Pure Reviews

123RF launches two new features to their site.  First up Audio is coming to the site and they will allow you to set your price points per a chart.  See below for how to upload your stock audio and the royalty breakdown.  Second they have announced a new image size of ML which will push everything up 1 credit from the Large price point.  A full chart is listed below.  Sign up for 123RF look for the link on the right size. Adding 'Audio Stock' to its list of endless digital creative content, 123RF is inviting Audio Composers and Authors to send in their audio clips, sound effects, music tracks and compilations to be included in its all-encompassing collection. You'll be able to access a worldwide clientele via the 123RF.com platform. 123RF can now be viewed as the ideal launch pad for audio professionals looking to market their projects to the creative industry. Contributors get 30% to 60% of the selling price. And the best part is, you get to decide how to ...

Press release from Shutterstock that now allows downloading images directly to your tablet or cell phone on apple products.  Check out the release below. We know our contributors are always interested in getting their work seen by as many customers in as many ways as possible. With that in mind, here’s an update on what we’ve been doing to help you promote and license your images on mobile devices — and let you track your results on the go, too. The Shutterstock App for iPhone and iPad — now with downloading! We recently updated our award-winning app to make it available on iPhone as well as iPad. Both versions let users search and explore images, scroll through a seamless mosaic of options, add selections to Lightboxes, and share them with colleagues. The apps have been a huge hit with customers — to date, over 300,000 users have downloaded and begun using them! This month, we released version 2.5 of the app, giving customers the ability to download images straight to thei...

iStock continues to upset their core contributors by devaluing their work and opening their images up for possible free use on Google drive.  This whole ordeal spurred a massive movement of removing images to their site.  This action has spurred a response from the corporation owned by Getty images.  See the report below that basically says they are just working on it, but don't plan on providing changes right away.  Will you close your portfolio on iStock ? Google Drive You may have already read our last update in the forums but once again, we'd like to thank you for your continued patience. To reiterate from previous posts, royalties have been paid in connection with the Google Drive usage based on all consideration received by Getty Images under the licensing agreement. We understand your concerns relating to the deal and we are making progress in a productive dialogue with Google about these concerns and potential solutions. As many...

Shutterstock updates their royalty rate for referrals.  Payout will increase by once sent and a referred person will be active for 2 years.  See the info below and if you wish to join Shutterstock click here .  SS is consistently one of the highest respected stock photography sites.

So Bigstock has announced that they are going to start doing subscription sales this year.  Joining what seems to be a new industry standard they are setting their royalty base at only $0.25.  Sadly this seems to be more and more common ( Fotolia , iStock , 123RF , etc).  The odd part of this announcement is that Bigstock was bought by Shutterstock so they could have pay as you go style site.  So this begs the question of why start moving your site to the SS formula with lower royalties.  How do you feel about the changes, comment below. As you know, we already offer Bigstock customers the flexibility of pre-paying with credits. Next week, we’ll be offering our customers an increasingly popular way to buy images:  subscriptions. How will this affect me? Subscriptions can generate higher download volumes, which can increase your total earnings from Bigstock. Here’s how you will earn royalties from Bigstock subscriptions: Eve...

  Fotolia did some minor tweaks this month that gives you two options for your portfolio.  First up you can now exclude video files from subscription sales.  Second they have changed the pricing for extended license files that now requires a minimum of 20 credits.  It also can't be lower then your highest price offering, so you cant have a 24 credit Standard XXL license and get the Extended License under 24 credits.  Log in and check out the changes.

 A few changes to note that have gone into effect at a few sites. Dreamstime : Dreamstime has launched a mobile image section allowing you to submit cell phone photos and digital model releases.  To celebrate this new feature their next assignment will be mobile shots.  Also their is now a new category called "Mobile."  Other requirements are 3 MP minimum resolution still applies and we will not accept upsampled images.  DT is accepting model releases from: Model Release, ASMP Release and Easy Release (on both iOS and Android).  Join today ! Shutterstock : SS has launched a new features called Portfolio Pages that allows contributors to show off their work via personalized URL's.  Another feature on your portfolio page is allowing you to create public sets.  So log in and and set up your today or join Shutterstock here . Bigstock : Bigstock has launched a new partner system that will open their collection to other companies with ...

YAY has added some new distributors so go check them out, link below.  Must give props to YAY for not only showing each distributor, but also shoing their commision rate and price range, etc.  You can also opt out of all or just a few.  Join YAY here . You'll find details and the opt-out option under My Account > Photographer > API details .

YAY Images hit the 3 Million mark this past weekend.  The image was by Wavebreak Media and is of three happy women.  Great job to YAY for the continual growth and if you are looking to join click here . Official post below by YAY : This weekend we approved image number three million at YAY Images. Congratulation to Wavebreak Media! The image shows three happy women. With over 70,000 images added from Wavebreak the last couple of weeks it's no surprise that they managed to get image number three million. In total we got over 177,000 new images in the last 30 days.

Great news over at Pocketstock!!!  They have dropped their payout rate to $30 instead of the ultra high old rate.  For a new company whose sales could be slow at first it is good to know that the $30 mark is in striking distance and more in line with the industry standard.  Below is the write up of what is new at the company. Here is your update on the latest news from Pocketstock. Some of you may not be aware that although we have been actively seeking new content since April, Pocketstock was launched to customers in August, meaning our images have been available for sale for a relatively short time. Since August we have been hard at work building our customer base, which takes time. Progress has been relatively slow but that is something to be expected when a new company enters into such an aggressively competitive marketplace that is driven by discounting, offers and subscription. Over the last two weeks, as part of our drive to sell to the top global brand...

