Two weeks ago I received a kind offer to test their subscription model which is a great option if you need images every day (bloggers, marketing agencies, web site designers, etc…).

Before we start, lets write something about the subscription plans.

Subscription plan is a affordable offer where you will have the lowest price per image download (as low as 14 cents per image). As I said above, it is great option for every day use. With subscription plan, you won’t need credits.

Available options

First you can choose between standard or premium subscription plan. In both plans, you can choose to download from 25 to 250 images per day but while the standard subscription plan is limited to maximum 4Mpix images, the premium plan doesn’t have any resolution limitations.

Also, you can choose between individual or multi user plans. Individual subscription is a great option for small companies with one buyer. Multi user plan is a great option for a large companies where administrator can buy and direct access to sub-accounts. Admin will be able to control downloaded images, number of daily downloaded images, balance number of downloads between sub-accounts, etc…

The subscription length can be 1 month, 3 months, 6 months or 1 year. Fotolia will offer auto renew option and you can easily disable this option on the subscription detail page on your member area.

For individual subscription plan the cheapest option is 199€ for standard package (1 month, 25 images per day, single user). With this option the price per file is 0.27 €. The same package but for multi user accounts starts from 299€.

If you plan to download vector or video files, keep in mind that one vector file counts as 3 downloads and one video file as a 10 downloads.

As a start, I would like to present my great passion – fly fishing. Please enjoy in my selection and great Fotolia images

© kameramann

© Pavol Kmeto

© Marcelo Dufflocq

© Sandra Cunningham

© Sandra Cunningham

iStock will now set royalty levels annually. The levels are set based on overall iStock credit usage from the previous year. Beginning in January 2011, all iStock contributors will qualify for their royalty level based on the total number of credits used by customers to download a contributor’s files in 2010 – these will be referred to as Redeemed Credits. There will be different royalty levels set for each file type.

The royalty rate level you start with beginning in January 2011 will depend on the total number of Redeemed Credits from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010. As with the current system, over the course of 2011, you will continue to graduate to higher royalty levels as you meet the targets.

• Each iStock credit used on your files equals 1 Redeemed Credit
• Your initial royalty rate for 2011 will be determined by the total number of Redeemed Credits you get in 2010 – those are the numbers we’re posting today
• January 11, 2011 we will post new targets. These targets will affect your royalty growth for 2011 and set your initial royalty rate for 2012.
• Your minimum royalty rate will not decrease throughout the year. You are guaranteed this royalty rate for the entire year with the possibility to go up levels as you meet additional targets
• Redeemed credits do not pass from one year to another
• You will retain the royalty rate from the end of the previous year

This new structure addresses a number of often asked for items:
• Because royalty targets are now based on the number of credits used and not the number of individual downloads, you will accumulate Redeemed Credits on extended licenses as well
• Now a Vetta download doesn’t have the same value as a dollar bin download, and a small file isn’t the same as an XXL one. If a file sells for 50 credits, that’s the value you’ll receive
• Your royalty percentage will be private–this information will not be publicly available unless you wish to share it
• The new structure is more fair to talented artists just arriving at iStock, yet takes nothing away from active long-timers who represent a critical element of the iStock community

We have added a field in the Stats tab of contributor’s profile pages that shows the total number of Credits Redeemed for both 2009 and 2010 to date (up to September 1), as well as the target levels.

The 2011 royalty targets are posted http://www.istockphoto.com/article_view.php?ID=861.

For non-exclusive contributors the royalties will range from 15 to 20% for content sold on iStock.

For Exclusive contributors, we are happy to announce there will be a new top royalty level of 45%. The range will now be: 25, 30, 35, 40, 45%.

Non-exclusive contributing artists will still qualify for Exclusive status based on their total lifetime downloads. Just to be clear – everyone who is currently Exclusive will remain that way. No one will be dropped from Exclusivity and Non-exclusive artists are still eligible for exclusivity after 500 downloads or early exclusivity at 250 downloads with a 50% approval rate.

We will continue to pay out royalties based on the value of the credit purchased. In the case of royalties from Subscription credits we are adjusting the minimum value of the subscription credit from $0.95 to $0.65. This is still the highest minimum subscription payout in the industry. We are also removing the 10 percent bonus on Extended License royalties for Exclusive contributors.

Please see below

Dear Contributor,

This serves as a notification to inform you that from now on, all submitted model releases must be scanned, uploaded and attached separately for all your submitted photos. This is to help facilitate the development of our new and upcoming search option which will be launched anytime before the end of this month.

If any of your releases are currently combined (a few releases scanned and uploaded as a single file), your images will not be visible or show up in searches once this search option is launched. Hence, you must separate them as individual releases and reattach them again to your images currently on 123rf to ensure the accuracy of your images when searched.

Example:
An image has 3 models.
DO NOT scan and combine all 3 model releases into 1 file and attach it to the image.
DO scan and upload EACH model release to our release section. Then attach the releases to the image separately.

Your co-operation in this matter is very much appreciated. Thank you.

So this means more job for you and your models…

We’re excited to announce a whole new product coming to the iStock collection. Clients will soon be able to download a unique logo to brand their business or organization right here at iStock. This is a huge opportunity not just for existing iStock contributors, but for our community of designers as well. If you’re a designer, you’ve probably created hundreds of different logos over the course of your career and we’re offering you an outlet to start selling logos to the world’s largest community of creative buyers.

If you’re illustrator and you have some skills with logo design, you should try.

I’m not sure how this will work and how they can know is your logo copy or not… Also I’m very interested to see price the list and terms. Once sold logo should be revoked from their gallery…

Any comments ?

Shutterstock Images LLC recently settled a claim against one of its Subscribers. We found the Subscriber had exceeded the circulation limits of the Standard Licenses granted to it by Shutterstock. As a remedy the client has agreed to purchase the Enhanced License for all the images it has used in this way.

Our research indicates that one or more of your images was downloaded and used by the Subscriber.

Rather than deduct the legal and administrative expenses incurred by Shutterstock in reaching the settlement, Shutterstock has elected to distribute the bulk of the settlement proceeds to affected Submitters and absorb the majority of the costs of the settlement. We believe the settlement to be fair and reasonable given all of the circumstances surrounding the breach of our Terms of Service.

Within 24-48 hours you will notice an Enhanced License credit in your account for each of your images downloaded and used by the Subscriber.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions regarding this matter.

As result I received $28 for my favorite image LINK

Did you have any similar situations ? Please post your comments …