Author Topic: Getty e-mail about iStock "Contributor Facing Changes" (Read 78889 times)

Jo Ann Snover · « **on:** July 14, 2016, 10:43 »

I received e-mail from Getty this morning and over the next month or two they'll be removing the ability to edit keywords, titles or descriptions after acceptance. Perhaps more importantly, you won't be able to delete your own work any more - you'll have to contact support.

"Please note that we will only consider deactivating files for legal or similar justifiable reasons as it provides a negative experience for customers when files are suddenly unavailable for license. "

I've always considered the inability to delete my own files a pretty big red flag for any agency (after some bad experiences with now-defunct startups). I can live with Alamy's 6 month wait given their business model (and you don't have to justify anything, just wait).

Seems to me that Getty wants to sell at micro prices for rock bottom royalties but have all the red tape and restrictions of the higher priced macro business.

Contributor e-mails are now coming from e(dot)gettyimages(dot)com so if any of you use whitelists, you'll want to add that (an earlier piece of mail from them was ID'd as spam as I only had gettyimages(dot)com on the whitelist.

PhotoLA · « **Reply #1 on:** July 14, 2016, 10:49 »

Yeah, pretty crazy. Not being able to delete your own files and also not being able to change any of your keywords or descriptions after you've uploaded.

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #2 on:** July 14, 2016, 10:55 »

It's not only that we can't directly delete our own files (which is bad enough but not unique) it's that they will refuse to delete our files if they wish!!!!!!!!!

"Please note that we will only consider deactivating files for legal or similar justifiable reasons as it provides a negative experience for customers when files are suddenly unavailable for license."

This is way too far. They are taking ownership of our content. There's no excuse for this.

Justanotherphotographer · « **Reply #3 on:** July 14, 2016, 10:56 »

They could change their terms or compensation level to whatever they like and refuse to delete our content. The announcement says as much, they will only consider deleting them for legal reasons. Not because we may not like changes they have made.

Jogga0 · « **Reply #4 on:** July 14, 2016, 10:57 »

Think I will delete all my files now while I still can, prefer to have control over my work!

senicphoto · « **Reply #5 on:** July 14, 2016, 11:15 »

I have no doubt this is illegal but likely won't be challenged in court. If at any point Getty decide to sell our content for 25C per image you will have no say or ability to refuse this type of business relation with agency. Personally, I refuse to conduct business with Getty on these terms therefore as of today I am in process of removing my content from IStock ...

Tror · « **Reply #6 on:** July 14, 2016, 11:37 »

Anybody knows the wording regarding a complete deletion of the account?

If you cannot delete individual files you might still be able to delete the whole thing if they apply changes to the conditions you do not like.

senicphoto · « **Reply #7 on:** July 14, 2016, 11:44 »

Quote from: Tror on July 14, 2016, 11:37

Anybody knows the wording regarding a complete deletion of the account?

If you cannot delete individual files you might still be able to delete the whole thing if they apply changes to the conditions you do not like.

Not possible ... btw what you mean by "if they apply changes to the conditions you do not like"? They're pretty clear what changes will be introduced ... what portion of that anyone will like?

Tror · « **Reply #8 on:** July 14, 2016, 11:47 »

Quote from: senicphoto on July 14, 2016, 11:44

Quote from: Tror on July 14, 2016, 11:37
Anybody knows the wording regarding a complete deletion of the account?

If you cannot delete individual files you might still be able to delete the whole thing if they apply changes to the conditions you do not like.

Not possible ... btw what you mean by "if they apply changes to the conditions you do not like"? They're pretty clear what changes will be introduced ... what portion of that anyone will like?

I mean that e.g. if they reduce royalties in a year from now and you do not agree with that. Not talking about the current changes but the ones they might apply one day.

What do you mean with "not possible"? You cannot delete your istock account?

