Author Topic: Moving to Shutterstock and Adobe (Read 14143 times)

Harplee · « **on:** July 24, 2018, 07:00 »

I’m done with iStock. I’ve been with them almost since the beginning and all the tech issues with ESP and the lack of respect from Getty is the last straw.

If I give up my exclusivity and start submitting to Shutterstock and Adobe, will my income be the same as what it was at iStock as an exclusive? Any other sites I should consider?

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ShadySue · « **Reply #1 on:** July 24, 2018, 07:29 »

Quote from: Harplee on July 24, 2018, 07:00

If I give up my exclusivity and start submitting to Shutterstock and Adobe, will my income be the same as what it was at iStock as an exclusive?

42, 'how long is a piece of string?', aka 'how can anyone possibly know?'

I've read people who did better fairly quickly (3-4 years ago), people who eventually after couple of years had their earnings rise to be equivalent or better, people who are earning less after a few years but don't regret giving up exclusivity - and even a few who went back to exclusivity, but found it difficult to retrieve their former earnings, because of tech problems switching and switching back percentage rates in their system, switch in best match placing, etc. However, many oldtimers are finding their earnings going down anyway.

No-one else's experience will presage yours. Even if they have a broadly similar portfolio to yours, you are immediately competing with them and could only hope to share their earnings by eating into their sales. If your port is different, other peoples' experience could be vastly different from yours - better or worse.

You have to decide based on how much you want to get out of iS, not on how much you might earn elsewhere.

SpaceStockFootage · « **Reply #2 on:** July 24, 2018, 08:06 »

Video or photos?

Harplee · « **Reply #3 on:** July 24, 2018, 08:22 »

Quote from: SpaceStockFootage on July 24, 2018, 08:06

Video or photos?

Photos.

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niktol · « **Reply #4 on:** July 24, 2018, 08:44 »

Quote from: Harplee on July 24, 2018, 07:00

I’m done with iStock. I’ve been with them almost since the beginning and all the tech issues with ESP and the lack of respect from Getty is the last straw.

If I give up my exclusivity and start submitting to Shutterstock and Adobe, will my income be the same as what it was at iStock as an exclusive? Any other sites I should consider?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It sounds like you are combining 3 different problems in one. I can only share my experience, mileage can vary of course.

1. Tech issues. I don't have tech issues with ESP, so I am not sure what yours are. Could it be because I am nonexclusive? I don't know. Shutterstock is not without problems itself, and I read constantly complains about them, but with my workflow they are barely noticeable, and small things don't get to me easily. Fotolia is flawless as far as I am concerned, but I am not sure if Adobe interface is on par with them. Can you still create a Fotolia account? I think not. If projected on what really matters to me, bottom line, I don't see anyone's tech issues as anything even remotely serious.

2. Lack of respect. With almost everything automated, realistically, I only notice that they have zero skills in communicating with contributors when I need an answer to an important question, like when my tax authority needs info about them. Then they are, safe to say, incompetent. Back to the bottom line, how much their incompetence ("lack of respect") might cost me? It hasn't yet, but if it will, depending on the sum this might be a reason for termination.

3. The bottom line itself. As ShadySue already said, who knows. Are they really that good at selling content? As far as I am concerned, considering that I am nonexclusive, their impact on my sales is noticeable but not overwhelming. I would not want to lose them, but if I do, it's not the end of the world. Then again, I doubt that you can draw any projections from this information.

dpimborough · « **Reply #5 on:** July 24, 2018, 10:31 »

Well put it this way I had the same photos on SS and Adobe as well as iSuck

Even then SS made 4 to 5 times as much as iS.

I ditched them in March of 2017 and made little difference in earnings so as long as your photos are keyworded correctly and well shot/processed and of saleable subjects you should make reasonable earnings from SS & Adobe

madman · « **Reply #6 on:** July 24, 2018, 12:00 »

I ve tried that with reversed

I ve tried to get in exclusive to Isuck almost one year before, my revenue down 40% almost, so if you give up isuck exclusivity, your income seems to increase by around 50% I think.

Jo Ann Snover · « **Reply #7 on:** July 24, 2018, 13:18 »

I was independent (2004-8) then exclusive (2008-11) and then independent again. The days of being treated with respect by any agency are long gone, so don't expect anyone to welcome you warmly

You can make decent money, depending on what you have to sell, how big your portfolio is, and in part, whether you have existing accounts at SS and Fotolia (now Adobe Stock) to reactivate. That matters because you can start with a higher commission rate instead of the base. Also, do a search on SS on keywords for a few of your top sellers and take a look at what you'll be competing with. If you don't think your work stacks up, possibly you might have trouble with going independent.

