Microstock results for March 2009

Sales jumped up significantly to levels not seen since March 2008.  Istock has changed their search algorithm again and it seems to have helped me.  A big jump at stockxpert as well as I think they now license through an additional site.  All the others keep providing which is nice considering it over 18 months since I last contributed (literally all I do is check my earnings once a month to request payouts and write this blog (and I dont do this half the time)).

Below are percentages for the month to show how I have been going:
14% shutterstock
12% dreamtime
19% Fotolia
14% istockphoto
3% bigstockphoto
6% 123RF
32% StockXpert
0% Featurepics


Previous 12 months results:

February 2009 Results
January 2009 Results
December 2008 Results
November 2008 Results
October 2008 Results
September 2008 Earnings
August 2008 Earnings
July 2008 Earnings
June 2008 Earnings
May 2008 Earnings
April 2008 Earnings
March 2008 Earnings

Microstock results for February 2009

Results were up a bit on the Dec/Jan low which is expected.

Below are percentages for the month to show how I have been going:
18% shutterstock
14% dreamtime
28% Fotolia
11% istockphoto
5% bigstockphoto
6% 123RF
18% StockXpert
0% Featurepics


Previous 12 months results:

January 2009 Results

December 2008 Results

November 2008 Results
October 2008 Results
September 2008 Earnings
August 2008 Earnings
July 2008 Earnings
June 2008 Earnings
May 2008 Earnings
April 2008 Earnings
March 2008 Earnings
Feb 2008 Earnings

Microstock results for January 2009

It has been a busy three months for me so a bit of a catchup post. Results were about the same as December so not great but better than nothing. 

Below are percentages for the month to show how I have been going:
19% shutterstock
11% dreamtime
24% Fotolia
19% istockphoto
5% bigstockphoto
5% 123RF
17% StockXpert
0% Featurepics


Previous results for 2008:

December 2008 Results

November 2008 Results
October 2008 Results
September 2008 Earnings
August 2008 Earnings
July 2008 Earnings
June 2008 Earnings
May 2008 Earnings
April 2008 Earnings
March 2008 Earnings
Feb 2008 Earnings
Jan 2008 Earnings

Microstock results for December 2008

Results were down for December which is expected due to the number of public holiday during the month.  Shutterstock slowed down majorly but istock was only down a little.  Fotolia actually increased.  I have started to here good things about Fotolia and it is definately one of the top earning sites now.  They do however seem to piss of their contributors regularly which changes, though iStock has a history of this as well.

Below are percentages for the month to show how I have been going:
16% shutterstock
12% dreamtime
18% Fotolia
23% istockphoto
2% bigstockphoto
7% 123RF
23% StockXpert
0% Featurepics

Dont forget to check out my other blog: http://cj-photography.blogspot.com/. I have been a bit quite there but hope to pick up the posts once I get into a routine for the new year.

Previous results for 2008:

November 2008 Results
October 2008 Results
September 2008 Earnings
August 2008 Earnings
July 2008 Earnings
June 2008 Earnings
May 2008 Earnings
April 2008 Earnings
March 2008 Earnings
Feb 2008 Earnings
Jan 2008 Earnings

Microstock results for November 2008

I had quite a good month this month with a couple of EL sales at Shutterstock and a BME at Bigstock.

Below are percentages for the month to show how I have been going:
37% shutterstock
5% dreamtime
9% Fotolia
18% istockphoto
10% bigstockphoto
5% 123RF
16% StockXpert
0% Featurepics

Dont forget to check out my other blog: http://cj-photography.blogspot.com/

Previous results for 2008:

October 2008 Results
September 2008 Earnings
August 2008 Earnings
July 2008 Earnings
June 2008 Earnings
May 2008 Earnings
April 2008 Earnings
March 2008 Earnings
Feb 2008 Earnings
Jan 2008 Earnings

Microstock results for October 2008

It was an interesting month – Getty (owner of istock) bought out Jupiter (owner of Stockxpert).  Fotolia changed its affilate program and didn’t tell anyone and StockXpert hasn’t being paying out on some sales (from affilate sites).

Below are percentages for the month to show how I have been going:

20% shutterstock
11% dreamtime

11% Fotolia
20% istockphoto
6% bigstockphoto
14% 123RF
18% StockXpert
0% Featurepics

Dont forget to check out my other blog: http://cj-photography.blogspot.com/

Previous results for 2008:

September 2008 Earnings

August 2008 Earnings

July 2008 Earnings

June 2008 Earnings
May 2008 Earnings
April 2008 Earnings
March 2008 Earnings
Feb 2008 Earnings
Jan 2008 Earnings

Microstock results for September 2008

Another good result with constant results despite no uploads.

