that ARE in demand.

Remember above, I said that I uploaded some AI to DT agency just out of curiosity, and 7 sold really quickly. Well, 4 more sold this week. And that's NOT because they were AI. Its because I found a niche within Christmas that was popular but with hardly any relevant images.

For those who don't know this trick, its quick and easy. Go to one of the agencies and type in your main subject, eg Christmas. On SS, there's 10.7 million images. Then look at the dropdown menu and click on something else. All of these represent popular searches. Then keep drilling down. Also, look at the line of phrases just underneath it that says, Related Searches. And just keep drilling down until you find one that has a lot less images. Remember these are popular searches! Buyers are wanting them.

I found one that only had 6,000 images - compared to 10,700,000! For Christmas that's a big deal. I uploaded 25 images - correction I uploaded only 11 images for this particular search, plus some for other holidays, about a month or so before Christmas (a bit too late really) and had 9 sales, ranging from 35c to $4.41 commission. And that's just on DT - one of my least performing agencies. I don't like AI, I don't like AI images, and I won't be doing it again, but it was an interesting exercise.

Remember, as a photographer you are here to shoot what buyers want. Not the other way around. 

Merry Christmas everybody. Cheers 

.....

PS. I think microstock was just a stepping stone to lead me to what I love doing most (here is just a sample below). I hope all of you find that too!

With love,
Annie

https://www.instagram.com/p/DDx3y85CMbb/

Annie, really great to see you back and posting! I hope things are going well for you. 

....
It's really a shame because photography, when done properly, is form of self expression, art and can bring lots of joy beyond just financial aspect.  In particular this downright despicable mess AI is creating.  ... Shooting wildlife is art, waiting, patience in the wild, having proper equipment/lens - not this.   AI is downright evil in my view, not just in photography.   Why don't all these Googles and Apples (and Adobes) invest effort in figuring how to save the planet that is dying in front of our eyes with human caused global warming,  instead of working on software algorithms that won't mean anything once Planet can't support life anymore.   Sorry for rant, just very bitter about it.

you're confusing moral goals with practical business decisions - agencies have no effect on public policies - they provide what buyers want. so if you want to change the world you need another venue!  i contribute 10% of my meager income to such projects as UNHCR, nature conservatory et al, and have no expectation that microstock is going to change the world

I'm here compiling my epic year-end report and after crunching some numbers saw something interesting/worrying that I would like to share.

Since 2018 these are my average clip prices, together with total number of sales. Note that I began uploading "premium" drone footage in April 2022, leading to increased volumes.

So in summary:

- Quadrupled the number of clips sold from 2020 until 2024
- 64% drop in earnings 2020 vs 2024 (inflation during those 4 years was around 20% in the US)

What's the future of microstock? A part-time gig at best.

Quote from: AM24 on December 23, 2024, 11:59

There's an old marketing rule that says, when faced with an oversaturated market, there are two options. You either go up or you go down. (Sell Rolex's or sell copy watches). But don't stay in the middle. Its the middle ground that will be eroded.

Very well said!
For my part, I'm trying to go up. Actually already since 2020, when SS cut royalties and I left them. Which in my case means doing social media, selling prints, licensing content directly to customers and so on. It took some time go get going, but this year I was able to outperform my previous best year (2016) by over 30%, while my earnings from microstock fell to around 50% of 2016's level.

Thank you - and well done!

Yes, its takes a bit of time to develop something new and, understandably, it's easy for some people to give up too soon.

Here's my full blog article on the subject, if anyone is interested. (My target audience at that time was online sellers, but the principle works for most markets.)

https://milleflore.com/blog/small-business-blog/saturated-market

Quote from: AM24 on December 23, 2024, 11:59

There's an old marketing rule that says, when faced with an oversaturated market, there are two options. You either go up or you go down. (Sell Rolex's or sell copy watches). But don't stay in the middle. Its the middle ground that will be eroded.

Very well said!
For my part, I'm trying to go up. Actually already since 2020, when SS cut royalties and I left them. Which in my case means doing social media, selling prints, licensing content directly to customers and so on. It took some time to get going, but this year I was able to outperform my previous best year (2016) by over 30%, while my earnings from microstock fell to around 50% of 2016's level.

Mike,

What are you doing on social media?

How is your selling prints going and do you use the POD sites (ie: FAA etc)?

Just received an email from Steve Heap (Backyard Silver) and he shares some impressive updates on his sales on POD sites showing significant growth each year. Link to the article on his website below.   

https://backyardsilver.com/update-on-my-fine-art-approach/   

Mike,

What are you doing on social media?

How is your selling prints going and do you use the POD sites (ie: FAA etc)?

Just received an email from Steve Heap (Backyard Silver) and he shares some impressive updates on his sales on POD sites showing significant growth each year. Link to the article on his website below.   

https://backyardsilver.com/update-on-my-fine-art-approach/

Very interesting article, thanks for the link!

I do also sell through POD sites, but sites like FAA and Pictorem barely sell anything for me, likely because I've got very few images of interest to US buyers (I am located in Germany). I mostly sell through my own website, that I spent a lot of time setting up and getting SEO and speed optimized. Lately the website gets more and more traction and I'm pretty satisfied with the results right now. Customers arrive through Google search mostly. I barely do any advertising on social media. In the past I tried to advertise my prints to my followers - with (I think) zero results. So I stopped doing that . I'm planning to also branch out to Etsy in 2025 as I think/hope I can reach additional customers there.

Social media can be pretty nicely monetized if you live in the right place (e.g. in US). I used to have Facebook monetization for a few months and it was pretty good - to give you an example, one image went viral and made me around $200. Also having large following and reach generally gives you more opportunities to be noticed by an art buyer or a company looking to license your content. But it takes a lot of time and effort to build a large following.