Dreamstime is fading into irrelevance, I'd give DepositPhotos a wide berth (balance of scams and problems to earnings seems wrong). Alamy can work, depending on your portfolio, but I find it much more variable (good months and dry spells). 123rf used to be a decent second tier site, but they're struggling and I think the owners are trying to sell (and they cut royalty rates again recently).

Good luck

nobody · « **Reply #8 on:** July 24, 2018, 13:38 »

at this point you have more to gain being an 'Indie' --- besides AS and SS give Alamy a fair shake as well...

Good luck on your move...

Pauws99 · « **Reply #9 on:** July 24, 2018, 13:48 »

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on July 24, 2018, 13:18

I was independent (2004-8) then exclusive (2008-11) and then independent again. The days of being treated with respect by any agency are long gone, so don't expect anyone to welcome you warmly

You can make decent money, depending on what you have to sell, how big your portfolio is, and in part, whether you have existing accounts at SS and Fotolia (now Adobe Stock) to reactivate. That matters because you can start with a higher commission rate instead of the base. Also, do a search on SS on keywords for a few of your top sellers and take a look at what you'll be competing with. If you don't think your work stacks up, possibly you might have trouble with going independent.

Dreamstime is fading into irrelevance, I'd give DepositPhotos a wide berth (balance of scams and problems to earnings seems wrong). Alamy can work, depending on your portfolio, but I find it much more variable (good months and dry spells). 123rf used to be a decent second tier site, but they're struggling and I think the owners are trying to sell (and they cut royalty rates again recently).

Good luck

Have to say I always like to see your posts..well written and informative. Agree RF123 seem to be fading I used to do quite well there.

derek · « **Reply #10 on:** July 24, 2018, 14:17 »

I joined most of these back in 2005 but its not like the old days you know. Three or four years back I would have said yes but nowadays I doubt very much the grass is much more green anywhere. SS and FT are certainly nowhere near what they used to be and youre an "oldie" in the game which dont exactly help. I wish you luck but I doubt its worth going through all the hassle of uploading this and that.

zorba · « **Reply #11 on:** July 24, 2018, 15:20 »

Quote from: Harplee on July 24, 2018, 07:00

[...]

If I give up my exclusivity and start submitting to Shutterstock and Adobe, will my income be the same as what it was at iStock as an exclusive? [...]

My answer: definitely NOT.
The right answer: who knows?

Harplee · « **Reply #12 on:** July 24, 2018, 15:43 »

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on July 24, 2018, 13:18

I was independent (2004-8) then exclusive (2008-11) and then independent again. The days of being treated with respect by any agency are long gone, so don't expect anyone to welcome you warmly

You can make decent money, depending on what you have to sell, how big your portfolio is, and in part, whether you have existing accounts at SS and Fotolia (now Adobe Stock) to reactivate. That matters because you can start with a higher commission rate instead of the base. Also, do a search on SS on keywords for a few of your top sellers and take a look at what you'll be competing with. If you don't think your work stacks up, possibly you might have trouble with going independent.

Dreamstime is fading into irrelevance, I'd give DepositPhotos a wide berth (balance of scams and problems to earnings seems wrong). Alamy can work, depending on your portfolio, but I find it much more variable (good months and dry spells). 123rf used to be a decent second tier site, but they're struggling and I think the owners are trying to sell (and they cut royalty rates again recently).

Good luck

Thanks for the detailed response. My portfolio isn’t huge, just 1,500 or so images but I used to generate over $1000 per month back in the day. A few of my images were really big sellers. Now I’m lucky to get $100-200 in a month.

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dpimborough · « **Reply #13 on:** July 24, 2018, 16:43 »

Quote from: Harplee on July 24, 2018, 15:43

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on July 24, 2018, 13:18
I was independent (2004-8) then exclusive (2008-11) and then independent again. The days of being treated with respect by any agency are long gone, so don't expect anyone to welcome you warmly

You can make decent money, depending on what you have to sell, how big your portfolio is, and in part, whether you have existing accounts at SS and Fotolia (now Adobe Stock) to reactivate. That matters because you can start with a higher commission rate instead of the base. Also, do a search on SS on keywords for a few of your top sellers and take a look at what you'll be competing with. If you don't think your work stacks up, possibly you might have trouble with going independent.