Alamy has tweaked its editorial images by giving buyer more options on how they can sort through the images to find the perfect content.  See the full write up below and join Alamy here . We’ve been working on a project aimed at engaging creative buyers while making life easier for our editorial customers.  We want creative buyers to be able to see creative images without having to search through editorial images at the same time.  But we don’t want editorial customers to lose the great Alamy experience they have always had, and so we have added some improvements for all buyers. We have had internal and external teams of editors reviewing the images on Alamy starting with the existing creative collection.  The aim of this is to individually highlight visually striking images that will appeal to creative professionals. Customers now have three new search options; New, Relevant and Best of. These search options provide new ways to get your images ...

iStock has some updates this month talking about its technology upgrades, updates to digital model releases and editorial images.  Check out all the info below. September Performance Despite downtime related to the launch of our new way to pay, iStock's performance in the month of September matched our overall expectations. Early trends show that we are attracting more new customers with the option to download without purchasing credits. On the other hand, the calendar meant this September had fewer working days than recent years, which partially offset those gains. Regarding individual contributor results, we've been seeing mixed reports in the September sales thread and other sources. We do know that technical issues are making it difficult right now for contributors to clearly track their performance. We are looking into the underlying numbers to see what other factors may be at play in the September results. Technology Update Today we released a fix ...

Shutterstock launches a Viewfinder Contest that focuses on photography challenges.  For example the first challenge this month is " Celebrating Life " so any image that you feel captures that enter it in for a chance to win some great prizes.  Check out their full write up below and join Shutterstock here . Shutterstock contributors are some of the most creative in the business, and to us, that’s something worth celebrating. Cue the Viewfinder Challenge – a themed competition that gives you the chance to show off your best work and bask in the brilliance of your fellow creatives. You can even score some great prizes and major exposure while you’re at it. The theme for the first challenge is “ Celebrating Life .” Submit your best photos, footage, or illustrations that capture  “a spirit of celebration, whether it’s personal, local, global, or universal.” For reference, check out these collections of  examples of “Celebrating Life” our curator pulled to...

Getty ( and iStockphoto ) is sold to new investors, but contributors should notice very little change from the transaction.  See below for the official writeup. About the Sale of Getty Images: Since they acquired us in 2008, Hellman & Friedman have been committed to our business. Their goal has always been to grow and strengthen Getty Images and then sell the company, when the time is right. We and Hellman & Friedman have identified a new owner to take the business into its next phase. We’ve now formed a new partnership between The Carlyle Group, the Getty family and Getty Images management to acquire Getty Images from H & F. We believe this new partnership is in the best interest of our Company as a whole, our employees and our contributors and image partners. This new ownership is a positive move in the continued growth and success of Getty Images. Carlyle has an investment philosophy that is very similar to Hellman & Friedman, and we are conf...

Fotolia updates their submittable process which allows you to categorize, keyword, title, etc several images in on batch.  Check it out next time you upload some images, see official write up below.  New to Fotolia, join here . We are happy to announce the launch of a new feature that is sure to be appreciated by large content uploaders: the multi-indexing tool. Imagine you're uploading a series of 50 images via FTP and need to index them all. Thanks to a dedicated interface, this new feature will save you time by letting you index all your images at once. How does it work? Once uploaded, all your images will be listed in a new section within your Files Management area: the "Indexing"...

Below is the chart featuring the commission numbers for the month of May.  The three top stock sites this month where Dreamstime , Shutterstock , 123RF .  The chart only features sites I had a sale with and for a full list of stock sites my work is at see the right column of the screen.

April was very close to March as far as sales and earnings go.  The top three sites this month are: 123RF , Shutterstock , Dreamstime .  Above is the full chart breakdown of all the sites I had earnings this month at.  For a full list of sites I have content with see the right side of the blog.

After a few months of delay the new stock video section has launched at 123RF .  For a while now you have been able to upload your stock video to the site, but they had not been live until recently.  So what are you waiting for, go download some cutting edge video now.  Join 123RF here .

Dreamstime adds another element to your profile known as "Photographer Genre".  You can select up to five genre's that classify you as a personal photographer and your portfolio.  This will allow clients to search a type of photographer instead/or in addition to the standard Keyword or category search.  So head over to your profile and give it an update.  New to Dreamstime , join here as its one of the top stock agencies.

The Getty family (includes iStock ) will be reviewing portfolios to remove any images of Le Corbusier furniture after a lawsuit was filed in France against Getty images on copy-write violation.  See their notice below on the items in question and its best to check your portfolios on all your sites for any of these furniture items.  These pieces can be found in several public buildings that you might have worked in and could just be in the background and not the center of focus.  Recently we have had to take stricter action regarding images of designer furniture in creative imagery coming in to both iStockphoto and Getty Images, specifically the furniture of french designer Le Corbusier. The owners of these designs are extremely protective of their intellectual property and we need to take a hard line on turning away images that contain this kind of furniture. We will not accept Creative images containing furniture from Le Corbusier. We may also deactivate e...