From the TOS of istock (Section 11):
"This Agreement is effective until terminated. You may terminate this Agreement at any time by giving thirty (30) days written notice to iStock using [email protected] or such other means of written notice acceptable to iStock which enables confirmation of your identity and your intention to terminate."

ShadySue · « **Reply #9 on:** July 14, 2016, 11:59 »

"Please note that we will only consider deactivating files for legal or similar justifiable reasons as it provides a negative experience for customers when files are suddenly unavailable for license. "
Since when did they care about negative experiences for customers?
... when the site is down (again?)
... when you get logged out in the middle of doing something?
... when files are extremely poorly keyworded leading to spammy searches?
... when the site doesn't 'hold' your preferences when searching, so that you have to keep choosing your parameters again and again
... when their own system somehow adds, subtracts or conflates keywords, in some cases totally wrongly.
... when inexplicably files show up wrongly in a search, and the keyword you searched on isn't in their keywords at all
... when the SEO titling experiment went badly wrong, and the eternal optimists with heads in the sand who signed up for it haven't been able to correct them in over a year despite many pleas and promises?
... when they removed descriptions?
... how long have you got?

Not happy about this, but then which recent-ish changes have been positive for contributors?

senicphoto · « **Reply #10 on:** July 14, 2016, 11:59 »

Quote from: Tror on July 14, 2016, 11:47

Quote from: senicphoto on July 14, 2016, 11:44
Quote from: Tror on July 14, 2016, 11:37
Anybody knows the wording regarding a complete deletion of the account?

If you cannot delete individual files you might still be able to delete the whole thing if they apply changes to the conditions you do not like.

Not possible ... btw what you mean by "if they apply changes to the conditions you do not like"? They're pretty clear what changes will be introduced ... what portion of that anyone will like?

I mean that e.g. if they reduce royalties in a year from now and you do not agree with that. Not talking about the current changes but the ones they might apply one day.

What do you mean with "not possible"? You cannot delete your istock account?

From the TOS of istock (Section 11):
"This Agreement is effective until terminated. You may terminate this Agreement at any time by giving thirty (30) days written notice to iStock using [email protected] or such other means of written notice acceptable to iStock which enables confirmation of your identity and your intention to terminate."

I hope you're right. In that case you gotta move pretty fast because changes will take effect on August 20th which leaves you 5 weeks to delete/cancel the account.

Tror · « **Reply #11 on:** July 14, 2016, 12:02 »

Quote from: senicphoto on July 14, 2016, 11:59

Quote from: Tror on July 14, 2016, 11:47
Quote from: senicphoto on July 14, 2016, 11:44
Quote from: Tror on July 14, 2016, 11:37
Anybody knows the wording regarding a complete deletion of the account?

If you cannot delete individual files you might still be able to delete the whole thing if they apply changes to the conditions you do not like.

Not possible ... btw what you mean by "if they apply changes to the conditions you do not like"? They're pretty clear what changes will be introduced ... what portion of that anyone will like?

I mean that e.g. if they reduce royalties in a year from now and you do not agree with that. Not talking about the current changes but the ones they might apply one day.

What do you mean with "not possible"? You cannot delete your istock account?

From the TOS of istock (Section 11):
"This Agreement is effective until terminated. You may terminate this Agreement at any time by giving thirty (30) days written notice to iStock using [email protected] or such other means of written notice acceptable to iStock which enables confirmation of your identity and your intention to terminate."

I hope you're right. In that case you gotta move pretty fast because changes will take effect on August 20th which leaves you 5 weeks to delete/cancel the account.

I don`t think so. Please correct me if I am wrong, but as I understand it they just refuse to deactivate files from the portfolio. Terminating the agreement and deleting the whole account is another beast and should not be affected by that.

senicphoto · « **Reply #12 on:** July 14, 2016, 12:09 »

Quote from: Tror on July 14, 2016, 12:02

Quote from: senicphoto on July 14, 2016, 11:59
Quote from: Tror on July 14, 2016, 11:47
Quote from: senicphoto on July 14, 2016, 11:44
Quote from: Tror on July 14, 2016, 11:37
Anybody knows the wording regarding a complete deletion of the account?