Dreamstime is fading into irrelevance, I'd give DepositPhotos a wide berth (balance of scams and problems to earnings seems wrong). Alamy can work, depending on your portfolio, but I find it much more variable (good months and dry spells). 123rf used to be a decent second tier site, but they're struggling and I think the owners are trying to sell (and they cut royalty rates again recently).

Good luck
Thanks for the detailed response. My portfolio isn’t huge, just 1,500 or so images but I used to generate over $1000 per month back in the day. A few of my images were really big sellers. Now I’m lucky to get $100-200 in a month.

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Well I think you have your answer right there, with a drop from $1000 per month to $100~$200 pm you have nothing left to lose.

The only other choice is to stick it out with iS until your earnings fall to $50, $30 or $10 per month.

angelawaye · « **Reply #14 on:** July 24, 2018, 19:28 »

Good for you! I would "dribble" out your photos into the database. Sometimes there are very strange glitches and odd reviewers so I don't recommend uploading hundreds of photos all at once.

I think you will be okay with SS and Adobe

Keep us posted!

PaulieWalnuts · « **Reply #15 on:** July 24, 2018, 21:06 »

Quote from: Harplee on July 24, 2018, 07:00

I’m done with iStock. I’ve been with them almost since the beginning and all the tech issues with ESP and the lack of respect from Getty is the last straw.

If I give up my exclusivity and start submitting to Shutterstock and Adobe, will my income be the same as what it was at iStock as an exclusive? Any other sites I should consider?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My personal experience is I dropped IS Exclusive and submitted to Shutterstock, Adobe and Non-Ex IS. My income between those three dropped to about between a 1/2 to 1/3 then when I was IS exclusive. But I had other reasons to drop the crown. Mainly in that I found I could license my niche images for hundreds or thousands of dollars so overall I'm way ahead going indie.

In your case if you've dropped to $100 - $200 p/m, unless you'd lose your house, starve, or other problem, you don't seem to have much to lose going indie. This was my problem a few years ago. My revenue growth was great for a few years and then after all the BS it plateaued and started dropping. The trend was clear. Going down and not coming back up so I bailed way early before I hit bottom.

Zero Talent · « **Reply #16 on:** July 24, 2018, 22:41 »

Quote from: Harplee on July 24, 2018, 07:00

I’m done with iStock. I’ve been with them almost since the beginning and all the tech issues with ESP and the lack of respect from Getty is the last straw.

If I give up my exclusivity and start submitting to Shutterstock and Adobe, will my income be the same as what it was at iStock as an exclusive? Any other sites I should consider?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If you produce quality stuff, after a while, top tier and mid tier from the right side of this page will give at least 30% more than the IS exclusivity.

derek · « **Reply #17 on:** July 25, 2018, 01:22 »

Harplee!....most of your replies here are talking about when they left IS some years back and when the going was good, when it was worth breaking exclusivity and go Indie!....not so today. I think most people who joined micro back in 2005-2006 etc can verify that takings have dropped catastrophically during the last 4-5 years.

I am still independent at IS and still earn good money in spite of their lousy commission!

DallasP · « **Reply #18 on:** July 25, 2018, 04:37 »

If my opinion matters much, I've got a small port and ... barely contribute but, I've considered multiple times dropping them all and going Adobe/Fot exclusive. They're legitimately the only ones trying to drive the market up instead of down ... I'd really love to make payout on some of them though, I think my DT balance has been stuck at 40 something for a year or better.

Edit: More on topic I hit enter before I was done ... Adobe/Fot have been paying significantly more for me. SS seems slow ... :/ idk. I uploaded a 60fps video the other day just to see if I could get something in but, it's still not accepted and I'm not terribly sure if micro is worth my time anymore. I want and need these files to make some money ... money for me. Not 1/5 of my sale and we can clearly see buyer loyalty dropping. idk. Designers are more and more actually hiring photographers than buying stock. I value this as a small bit of passive income but, it's becoming less realistic ... I'm ... probably going back to self hosted and hoping that crap will just take off again.

