For stock photographers image search is critical, and participation in communicating with our agencies is a vital part of every stock shooter's business.
Image Migration And Falling Stock Photo Income
For a while now Getty has been migrating a massive number of
iStockphoto images onto their site. It isn’t unusual to do a search and get
page after page of nothing but E+ images. I find this rather disconcerting, and
it possibly explains the fact that virtually every Getty stock shooter I know
has seen dramatic drops in their income during the last two months.
Forums, Complaints, And Strong Emotions
Over in the iStockphoto.com site the forums have been abuzz
with complaints from the micro guys and gals that are unhappy with…well…pretty
much everything. It’s interesting that while we traditional shooters are
unhappy with the low prices of the micro images being uploaded to the Getty
site, not to mention the number of them, the microstock shooters are unhappy
with high priced images being migrated to their site. They are not afraid to express
their STRONG emotions about everything from site functions to royalty rates.
Heck, administrators have even been pleading with the members to pull it back a
bit: http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=349591&page=1.
What Keeps Me Up At Night
I believe it is inevitable that all the major stock photo
sites will have a complete range of stock products available from subscription
to Rights Managed. I am hopeful that I can create imagery that is good enough
that it can successfully compete with all the other images out there. What
really keeps me up at night is the idea that my images won’t get seen. And
right now, on the Getty site, it sure seems headed in that direction. I hope it
is some kind of ingestion glitch, but glitch or not, I can’t believe it isn’t
having a deleterious effect on my sales at least at this time.
The Squeaky Wheel Gets The Grease
Getting back to all those E+ images going up on the Getty
site. That huge influx of imagery onto the Getty site is probably happening at
least in part because the iStockphoto shooters are not shy about expressing
their opinions. On the other side,
we Traditional shooters are a tame bunch. The squeaking wheel gets the grease…and
us silent types are getting left out of the search. Time to speak up. By the
way, I have been with Getty since the beginning, and have never known them to
penalize any one for expressing their opinions no matter how adversarial in
nature.
A Fare Shake In Image Search
Frankly, we traditional shooters do have value. Our imagery
doesn’t look the same as the mass-produced imagery that is the current hallmark
of the really successful micro shooters.
The stock industry needs those of us who contribute images that don’t
look like micro, but they need to be reminded of that. If Getty owes us
anything it is a fare shake in image search…something we aren’t getting at the
moment.
Participation Is Critical
I have been as guilty as anyone in staying too quiet, but
participation is becoming rather critical. Whether you are with Getty, Corbis,
Masterfile or any other stock agency it is important to stay informed and
involved. Don’t worry about whether your voice can make a difference; just make
your voice heard. In fact, making your voice heard is doing the agencies, and
all of us in the stock industry, a favor.
The more honest input the powers that be have access to, the better
decisions they can make.
