Comments on: 10 Years of Microstock

By: Martin Vlcko

Martin Vlcko — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:34:03 +0000

What are your predictions for 2010?
There will be one more curve. Pink upward curve!

By: Vitezslav Valka

Vitezslav Valka — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 12:23:33 +0000

Thank you Lee. There’s a lot I’ve learned since 2008 I’ve joined microstock as a Pixmac’s CEO. FlemishDreams is definitely right with the projections. I would add sound and video to the illustrations, as it also need’s more skills and not so common hardware. The niche market from the point of content is a difficult challenge for sure.

For me the first experience was with SXC.hu in 2005 and then StockXpert as a contributor to both. And I will definitely always search for something that may remind me that same friendly feeling at Pixmac. Hopefully others will notice

By: Daniel Laflor

Daniel Laflor — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 17:35:02 +0000

Great post Mr. Torrens. I like the overview very much.

Regards,
laflor

By: Lee Torrens

Lee Torrens — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 21:18:31 +0000

I had to draw the line somewhere.

By: PhotoXpress

PhotoXpress — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 21:16:42 +0000

This is a great snapshot. 2010 will be an interesting year for all.

By: FlemishDreams

FlemishDreams — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:17:26 +0000

You didn’t mention the failure of “midstock”. The model of Featurepics collapsed and it still is on life support. LuckyOliver went and on New Year’s eve, also Zymmetrical. CutCaster didn’t take off and is stagnant. MostPhotos, after a good start, doesn’t sell anything. YAYmicro is bleeding. Veer Marketplace seems to have inherited the flaws of defunct SnapVillage.

The trend is clearly, certainly with the many new sites that pop up (and disappear), towards lower prices. Cheap, cheaper, cheapest. Many stockers are hesitant, but part bites in the bait anyways.

As such, the small amateur contributors will slowly disappear. Entering or staying afloat in the market asks more and more investments, both in hardware, shoot and postprocessing time. The ones that will stay are the large image factories that can control their costs and drive up their volume.

For photographers are an endless supply: well selling concepts are copied massively by new contributors and the originals drown in the search results. The shelf life of images goes down, unless niche images.

The situation for illustrators is much better. They are scarce and not so much part of a supply market. It takes more talent to be a good illustrator than to push a camera button, and concepts and style can not be copied easily.

By: Leo

Leo — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:57:15 +0000

This blog is my inspiration for starting carreer in microstock…
Happy New Year 2010…

By: Marek

Marek — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:39:39 +0000

Microstock Diaries definitely belong to a general “microstock landscape.” I started shooting for microstock two years ago and learned a lot from MD.

By: Lee Torrens

Lee Torrens — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 22:08:48 +0000

Thank JM, I’m looking forward to seeing what you’ve got in store for us in 2010!

-Lee

By: CandyBox Photo

CandyBox Photo — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 21:57:44 +0000

Lee great post once more and yes I agree with Rahul

Wishing you and all the very best for 2010 and further…

Jean-Marie