THEBUSINESSOFMICROSTOCK‐UGCX OCTOBER212009 PreparedbyEllenBoughn

WillthematurationofthemicrostockbusinessmodeltrackwiththegrowthandlevelingoffoftheRFbusiness?

A.  Yesand…B. Maybenotbecauseofmassivesocialand

technologicalchange

March2007 October2009Artists:12,857Images:1,025,806Aver/artist:79.78imagesUsers:279,880

Artists:78,359Images:6,789,737Aver/artist:86.60imagesUsers:1,711,673

Numberofimages/useronlyslightlyhigherin09vs073.6images/uservs3.9images/userin09PriceshaveincreasedsignificantlyThusmarketissustainingitselfyetsomereportearningsdeclining.

Dreamstime.comstatisticsfor30months

DreamstimeMarch07 DreamstimeOctober09

OnlytwotopcontributorsIn07remainintopin09.

In2009thereareatleastfiveproductioncompaniesinthetoplistofcontributors

In2007thereisonlyAndreswhohadyettobuildhisoperationtothelevelsoftoday.

Andresin2005

Andres2007

Imagequality Imagevarietyamongtopsellers

Degreeofchasing(copying)topsellers

WhatmostharmedRMandRFfromacreativepointofviewthemost?Lackofcreativity

Traditional royalty free: cost from $200/300

Degreeofcopyingandchasingtopsellers

Howtofeedthebeastandstillsucceed:

Keepoverheadlowbyoutsourcingkeywordinganddistributiontocompanies

• Lookstat• iSydicta• MicrostockSolutions

• Keepproductionssimpleandlowcost• Hirecheaphelp!

Yes,lookatbestsellersbutdon’tcopytheimage.TheimagethemesremainfairlyconstantBringyourviewtothethemeinstead

Refreshwardrobe,technologybasedprops

Diversify‐Developaportfolioofawidelydiversesubjectmatter

Developaspecialty

PhotobyFreezingpictures…stillpossibletobuildamicrostockbrandtoday?YESbutnotaseasilyasitoncewas.

WhyhavesomeU.S.basedtraditionalstockproducersleftthemicrostockmarket?

TheysaythatROIistoolowfortheiroverheads

ManytopproducersbothwithstaffsandsolepractitionersarenotbasedintheU.S.orproduceoffshore

Havefoundsecretstokeepingcostslow.

Basedincountrieswithlowercostsofliving,microincomegoesfurther.

CouldperhapssignalatrendawayfromtheU.S.U.K.basedproductions.

Pitfallsaheadforproducers/photographers/companies

• Expansionintosubscriptionbymostcompanies….manymoreimageshavetolicensetoearntheminimumpayout.Greatforthemicrostockcompanies…notsogreatforthesuppliers.

• Oversupplyofidenticalimages

• CreativeCommons‐theultimatelackofagatekeeper.

Bywili_hybrid

Bywili_hybrid

bywili_hybrid

bybyrne7214

VittisfromLithuania

12.Traditionisnotabusinessmodel.…becausetheInternetisfiercelycompetitive,businessmodelshavetobeadaptedtothestructureofthenet.Nooneshouldtrytoabscondfromthisessentialadaptationthroughpolicy‐makinggearedtopreservingthestatusquo.

FromtheInternetManifesto‐www.internetmanifesto.org

Whatwaswon’talwaysbe

13.CopyrightisacornerstoneofinformationorganizationontheInternet...Atthesametime,copyrightmaynotbeabusedasalevertosafeguardobsoletesupplymechanismsandshutoutnewdistributionmodelsorlicenseschemes.

16.Qualityremainsthemostimportantquality.TheInternetdebunkshomogenousbulkgoods.Onlythosewhoareoutstanding,credibleandexceptionalwillgainasteadyfollowinginthelongrun.Users’demandshaveincreased.Journalism<Photography>mustfulfillthem.

InternetManifestoby*MarkusBeckedahl*MercedesBunz*JuliusEndert*JohnnyHaeusler*ThomasKnüwer*SaschaLobo*RobinMeyer‐Lucht*WolfgangMichal*StefanNiggemeier*KathrinPassig*JankoRöttgers*PeterSchink*MarioSixtus*PeterStawowy*FieteStegers/TranslatedfromtheGermanbyJennaL.Brinning/*Leaveacommentontheinternetmanifesto!106commentshavebeenmadesofar.*2009CC‐BYhttp://www.internet‐manifesto.org/

Announcing

TheMicrostockMoneyShot‐TurningDownloadsintoDollarsByEllenBoughnwithprefacebyAndresRodriguez

Acomprehensiveguidetothemicrostockbusinessillustratedwithover200photographs

TheCrownPublishingGroupII/ADivisionofRandomHousePublishing

Availablesummer2010