Echo of Moscow: “Photobanks: Easy Money or Backbreaking Work for a Microstocker” (conclusion)
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The continuation and conclusion of the broadcast on “Photo Banks: Easy Money or Grueling Work for Microstock Photographers” conducted by the “Echo of Moscow” radio station. You can read the beginning by following the link to part 1. Reminder of the participants: studio guest – Timur Anikin, photo editor at “Smena” Publishing House; host – Alexander Plushev; co-host – Viktor Zakharchenko, Development Director of the TooDoo social network.
PLUSHEV: Ivan from Samara asks for website recommendations (slightly off-topic, but still) where he can store travel photos in an easy-to-view format for others. Probably a question for me. I’ve always used Flickr, but it didn’t catch on much in Russia; it’s not very user-friendly because there are issues when people want to copy and save photos – you need a Yahoo ID to register. So, it’s not very convenient. There are plenty of alternatives for different purposes.
ZAKHARCHENKO: Well, a simple example is Google’s Picasa.
PLUSHEV: Yes, very good.
ZAKHARCHENKO: If you’re using Google’s email or other services…
PLUSHEV: On the other hand, Picasa is also a software program.
ZAKHARCHENKO: Yes, there are solutions you can use on your computer or upload online.
PLUSHEV: But if you’re not on a single computer, then Picasa might not be ideal since issues arise. You…
ZAKHARCHENKO: Are we discussing websites now or software solutions? There are plenty of programs to organize photo galleries.
ANIKIN: I disagree with both of you because, so far, nothing beats Flickr. There’s an issue with sizes – you need to set it to display “all sizes” in settings, and there’ll be no issues. Flickr was my first love; it’s the platform that sparked my interest in photography, even with a 3-megapixel camera. It’s one of the top two services in the world now. Highly recommended, and there are many Russians and Russian groups there, so you won’t be alone.
ZAKHARCHENKO: Additionally, major social networks like Facebook have integrated solutions for storing and displaying photos, and the majority of photos are now linked to Facebook accounts. There are many such solutions. EchoNet regularly features links to similar services.
PLUSHEV: By the way, you can find various sites by searching for “photo” on plushev.com. Next question from our website. Back to the initial topic, as we’re nearing the end. Alexander, a photographer from Rostov-on-Don, asks if you’ve managed to convince any designer that using clipart in projects is a direct violation of the law, with potential serious consequences. Why do so many designers, even knowing about the low prices on photo banks and copyright violations, continue to use clipart?
ANIKIN: Maybe because they’re stingy cheapskates.
PLUSHEV: Have you managed to find even one?
ANIKIN: I’ve encountered cases with pirate databases, where 80 DVDs were stolen and sold for 50,000 rubles, then distributed widely. The problem with these databases is they quickly become outdated. For instance, photographic techniques have changed since the 90’s. Eventually, Getty Images acquired iStockphoto because, with the growth of microstocks, traditional stock banks’ shares declined, and Getty’s owner decided that if any company was going to disrupt his business, it should be his. He bought iStockphoto and then acquired Stockexpert two years later, this fall.
ZAKHARCHENKO: And then huge investments were made in them.
ANIKIN: Yes, and now two of the top five banks are owned by the same company, and they’re trying to differentiate them. Convincing people here is pointless. Rational people understand that if you don’t want outdated clothes, old faces, or irrelevant junk, it’s easier to enter two words into a search engine and buy an image than to sift through stolen data. It’s incredibly tedious. Imagine having 50 DVDs, 200GB of unsorted photos because pirates threw them together haphazardly, and you have to find something every day. You’d go mad. The time spent would cost you more.
ZAKHARCHENKO: I have to add one point. While Timur advocates for photo stocks, if you’re working with non-exclusive photo banks, there’s a chance that an “exclusive” image you purchase could show up elsewhere. This risk exists.
ANIKIN: There’s an option for exclusive rights buyout on stocks, though it’s rarely used. When a photographer sells a photo and deletes it from other banks, they receive several thousand dollars. But this is rare. Traditional banks’ only chance for survival is exclusivity – unique photos that aren’t available elsewhere.
ZAKHARCHENKO: One last question from Alexey Pankov, a photographer from Novosibirsk. He asks: as more people start using the service, and with the technical entry barriers – like a camera and graphic software skills – being so low, is it still possible to earn a profit as the requirements keep increasing? Could the idea that anyone can earn money through photo banks become a myth as standards rise, with only professionals able to turn a profit?