Below are percentages for the month to show how I have been going:

28% shutterstock
7% dreamtime
9% Fotolia
14% istockphoto
5% bigstockphoto
17% 123RF
18% StockXpert
3% Featurepics

Dont forget to check out my other blog: http://cj-photography.blogspot.com/

Previous results for 2008:

August 2008 Earnings

July 2008 Earnings

June 2008 Earnings
May 2008 Earnings
April 2008 Earnings
March 2008 Earnings
Feb 2008 Earnings
Jan 2008 Earnings

Microstock Photography results for August 2008

Not a bad month considering.  I was lucky with a couple of Extended licenses at Shutterstock and Fotolia , otherwise it could have been a disaster.  Shutterstock is trending down and I dont think this is just me.  My referrees are down about 50% this month on the average for 2008.  Other sites are ticking along nicely but slowly.  I really need to start editing photos and getting them online.

Below are percentages for the month to show how I have been going:

26% shutterstock
10% dreamtime
14% Fotolia
17% istockphoto
5% bigstockphoto
9% 123RF
19% StockXpert
0% Featurepics

I have decided I am not doing this Blog proud.  I am not keeping up with market news.  If you want news about the microstock industry, the best source is on Lee Torrens Blog who is making a very good job of publicising what is happening in the Microstock world.  I will keep publishing my monthly results but my main focus will be on my personal blog and to get through the 10,000 photos I took on my last holiday (while keeping my day job).  So add my personal blog to your RSS feed - http://cj-photography.blogspot.com/- and have a look at Lee’s for Microstock news.

Previous results for 2008:

July 2008 Earnings

June 2008 Earnings
May 2008 Earnings
April 2008 Earnings
March 2008 Earnings
Feb 2008 Earnings
Jan 2008 Earnings

Microstock photography results for July 2008

Sales picked up which is great as they had been going down for the past few months (total earnings up 25% this month).  I still haven’t got round to upload which is very disappointing.  I have some ready to upload and have another batch ready for editing.  StockXpert had a great month and iStock picked up a bit after a couple of disappointing months.  Shutterstock put in another solid effort but is still way of its highs.

Below are percentages for the month to show how I have been going:

22% shutterstock
15% dreamtime
7% Fotolia
22% istockphoto
3% bigstockphoto
7% 123RF
23% StockXpert
1% Featurepics

Since I have been doing this for about 2 1/2 years now, I thought it would be interesting to see annual trends.  Ignoring the fact that I was constantly upload until about August 2007 ( I have uploaded very few since then), you can see that we have just gone though a slow patch and things should increase now till about November.  Most of my photos are travel shots (not a Christmas one amongst them) so my trends may be different to those which different photo mixes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Previous results for 2008:

June 2008 Earnings
May 2008 Earnings
April 2008 Earnings
March 2008 Earnings
Feb 2008 Earnings
Jan 2008 Earnings

Plagiarised photos

I found an interesting post at PDNpulse about Blog readers catch Plagerizing Photographer.

It was quite interesting as the readers of the blog identified that a photographer was copying photos taken by other photographers.  there was an uproar (maybe an overstatement) and the photographer has taken the photos down.

Makes you wonder about microstock.  Do a search for jumping fish and you will find photos taken by Yuri, G Cohen, khz, velychko, K Brown, mikdam, lisagagne (I stopped looking but I am sure there were more and that was only searching shutterstock and istock).  Did anyone notice two of the biggest names in microstock in that list. 

None of microstock versions that I linked to above are exact copies like the ones listed in blog above, but they are very close.  So how far can you go with derivative works?

    

Microstock Photography results for June 2008

Another slow month – slower than last month.  I uploaded about 10 photos at all sites which seemed to pick Shutterstock up but the rest are just falling into the mid year slow down.  Have got some more photos ready to upload so will see if I can get some more up in July.

Below are percentages for the month to show how I have been going:

28% shutterstock
14% dreamtime
9% Fotolia
18% istockphoto
4% bigstockphoto
9% 123RF
16% StockXpert
2% Featurepics


Previous results for 2008:

May 2008 Earnings
April 2008 Earnings
March 2008 Earnings
Feb 2008 Earnings
Jan 2008 Earnings

Microstock photography results for May 2008

Another slow month. Earnings down again but still tracking ahead of last year. Interestingly, last year, sales dropped in the period from March to May and then rose month on month all the way through to October. It will be interesting to see if this happens again though it does look line the trend in 2007 was caused by no uploads during the March to May period followed by a couple of big upload sessions.

