Why should we not blindly blame microstocks

The Share of the Day:

Since i see very harsh comments (or just insults) about microstocks, I wanted to share few points with you:

I understand the fact that people can be bothered with the "royalty free" notion, since that does not exist in the law, except in the USA, but that's where Fotolia and the other miscrotocks took refugee.

What are microstocks:
they are accused to endanger the entire professional photography business by selling photos for a very cheap price (sometimes even giving them up for free). The most frequent reason being that the production cost can't be covered by such cheap revenues.
THIS IS (partially) TRUE

So why not attack the microstocks ?
Just make a tour on a microstock site, and you will see that some photos are out of these websites and totally spare the money-maker niches of most of the professional photographers (who still hit on the back of the microstocks):
- you can't get your portrait photo there
- you can't get fashion photo there
- neither wedding photos
- no reporter photographer can expose on microstocks




Just go click on the "best sellers" section, and you will notice what a huge place the illustrations and 3D-rendered images take.

So the microstocks don't endanger the whole profession, but they DO bother the illustrators.
But that is true in ANY profession. Only specalized professionals will get paid big money for illustration work now. And also when a company needs a very specific and unique illustration.
For the rest, the advertisement companies won't bother paying a lot of money for something that fill their requirement level that they can find for much cheaper. Especially because some "amateurs" are now doing graphics with an EXCELLENT quality and make additional revenue out of it (if not a living).

This is also true in all the fields: you can choose for a fancy french perfume, but you can also go for a cheaper one if it suits you enough. You can go to a restaurant or order cheap fast-food...

And you, what are your recent contact like when you have been saying that you're working for microstocks ?
T.

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