I don't know how many of you use stock agencies to earn some money, but the recent commission cuts are really worrying me more and more. Last year Shutterstock started a new commission structure, which means that photographers will now only receive 15% commissions until they have reached a certian number of sales. In several steps those commissions get higher, but not really high. At the end of each year, your counter is reset and you will start with 15% again.
Alamy once started with paying 65% to photosgraphers and they promised us that it would always be 65%. In several steps they already lowered it to 50% for exclusive and 40% to non-exclusive photos. Now it will get even harder. You will now only reach 50% if your images generated at least $25,000 in the past year and for 40% you need at least $250. If you stayed below $250, your commission will drop to 20%. At the same time they changed several other clauses and now photographers for example have to pay all legal costs for legal disputes around their images.
Those two examples show that it gets much harder for photographers to earn money with stock photography. Do you still know places that pay photographers fairly and at the same time generate a good amount of money for them? Is it too much to ask that a photographer gets at least 50% commission for his work, as he has to pay for all that camera gear and all the travelling?
If I do not find a new "home", I might even just give my photos away for free. For example to Wikimedia Commons, where they will survive forever. That would be more important for me than earning money.
Alamy once started with paying 65% to photosgraphers and they promised us that it would always be 65%. In several steps they already lowered it to 50% for exclusive and 40% to non-exclusive photos. Now it will get even harder. You will now only reach 50% if your images generated at least $25,000 in the past year and for 40% you need at least $250. If you stayed below $250, your commission will drop to 20%. At the same time they changed several other clauses and now photographers for example have to pay all legal costs for legal disputes around their images.
Those two examples show that it gets much harder for photographers to earn money with stock photography. Do you still know places that pay photographers fairly and at the same time generate a good amount of money for them? Is it too much to ask that a photographer gets at least 50% commission for his work, as he has to pay for all that camera gear and all the travelling?
If I do not find a new "home", I might even just give my photos away for free. For example to Wikimedia Commons, where they will survive forever. That would be more important for me than earning money.
