This is the epitome of the backwards thinking companies like iStock/Getty and Shutterstock (to a slightly lesser extent) have been attempting to brainwash into some of the more impressionable, less confident contributors. To the point where they have even somewhat successfully changed the meaning of the word "commission" to mean OUR percentage. Sure sounds more reasonable that we make 15% "commission" on sales, rather than the historically TRUE meaning of the term, as "remuneration for services rendered or products sold as a common way to reward sales people". The stock companies would obviously be the sales people in this relationship, and letting them take a 70-85% commission to sell OUR work is really disgusting if you think about it objectively. Any company that claims they can't stay afloat and profitable while offering a 50% split is based on lies, greed and the fact that many folks buy into it, even to the point of defending it.

The attitude of this topic creator reminds me of when I had terrible warehouse jobs as a youth, and the bosses would respond to our valid complaints with, "Well, I hear McDonalds is hiring." Many employees accepted this sort of moral beat-down, and the ones I still know lead pretty * miserable lives these days.

I won't criticize the posters portfolio, other than saying with the quality and quantity of the work, it's a shame his/her self-confidence and self-worth are this low. Place like MSG help promote a solidarity and any sort of power and unity we can wield is in ALL content creators best interests, given the lack of a union or something similar. Call it whining, but it's really more about checks and balances. That would be like calling the free press in the USA "whiners", when even the drafters of the Constitution understood the need for such checks and balances.