ANIKIN: The key word is “earn.” It depends on how much you want to make. To make enough to live in Moscow – $2,000–$3,000 a month, for example – that’s one thing; making enough to live in a region with an average salary of 10,000–20,000 rubles is different. If I didn’t live in Moscow and wasn’t renting an apartment here on my own, I would have already switched to full-time. Because accumulating several hundred quality photos and earning $300 a month from them is a very achievable goal.
ZAKHARCHENKO: Let me rephrase the question – is the average income falling or increasing?
ANIKIN: The average check is definitely decreasing, as the number of buyers isn’t increasing, especially due to the crisis, while the number of contributors is growing more and more. Nevertheless, if you work hard, there will be results, as you reach levels where the competition is not as intense. You transition from a beginner in the photobank to a semi-professional. And the higher you go, the more…
ZAKHARCHENKO: There’s a rule of 20 to 80, meaning 20% of people earn 80% of the money. I think in photobanks, it’s more like 5 to 95, meaning 5% of people earn 95% of the money.
ANIKIN: No. Since there’s a long tail effect here, I think the 20 to 80 rule is more accurate. And in terms of raising the technical entry threshold – it’s definitely increasing, as inspectors are subjective and understand that they have a lot of photos, so they need some way to filter them. But it’s not growing so fast that it should cause concern.
PLYUSHEV: Here’s a question from our chat, accompanying the broadcast on plushev.com. Shader Mark asks: “What’s the demand for commissioned erotic and private photos? Profits in this niche seem to have a long string of zeros. Are there any closed sections for this in photobanks, or are such requests handled through other channels?”
ZAKHARCHENKO: We’re talking, let’s clarify, not about eroticism, but about full-fledged pornography.
ANIKIN: There’s no porn on photostocks. Such photos are strictly prohibited. Head over to metart.com for that. There’s no such content on photostocks. Sometimes, they even reject overly explicit photos of just erotic nature…
ZAKHARCHENKO: But there are those who specialize in that kind of photography.
ANIKIN: There are no photostocks specializing in that type of photography. There are porn sites. There are a lot of them, and competition is very high.
ZAKHARCHENKO: We won’t dive into the specifics of the online porn business, but as I understand, even there, people often buy ready-made galleries instead of creating new photos.
ANIKIN: Well, in the microstock model, such a theme doesn’t exist. Probably because it’s already entirely occupied by various porn sites.
PLYUSHEV: I’d like to remind everyone, today’s guest was Timur Anikin, image editor at ID “Smena” and also a microstocker. Thank you very much. Friends, I saw a lot of different questions and opinions. So, maybe we’ll continue this topic with great pleasure another time. As someone who doesn’t take photos, I was skeptical, but look, it turns out there’s a lot of interest. Many people apparently want to make money from photography. Thank you very much. To conclude, I’d like to finish where I started. Maybe Vitya will join me as well. We’ll borrow a minute from Timur. About that notorious Skype. Judging by the SMS messages, some people didn’t quite understand the essence of my message. It’s not about addressing Skype, ICQ, or anyone else directly; their position is understandable. It’s about reaching out to the telecom business…
ANIKIN: I’d like to draw our listeners’ attention to the fact that, as far as I understand, this initiative was voiced by a deputy director of “MegaFon.” It would be interesting to hear his colleagues’ opinions.
ZAKHARCHENKO: Meanwhile, “MegaFon” itself is releasing a service very similar to Skype, as far as I understand.
PLYUSHEV: See how everything lines up perfectly.
ZAKHARCHENKO: So if there are arguments not purely tied to commercial profit, which is obvious and entirely normal, but actual explanations for why…
PLYUSHEV: Maybe even purely for commercial profit. It’s really interesting. Truly. Because I think this could seriously change internet life and maybe open doors for some undesirable or, perhaps for some, desirable new phenomena – like, for example, restricting ads on the internet, limiting access to certain sites, and so on. It would be very interesting to discuss this. As for Skype and ICQ, what’s there to discuss, really? Their interests and positions are clear. Thank you again, Timur Anikin, Viktor Zakharchenko. We’ll meet again next week. Bye.
ZAKHARCHENKO: Goodbye.
ANIKIN: Goodbye.
Materials from http://www.echo.msk.ru/programs/tochka/608074-echo.phtml were used in preparing this article
This article is also available for reading in the following categories: About Microstocks, Istockphoto