If you cannot delete individual files you might still be able to delete the whole thing if they apply changes to the conditions you do not like.

Not possible ... btw what you mean by "if they apply changes to the conditions you do not like"? They're pretty clear what changes will be introduced ... what portion of that anyone will like?

I mean that e.g. if they reduce royalties in a year from now and you do not agree with that. Not talking about the current changes but the ones they might apply one day.

What do you mean with "not possible"? You cannot delete your istock account?

From the TOS of istock (Section 11):
"This Agreement is effective until terminated. You may terminate this Agreement at any time by giving thirty (30) days written notice to iStock using [email protected] or such other means of written notice acceptable to iStock which enables confirmation of your identity and your intention to terminate."

I hope you're right. In that case you gotta move pretty fast because changes will take effect on August 20th which leaves you 5 weeks to delete/cancel the account.

I don`t think so. Please correct me if I am wrong, but as I understand it they just refuse to deactivate files from the portfolio. Terminating the agreement and deleting the whole account is another beast and should not be affected by that.

Do you have any legal document that points out that account termination won't be affected by this. I don't but being IStock contributor since 2005 I learned my lesson not to trust IStock or Getty. It comes down to personal decision. I'm not waiting for some future shocker or hoping for the best ... I'm in process of removing the content because I'm trully fed up with these vampires.

etudiante_rapide · « **Reply #13 on:** July 14, 2016, 12:13 »

Quote from: senicphoto on July 14, 2016, 12:09

Do you have any legal document that points out that account termination won't be affected by this. I don't but being IStock contributor since 2005 I learned my lesson not to trust IStock or Getty. It comes down to personal decision. I'm not waiting for some future shocker or hoping for the best ... I'm in process of removing the content because I'm trully fed up with these vampires.

lol, with ss this nice, and getty even nicer,
this month looks like a gift to stock photography.

maybe, just maybe , the main shareholder of ss is getty.
wipe out the competition like they did with istock

and start all over again from zero.

nitrus · « **Reply #14 on:** July 14, 2016, 12:23 »

I can't find anything on their forum about this so I was wondering if this means that istock is going to disappear. Will our images be on Getty instead of istock, I don't think Getty contributors would be happy about that. What will happen to exclusives, are they still going to exist or are they out the window. Presumably the only way to get your files off there if you don't like what they are doing would be to do something bad and get booted, they would view that as a punishment or maybe they would just keep the files and say they belonged to them...

Lana · « **Reply #15 on:** July 14, 2016, 12:44 »

I started with IS exactly 2 years ago - can I still delete all the crap I uploaded there in the beginning or is it too late? I always meant to do it..

And do I get it right that it is already not possible to edit keywords?

Karen · « **Reply #16 on:** July 14, 2016, 12:44 »

Quote from: nitrus on July 14, 2016, 12:23

I can't find anything on their forum about this so I was wondering if this means that istock is going to disappear.

Also no word about Thinkstock and the partner program.
Looks like Getty is simplifying their over complicated system.
Nobody there is able to handle this mountain of crap anymore.

kaboom · « **Reply #17 on:** July 14, 2016, 12:49 »

Quote from: Lana on July 14, 2016, 12:44

I started with IS exactly 2 years ago - can I still delete all the crap I uploaded there in the beginning or is it too late? I always meant to do it..

And do I get it right that it is already not possible to edit keywords?

We should be able to delete images until 20th August. I deleted a couple of images today without problems. I also tried editing keywords and I was still able to (I dont know if 20th August is also the date for editing keywords though...).

skyfish · « **Reply #18 on:** July 14, 2016, 12:50 »

Thinking to delete the files. Every agency in difficulties tries to keep uploads in any way. How many examples already were published about sales after account closing?

