Fotolia getting worried – artists boycott Dollar Photo Club
My previous post recommended that you remove your images from the Dollar Photo Club because this $1 for any size image for almost any use will destroy the market for single use images on the other sites – that earn us a lot more than the measly $0.29 we will get from this Dollar Club. This is having a marked impact on Fotolia with perhaps 6 million images or more having been removed. To try to counteract the loss of contributors, Fotolia has announced an increase in subscription payments to the photographers and also announced that those will be increased by 25% (I think) if you put your images back into DPC. Signs of panic I think! Almost all contributors are ignoring this (and are ridiculing the minute amounts of money it is becoming clear that we have been receiving from this agency). Just to look back at my own performance over the past 3 years, I worked out my earnings per online file. On most sites, this stays pretty flat – the more I upload, the more I earn. If this pattern is not maintained, then we are wasting our time uploading new images. I’ll do a fuller analysis of this when I get a chance, but for now, here is my Fotolia performance over three years:
Drop in Earnings on Fotolia
If I were you, I would remove my files from Dollar Photo Club until Fotolia scraps the plan!
Hi Steve!
Could it be possible that every year as there are more and more photos at these stock agencies is more difficult to sell what you upload? If you stop uploading pictures you revenou will start to fall?
I start having this doubts knowing that the stock agencies are getting more and more photos faster every time.
I hope you could answer me and keep on with this great site!
Yes, if you stop uploading then slowly your income will drop away – partly because your images are becoming old and better ones are appearing, and partly because more and more images are being uploaded. To some extent, the more unique or better your images, the more slowly the drop in income will occur, but I think you can count on reasonably income for at least 2-3 years or more. Best to keep looking at magazines for ideas and taking more shots!
Steve