This Week on Microstock: New Fotolia Features, Microstock Collective, PIXTA Change in Commision Rates, Stock Photo Pricing Survey and more

New Fotolia Features

Earlier this week, Fotolia has added some features that would make finding images easier with their new search result functions and improved image galleries.

Choose any image from your search results and find other images that resemble it in content by their Similar function.

Discover images in the same series, with the same creators, models or descriptions in their Same function.

Undiscovered search let’s you find images that are unique and have never been downloaded before.

Their new Mosaic Format displays search results with large thumbnails where you can simply click on any icon to view their details.

500px comps now have image IDs for simple referencing and less intrusive watermarks that boost image clarity and definition.

Microstock Collective Site Launch

With the recent changes in the market and the amount of negativity in the forums, a new alternative site was launched where contributors can choose to voice their opinions – the “Microstock Collective”.

The Microstock Collective is a place where contributors can create polls and initiatives about what is currently happening in the industry. They can also vote on current issues and topics and rate agencies based on a much larger number of criteria. Contributors can also stay anonymous while voicing out their opinions and participating in the polls.

Microstock Collective is hosted on the Symbiostock server and is open to any microstock contributor. You can read more detailed information here.

PIXTA Change in Commission Rates, Contributor Rank System and Rules on Payment Request

With the launch of the subscription service site Imasia last April, PIXTA will change the commission rate, the contributor rank system and the rules on payment request as follows form July 1, 2014.

• The number of downloads on the subscription service site “Imasia” will be also counted as the sales which contribute to your rank
• The commission rate and the contributor rank system will be revised and your rank will be determined based on your sales during the past year, not on your lifetime sales
• The minimum payout will be reduced from 100 credits to 50 credits

1) Count the number of downloads on the subscription service site as the sales which contribute to your rank
We will change the rule which 10 downloads on Imasia is equivalent to 1 download on PIXTA and reflect to the contributor rank.

2) Change of the contributor rank table and the commission rate

Old Commission Rate

Commission rate after July 1, 2014

3) The minimum payout will be reduced from 100 credits to 50 credits
After the subscription service site starts, it will increase the opportunities that small amount of commission is added. So to make payment requests more conveniently, we will reduce the minimum payout.

Read full details here.

Stock Photo Pricing Survey

Prices and revenue have been decreasing in the stock photo industry. This is due to oversupply of stock photos and more customers looking for images at a lower price.

Jim Pickerell of Selling Stock has made estimates of the average 2013 gross license fees for images in five major price categories – RM, traditional RF, Midstock, Microstock and Subscription.

Jim has prepared a 5 question survey to determine of these averages are high or low. This survey is for gross license fees.  Gross license fees averages can be determined by dividing your total gross income for the year by the total images licensed. iStock contributor sales would fall in the Midstock category and non-exclusive contributors in the Microstock category.

Clink the link below to complete the survey

http://www.selling-stock.com/Stock-Photo-Pricing-Survey.aspx

Stock Stats – Free App for iOS and Android

Stock Stats is a mobile app that supports both iOS and Android wherein you can check your earnings from different microstock agencies and notify you when you get new sales. This app gets the image number and the balance from the agency, and it can also estimate your monthly and daily earnings and RPI per month.

Supported Agencies are: Shutterstock, iStock, Fotolia, Dreamstime, 123rf, Bigstock, Alamy, Photodune, DepositPhotos, Veer, Canstock, Pond5. More will be available soon.

Other Microstock News

Adobe photography program price permanent and unveils 14 new apps. For £8.78/US$9.99/AU$9.99 per month when you sign-up for a one year plan, Adobe will include access to the Photoshop CC and Lightroom, mobile and web apps, 20 GB of cloud storage and a Behance ProSite. 
RPI, RPD and the eternal question: What to upload where? MichaelJay shares his insights on where he uploads his images and the factors that affects his decisions.
9 creative photo ideas to try in June. Outdoors, black and white animal portraits, abstract and a few clever tricks to photographing your food are among the many projects you can try out this June.