I could replicate this as I have a few shots ready for upload so it is just a matter of prioritising microstock which I haven't been doing since my big trip (Basically I have too many photos that I am just overwhelmed of where to start). Winter is here now so hopefully I will get some time to do it.

The other thing that is interesting is how different sites do better for no apparent reason. I have done nothing in the past year yet StockXpert had a great month last month and dreamtime had a great month this month. As long as each month a few sites do well, I dont complain if it isn't the same ones.

Below are percentages for the month to show how I have been going:

15% shutterstock
21% dreamtime
9% Fotolia
27% istockphoto
6% bigstockphoto
8% 123RF
14% StockXpert
0% Featurepics


Previous results for 2008:
April 2008 Earnings
March 2008 Earnings
Feb 2008 Earnings
Jan 2008 Earnings

Reaction to Shutterstocks raise

There has been a big reaction to Shutterstocks latest raise, the majority of it not good. The common view is that Shutterstock doubled their price to buyers so the payout to photographers should have gone up more than it did. Add that to the fact the photographers with less than $500 don't get a pay rise seems to have upset a lot of other people, judging on the discussions that when on at the Yahoo microstock group.

My view is that it is a 10% pay rise for all but the news contributors, and 20%+ for some. This is an annual pay rise in that they have given at least a 10% pay rise for the last 3 years. I look forward to another 20% increase next year as well.

See the reaction for some of the other microstock bloggers:

Lee Torrens
MangiaPhoto
NiltoMil 1 NiltoMil 2

Shutterstock announces payrise

Shutterstock has just announced their annual payrise. Shutterstock started off at a flat rate for everyone. Last year, only those above $500 got a payrise (from 25c to 30c)and now this year, they have gone to a multiple levels which rewards their bigger earners more. The new scale is as follows:

Your pay per download is determined by your total lifetime earnings:
Earnings per Download Lifetime Earnings
$0.25 Less than $500
$0.33 $500 to $3,000
$0.36 $3,000 to $10,000
$0.38 Over $10,000

I am in the 3rd band ($3,000 - $10,000)so this is a 20% payrise for me.

It is hard to complain at a 20% payrise but I still think they should change their charging structure more. Currently buyers can download any any size image for the same cost. I think that different sizes should cost different amounts of credits. For example, from their 30 credits per day, if they decide to buy a small photo, it costs them 1 credit but if they download a large file, it should cost them (say) 3-5 credits.

Microstock photography results for April 2008

A bit down on last month as I didn't get any extended licenses sales but still averaging up after the slower Christmas period. It is coming into our winter know so I may be spending a bit more time in doors to get through my backlog of photos. This should pick up the earnings at shutterstock which always happens when I upload more.

Finally had my first flame at istockphoto which you can read about here.

Disappointing news is that Luckyoliver is closing its doors, and I am just shore of a payout. I cant use any of the credits I have, as they have locked all credits which they gave away for free. Not happy but as they say, nothing in life is free.

Good news is that StockXpert seems to be picking up. Hopefully this trend continues.

Below are percentages for the month to show how I have been going:

17% shutterstock
11% dreamtime
6% Fotolia
19% istockphoto
9% bigstockphoto
5% 123RF
28% StockXpert
4% Featurepics


Previous results for 2008:

March 2008 Earnings

Feb 2008 Earnings

Jan 2008 Earnings

We have a winner - race for my first flame

As a follow up to my previous post, we have a winner for the race to my first flame. And the winner is ......


the picture of the morrocan entrance.

By way of comparison, the morocan entrance is also my top seller at Shuterstock with 149 sales. The vineyard shot isn't even in the top 20 but a similar shot (shot in landscape rather than portrait about 10 seconds apart) is my 4th top seller at shutterstock with just over 90 sales.

Shutterstock launches footage subscriptions

I dont do footage so not of interest to me, but it may be for you. Have a look at their press release for details.

Shutterstock Footage® to Introduce Subscription Product.
Launch is natural step for Shutterstock®, the industry leader in subscription-based access to premium visual content.
New York, NY-- April 16, 200 -- Shutterstock, a leader in the stock image industry, announced today that it will be adding a subscription product to its stock video library at Shutterstock Footage. Previously, video clips from the ever-expanding collection had been available only on a per-clip basis. With this launch, Shutterstock will offer customers the freedom provided by the subscription model, with the refreshing ease-of-use for which Shutterstock is known in the creative community. With a subscription to Shutterstock Footage, customers can download more material to inspire and fuel their creative projects without concerning themselves with per-clip charges and administration. Shutterstock Footage by subscription will be available starting April 16, 2008.