ShadySue · « **Reply #19 on:** July 14, 2016, 12:59 »

Quote from: nitrus on July 14, 2016, 12:23

I can't find anything on their forum about this

What? It's a sticky on the very top of the discussion forum.

polar · « **Reply #20 on:** July 14, 2016, 13:00 »

Quote from: kaboom on July 14, 2016, 12:49

Quote from: Lana on July 14, 2016, 12:44
I started with IS exactly 2 years ago - can I still delete all the crap I uploaded there in the beginning or is it too late? I always meant to do it..

And do I get it right that it is already not possible to edit keywords?

We should be able to delete images until 20th August. I deleted a couple of images today without problems. I also tried editing keywords and I was still able to (I dont know if 20th August is also the date for editing keywords though...).

I think you're actually "deactivating" them, not deleting them. Keep in mind that iStock can and has sold deactivated files.

Lana · « **Reply #21 on:** July 14, 2016, 13:01 »

Quote from: kaboom on July 14, 2016, 12:49

Quote from: Lana on July 14, 2016, 12:44
I started with IS exactly 2 years ago - can I still delete all the crap I uploaded there in the beginning or is it too late? I always meant to do it..

And do I get it right that it is already not possible to edit keywords?

We should be able to delete images until 20th August. I deleted a couple of images today without problems. I also tried editing keywords and I was still able to (I dont know if 20th August is also the date for editing keywords though...).

Their message seem to say the edited keywords are already not reflected in the search anymore..

Mantis · « **Reply #22 on:** July 14, 2016, 13:02 »

I sent a site email to them asking if we can still freely close our accounts after the new terms are in affect or does closing your account equate to deactivation and we are at their mercy to give us permission to close our accounts. I want clarity so I can move to take action prior to August 20.

kaboom · « **Reply #23 on:** July 14, 2016, 13:06 »

Quote from: polar on July 14, 2016, 13:00

Quote from: kaboom on July 14, 2016, 12:49
Quote from: Lana on July 14, 2016, 12:44
I started with IS exactly 2 years ago - can I still delete all the crap I uploaded there in the beginning or is it too late? I always meant to do it..

And do I get it right that it is already not possible to edit keywords?

We should be able to delete images until 20th August. I deleted a couple of images today without problems. I also tried editing keywords and I was still able to (I dont know if 20th August is also the date for editing keywords though...).

I think you're actually "deactivating" them, not deleting them. Keep in mind that iStock can and has sold deactivated files.

Yes, well, that is the term they use. I have deactivated a lot of images in last couple of years and they always disappeared from my iStock port and Thinkstock port within next day... there is no way for me to find out if they sold them after deactivation since we dont have further control over it :-/

Pauws99 · « **Reply #24 on:** July 14, 2016, 13:11 »

Quote from: etudiante_rapide on July 14, 2016, 12:13

Quote from: senicphoto on July 14, 2016, 12:09
Do you have any legal document that points out that account termination won't be affected by this. I don't but being IStock contributor since 2005 I learned my lesson not to trust IStock or Getty. It comes down to personal decision. I'm not waiting for some future shocker or hoping for the best ... I'm in process of removing the content because I'm trully fed up with these vampires.

lol, with ss this nice, and getty even nicer,
this month looks like a gift to stock photography.

maybe, just maybe , the main shareholder of ss is getty.
wipe out the competition like they did with istock

and start all over again from zero.

I doubt it very much getty has a mountain of debt and SS is sitting on a pile of cash.......

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Author Topic: Getty e-mail about iStock "Contributor Facing Changes" (Read 78889 times)

Jo Ann Snover

PhotoLA

Justanotherphotographer

Justanotherphotographer

Jogga0

senicphoto

Tror

senicphoto

Tror

ShadySue

senicphoto

Tror

senicphoto

etudiante_rapide

nitrus

Lana

Karen

kaboom

skyfish

ShadySue

polar

Lana

Mantis

kaboom

Pauws99

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