PaulieWalnuts · « **Reply #19 on:** July 26, 2018, 00:22 »

Quote from: derek on July 25, 2018, 01:22

Harplee!....most of your replies here are talking about when they left IS some years back and when the going was good, when it was worth breaking exclusivity and go Indie!....not so today. I think most people who joined micro back in 2005-2006 etc can verify that takings have dropped catastrophically during the last 4-5 years.

I am still independent at IS and still earn good money in spite of their lousy commission!

And what is good money? How many images and monthly earnings?

If he/she is making $100 - $200 per month as an IS Exclusive I can't imagine doing worse with SS and FT. Frankly if I was getting $100 per month with 1,500 images I'd either do something different to try and improve earnings or call it quits. That's 6 cents per image per month. That 1,500 images probably took a ton of time and cost to produce and the return is peanuts. If they drop IS and end up earning $50 or even $25 per month does it really matter? I dropped IS Exclusively when I was still doing a couple thousand per month.

Karen · « **Reply #20 on:** July 26, 2018, 03:18 »

Quote from: madman on July 24, 2018, 12:00

I ve tried that with reversed

I ve tried to get in exclusive to Isuck almost one year before, my revenue down 40% almost, so if you give up isuck exclusivity, your income seems to increase by around 50% I think.

So your income increased by 50% since you left exclusivity?

madman · « **Reply #21 on:** July 26, 2018, 09:41 »

Quote from: Karen on July 26, 2018, 03:18

Quote from: madman on July 24, 2018, 12:00
I ve tried that with reversed

I ve tried to get in exclusive to Isuck almost one year before, my revenue down 40% almost, so if you give up isuck exclusivity, your income seems to increase by around 50% I think.

So your income increased by 50% since you left exclusivity?

yes. but I could not wait long, I only stayed in exclusivity for 1 month and I left immediately due to I could not reach the performance I expected, maybe if I stayed a few months on exclusivity, some things could change. I dont know.

ShadySue · « **Reply #22 on:** July 26, 2018, 10:00 »

Quote from: madman on July 26, 2018, 09:41

Quote from: Karen on July 26, 2018, 03:18
Quote from: madman on July 24, 2018, 12:00
I ve tried that with reversed

I ve tried to get in exclusive to Isuck almost one year before, my revenue down 40% almost, so if you give up isuck exclusivity, your income seems to increase by around 50% I think.

So your income increased by 50% since you left exclusivity?

yes. but I could not wait long, I only stayed in exclusivity for 1 month and I left immediately due to I could not reach the performance I expected, maybe if I stayed a few months on exclusivity, some things could change. I dont know.

Mwahaha- I'm glad you clarified that! Unless you had a big personal following which followed you, how could you have any expectations s for a month. And if you had these followers why wouldn't you sell to them directly? I'd be astounded if iS were agile enough to move all your back catalogue to 3 credits on a month!
In the Good Old Days things were different. My income from iS shot up the minute I became exclusive, which was as much because I had lots more upload slots and indie files weren't undercutting exclusive files. And less overall internal and external competition.
Nowadays I'd think most people would need to wait at least a year to 18 months to see how things will pan out, in either direction.
A LOT can happen in 18 months!

That said, I agree that the OP has nothing much to lose by trying independence.

madman · « **Reply #23 on:** July 26, 2018, 10:08 »

I want to try istuck exclusivity with staying much longer but there have some problems, dreamstime does not allow you to delete portfolio immediately, now if you decide to get istock exclusivity, at least you must wait 6 month because of dreamstime... I have about 8k pictures on sale with 8 different agencies, If istuck exclusivity can not reach the result I expected, re uploading the portfolio to the other 7 sites will be a great torture.

Karen · « **Reply #24 on:** July 26, 2018, 10:43 »

Quote from: madman on July 26, 2018, 10:08

I have about 8k pictures on sale with 8 different agencies, If istuck exclusivity can not reach the result I expected, re uploading the portfolio to the other 7 sites will be a great torture.

So now that you have your port on 8 agencies. Did you reach the result you expected?
What part of your total income comes from iStock?

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Author Topic: Moving to Shutterstock and Adobe (Read 14143 times)

Harplee

ShadySue

SpaceStockFootage

Harplee

niktol

dpimborough

madman

Jo Ann Snover

nobody

Pauws99

derek

zorba

Harplee

dpimborough

angelawaye

PaulieWalnuts

Zero Talent

derek

DallasP

PaulieWalnuts

Karen

madman

ShadySue

madman

Karen

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