"We understand subscription, and why it works well for creative professionals," said Jon Oringer, Shutterstock's Founder & CEO. Adam Riggs, company President, added: "Shutterstock's image subscriptions provide immediate and unconstrained access to our library of photos, illustrations, and vectors; this new product will do the same for our video clip collection at Shutterstock Footage."

Subscriptions to Shutterstock Footage are available in two main types, one that entitles the subscriber to download clips in all formats including High-Definition (HD) and one that permits all formats except for HD. All subscription periods are 30 days, and subscribers choose which plan is best for them based on the quantity of footage they anticipate downloading during that period. This model gives maximum flexibility and value to subscribers: there is a plan here for someone seeking a modest number of non-HD footage over the course of a month and one that provides for more heavy usage, up to 50 clips at the highest resolution. The plans are as follows:

Shutterstock Footage's collection now contains almost 50,000 video clips in categories such as People, Animals/Wildlife, Transportation and Technology. Easily searchable by keyword, the footage library grows every day -- hundreds of clips are added each week -- meaning that subscriber searches constantly turn up fresh material.


Number of clips per 30-day subscription period
HD Included?
Cost per 30-day subscription
10 NO $269
25 NO $639
50 NO $1,199
10 YES $449
25 YES $1,059
50 YES $1,999

iStock goes for subscription service

A new feture to the microstock landscape - istock , the biggest agency has decided to offer a subscription service. While I dont think it is a good as the subscription service offered by shutterstock I am sure it will be a great success because they already have such a big slice of the market, this can only increase it.

FAQ for Contributors on Subscription
kkthompson Apr 04/08, 11:54
Is there a minimum payout? Yes. We'll guarantee the same minimum payout as we do today on the Pay-as-you-go side. … more Is there a minimum payout?
Yes. We'll guarantee the same minimum payout as we do today on the Pay-as-you-go side. So right now, the lowest priced (non-sale) credit is 96¢. You receive 20 to 40% of that. Clear canisters will receive a minimum 19¢ and Diamonds will receive a minimum 38¢. And yes, this means that sometimes iStock will be paying out more than we take in per credit.

What's the maximum payout available?
Contributors stand to make more per file than they've ever made before from iStock. Here are two examples of what a non-exclusive can make off subscriptions:
- If a subscriber with a daily credit limit of 480 uses only 10 credits that day, all on one of your files, you'd earn 480 × 20% × $130*. That means a payout of about $26 for your single file.
- If a subscriber with a daily credit limit of 30 uses only 10 credits that day, including 5 credits on your image, you'd earn (30/2) × 20% × $10*. A payout of about $1.

* These values are 'Credit Package Value per Day', and have not been set yet. They are for illustrative purposes only.

Who gets the money when no credits are used on a day?
iStock does. This will offset the times where iStock will be paying out more in royalties than was paid for the credit, because of the guaranteed minimum on these days.

Why are you doing it this way?
This way we share in the risk and reward with the contributors, and still guarantee no less than what's currently paid out.

Will there be cannibalization of Pay-as-you-go?
Some clients will migrate to the new model, but we think we'll have lots of new customers that couldn't use our services before. Remember, this was one of the most requested features by people who wanted to become customers.

How often will stats be udpated?
Because Subscription credits expire daily, we'll update them once per day after everything has been tallied (i.e. after midnight for the day before).

Is this royalty structure set in stone?
We've modeled the subscription plan on a number of assumptions. If after we have a few months data, we find we were off on our assumptions, we'll revisit the royalty structure.

Microstock photography results for March 2008

Sales are up this month and getting back to the highs of last year. However, this was due to a few Extended License sales at shutterstock which helped out alot. A disappointing month at a few sites, istockphoto especially which had been a top earner in the new year and I had great hopes for sales to surge forward in 2008.

Below are percentages for the month to show how I have been going:

25% shutterstock
17% dreamtime
3% Fotolia
11% istockphoto
9% bigstockphoto
5% 123RF
17% StockXpert
1% Featurepics
2% LuckyOliver

Previous results for 2008:

Feb 2008 Earnings

Jan 2008 Earnings

Microstock photography results for Feb 2008

Well it has been another month on non-action on my part at the micro sites, the reason (a relatively lame one) is that the Hard disk on my laptop is overflowing and my external harddrives are safely stored at my parents house.

Sales are up slight on last month, another great month of passive earnings. With the increase in payouts at shutterstock expected in May, and more photos that are ready to be edited, hopefully I will be able to increase my earnings once I actually start putting some work into microstock again.

Below are percentages for the month to show how I have been going:

20% shutterstock
15% dreamtime
8% Fotolia
23% istockphoto
6% bigstockphoto
12% 123RF
14% StockXpert
1% Featurepics
1% LuckyOliver

Previous results for 2008:
Jan 2008 Earnings