Interview with Yuri Arcurs

Pretty interesting read for those who interested in the microstock industry:

http://blog.johnlund.c​om/


Viewer's comment/interpretation of the interview:

http://markstoutphotog​raphy.wordpress.com …tide-turns-on-microstock/

Microstock is falling, but so is the rest of the industry in many cases. Most are seeing a decline, even though 2010 was my best year ever and things went up in every category, it's not climbing for a vast majority and also in several areas. More and more people are losing, more and more businesses are going cheaper. It's a mistake to stick with a losing model, especially when you know it's losing.

In microstock - its definitely not as easy anymore as it was back in 2005-2008. Those were the days I should have quit my dayjob and jumped on board full time... starting in stock now, you might as well just take up basket weaving or sell tubesocks on ebay. It's an uphill battle, that ship has definitely sailed. Gone are the days where hobbyists or occasional shooters can make a couple hundred bucks a month on a portfolio of 100 images. Read my blog for more of my microstock rants.

I think the days of the 'easy money' are certainly gone (was it every that way) - reviews are tougher and getting seen in the sea of images is tougher. That said, for the talented photographer who has an eye for stock, microstock is still very profitable. But just like any industry, especially photography industries, there is going to be those who do very very well and those who have a tough time covering their costs. Take wedding photography for example. How many weekend shooters have a tough time covering their gas and memory card costs while at the same time others are doing very well. The same goes for microstock.