Pure Reviews

VEER has launched a very nice contested called "Free-For-All".  The idea is to get your friends to join up at VEER and get some free downloads while also getting entered into a contest to win some very nice prizes.  This week you can get some free fonts, illustration, and avatars.  Check them out here .  Also after you download your free gifts from VEER you get entered into a drawings for a $5000 shopping spree at the Apple Store.  Pretty nice huh, next week is 3 more free downloads and $5000 entertainment library.  This promotion is running every week with fresh downloads and prizes until November 21st.  What are you waiting for, sign up and get your free stuff .

Crestock continues to go through massive changes as its new ownership strives to improve the site.  Below is a letter from the new CEO Joan Fischer about the forthcoming improvements and where they stand today.  A few things to note is they have restructures the site, launched a new logo, greatly improved processing and payment times along with a huge boost in AD dollars that they are spending to get the word out about Crestock.  Also mega blogger Ellen Boughn has joined the team with new fresh stock photography posts.  Check out what Joan has to say below. First, let me say a belated “hello”. Since I joined Crestock 6 weeks ago I have been focused on nothing but re-launching the company into the marketplace and have missed greeting all of you who make this business possible. Second, I want to thank you for sticking with us through the change. We fixed some lingering problems immediately following the change of ownership: we promised and delivered timely...

iStock has announced a new awards program called "The Stockys".  If the movies can have the Oscars the stock photographers should have their own version of outstanding work awards.  The program is open to all iStock contributors, just select your images you want to enter per category.  The program will launch on November 1st and run through November 14th, with the awards being issues on December 15th.  So start going through your portfolio and look for those outstanding images to claim the $2000 prize.  The categories up are: Artistic Vision Technical Achievement Most Useful Funnies File Coolest Abstract Concept Execution Stockies Stock Most Emotionally Evocative Story Telling WTH (What the H*ck?) So if you are really, read below on all the information on how to enter.  If you are not yet a member of iStock Photo join here . How it Works: All iStock contributors are invited to nominate their own work for The Stockys. • You have from November...

Mostphoto's has now launched a subscription based plan to go along with their pay as you go format.  The three options are: Web (bottom package) which includes 10 downloads a day at 99 euro a month.   Medium (recommended plan) includes higher resolution images, 30 downloads a day at 199 euro a month.   The top package is Pro high resolution, 50 downloads a day at 299 euro a month.   Subscription royalty rates for photographers is based on 50% commission and also based on home many photo's the client buys in a week.  So from my understanding if the client buys the web package and downloads 10 images in a month you get 9.90 euro.  However if the client downloads only 5 images then your payment is 19.8 euro.  This is a interesting system compared to several other sock companies who just pay a flat fee.  Its very fair for the photographers and I would expect the subscription sales will show up at the end of each month.  Mea...

So as promised iStock has launched their newest collection called "agency collection".  This bad boy will join the general collection, exclusive collection and vetta collection.  So, how do you images get in all these collections, see the breakdown below.  With that said, the main factor at being apart of these special collections is you becoming exclusive at iStock, as two of them require it.  It will be interesting to see how well the new guy does coming off the heals of a very upset community at iStock and their new pricing structure for photographers. " Main Collection The majority of iStock images appear in our main collection. Here you'll find quality stock photos and illustrations that can cost anywhere from 1 to 15 credits, or up to 25 credits for complex vectors. Exclusive Collection The Exclusive Collection features photos and illustrations only available from exclusive iStock artists. Exclusive photos can cost between 2 and 25 credits depen...

Once again better late then never, above is the break down for sales stats for September.  Top performers are Dreamstime , CanStockPhoto , and ShutterStock .  October is the kick-off for the holiday rush so lets hope we can break into record sales next month.

Fotolia teams up with the artistic community of DeviantART.  Check out the features and the press release below. Fotolia and deviantART announced today their plans to blend the international microstock business of Fotolia.com with deviantART’s worldwide social network of artists by launching the “deviantART Stock Project with Fotolia.” This new offering is part of deviantART’s plans to establish an integrated commercial stock offering within its network and serves Fotolia’s goal of expanding its footprint in the U.S.. DeviantART is currently home to 15 million members around the world and represents the largest online aggregation of microstock users. The Stock Project marks the first time a microstock provider is tapping the power of community for greater distribution and participation. “DeviantART is the purest of all artist communities throughout the world. It works on democratic philosophy that complements our goals with Fotolia. We believe that the stock indust...

The team at Cutcaster has been working hard to clean up their system to provide top products to their customers.  They now have a collection over 525,000 photos and illustration.  They are also working hard on a back-end overhaul of the website while they just released a new version of their search engine, which provides faster and more accurate searches.  Cutcaster is always working hard to keep their clients and content providers with great information, feel free to take their survey below to provide feedback. "We want to improve and provide the best service to you as is humanly possibly but we need your help. Please lend us two minutes of your to complete our anonymous Photo Contributor Survey . If you buy images take this survey for a chance to win an iPad or 500 Cutcaster credits." Also just launched is a new fun programs where you can provide a caption for their image of the week and win some free credits.  Check out the caption of the week on their fa...