Ok bloody hell, I am going to clarify my point here.

First when a stock artist sells exclusive stock they usually use paypal or some such service, essentially cutting DA out of revenue, even though we use DA as a hookup to find the stock.

It just seems like a not so coincidence that the more "Exclusive Packs & Images" pop up, DA pushes to partner with Fotila and sell stock, THROUGH DA thus cutting themselves into the money making equation.

brilliant

First, I would like to apologize for this very lengthy comment; but there is just so much to say about the subject of pay-for-use stocks.

Although I realize that this blog was addressed to stock providers, I am a long-time user of stock photos and I would like to vote to add Pay-for-Use-Stocks to deviantART provided they come with the same standard rules that other commercial stock photo sites use, that they include standard signed releases for model stock, and that they meet minimum standards of size and quality appropriate for paid stock. I want to be able to have the right to purchase a professional quality DA print of my OWN photomanipulation without having to obtain permission first. A large majority of DA stock photos come with Print restrictions, and I use multiple photos for each photomanipulation. If only one, out of perhaps ten or even twenty stock providers, says No or is not available to say Yes, I am denied the ability to buy a print of my own work.

The current DA search function is woefully inadequate for locating stock for photomanipulations. It lacks features that speed up the viewing of thousands of stock photos for size and quality. A search feature like that of dreamstime.com is much more suitable for this type of search. Along with much better viewing features (like a zoom tool to check out the quality of the photo without having to download an entire new page), it is accompanied by a very workable method to select a photo size and cost, and then immediately process a download using block credits paid for in advance with credit card or PayPal (DA could use its Points feature for this).

I would love continuing to support the fabulous stock providers on DA who have so generously offered their stocks for free. However, free stocks come at a price and that is many and varied customized stock rules. My health is not great; I am exhausted most of the time. With what energy I have, I want to enjoy making photomanipulations rather than spending countless hours researching thousands of pages of customized stock rules so I can comply with them.

From comments on this blog, it appears that many stock providers want to continue using customized rules even for stock that users have to pay for. If that happens, I am afraid that I will need to switch to only using paid stock from other commercial Royalty Free stock photo sites with standardized rules.

With dreamstime, I can type in a search string and receive matching thumbs of high-resolution stock photos. I can then point at a stock thumb and immediately see a larger size of the photo along with the size of the file. I can then click on the thumb which takes me to a separate page with a zoom tool so I can check out the quality of the photo. On that same page, I can see the various photo sizes available and their costs (rates are standardized on size and number of downloads - the latter allows stock providers to be paid more for really top-quality stocks), and I can immediately order the download. I do not have to visit individual stock pages because all photos are covered by the same rules. When I purchase the use of a photo, it is for Lifetime use; so I don’t have to worry about the stock being removed in the future and invalidating my manipulation.

Other comments on this blog indicate that many people feel the current system on DA is fine just like it is. Since I disagree, I have written up the following process to indicate what a photo manipulator goes through for each stock photo used in a single work:
1. Type a search string into the appropriate Category search box; hit Enter. First page of results appear.
2. Drag screen to view thumbs and to get to the Next Page button that only appears at the bottom of the screen (DA also does not provide a page number system to navigate pages; I edit the last number in the URL to move past pages when there are thousands of results so I can see the less-seen, and thus less-used, stock photos.)
3. Click on a thumb I am interested in. (DA does not provide a mouseover feature to increase the size of the thumb, nor does it provide pixel size with the thumb to give an idea of how large the photo is; therefore, I must open each deviation page just to get a better look.)
4. Check the Download size to assure it is large enough for my needs.
5. Drag to bottom of page to check for possible Creative Commons licensing (indicating I only need to provide credit to the stock provider to use the stock in my manipulation).
6. If there is no CC licensing, look for personal Rules for Use underneath the stock photo.
7. NOTE: There is no required format for the display of personal Rules for Use and there are a very large number of personal rules that can potentially be assigned to stock, so I have to read all the rules on every stock I look at. Unrestricted does NOT necessarily mean there are no additional personal rules. Personal rules can EXCLUDE such things as: DA Prints, commercial use, website or other off-site use, ponybox or other SIMs, horse manipulations of any kind (yes, there are DA stock providers who say they are sick of seeing horse manips so will not allow them), manipulations at all (reference use only), unnatural themes like fantasy or wizards or arthro, pre-made stock, tubes, line drawings, stock that takes up more than 50% of the photomanipulation, mature themes, etc.
8. If there are no Rules posted in the stock description, or if the stock provider says there are more rules in his or her Journal, look for a Journal link in the description section and click the link.
9. If there are no Rules posted with the stock, and there is no link to the Journal containing the Rules, click on the Deviant Name link to go to the Profile Page.
10. Look for the Rules for Use on the Profile Page. It can be posted in a separate window there, or it can be part of the Journal.
11. If I can’t find any Rules for Use displayed on the Profile Page, scroll to the bottom of the current Journal until I find a small link called Previous Journal Entries and click on it. Then locate and scan through the Journal History, looking for an entry that looks like Rules, or Stock Rules, or something similar. There may be multiple Journals containing Rules; be sure I look only at the latest one.
12. If I find the Rules for Use and I agree to them, return to the page containing the stock photo.
13. DOWNLOAD the stock photo to check out the quality and clarity of the photo at Full Size (evaluate focus, blur, noise, pixelation, wall shadows surrounding models, anything that will make it difficult or impossible to use.)
14. If I am happy with the size and quality of the photo, and the rules under which I am allowed to use it, SAVE the photo to my computer hard drive. If not, close without saving the file.
15. (NOTE: I highly recommend including the thumb number in the filename to aid in locating the file later when creating the credit documentation—or just to verify that the stock photo is still available for use when posting a deviation as some stock providers pull their stock or close their accounts without warning, leaving one with a completed manipulation that cannot be legally posted because one cannot provide the stock link DA requires for posting. In this case, the deviation has to be edited to remove the unavailable stock and replace the stock with another, or the deviation has to be destroyed.)
16. Try out the downloaded stock photo in the deviation I am creating. Does it fit my needs? If it does, hooray! If not, toss and start over.
17. Begin the next search for the next needed stock photo, and the next, and the next, and the next . . . Each stock photo selected may require a search through hundreds of potential stock, each one requires the entire procedure above, and each photomanipulation may require four, eight, twelve, twenty or even more stocks to complete.

Been asking for something like this for years, but I can only hope stock artists would set prices which reflect the quality of their work. If I'm paying any more than $5 for one photo, I expect it to be high res and crystal clear. (A medium sized image on iStockPhoto goes for around that much and is high quality.) $5 for a pack of the quality typical to deviantART sounds like a decent deal. Just my humble opinion, as a frequent stock user.

As I've recently come to see, you've made it so that it is possible to prepay dA and use "points." Well, that just made your problem a whole lot simpler. As far as I know, you don't need to have an account that is separate for your prints, so if you're selling or just allowing the free download of stock and want to see where it goes and where it's used, it should be the same as prints, just marking check boxes somewhere such as "Free Stock," "Priced Stock," "Follow This Stock" (so deviants can somewhat self monitor where their stock goes), and maybe deviants themselves can approve or deny the use of their stock by people, just as most deviants who give stock ask that they are informed or asked if someone wants to use it, and if someone repeatedly does something against the rules of their stock (like I once met a deviant who put up stock of her daughter and asked that there be no bloody or sexual images made with her photos), they can be put on a list of blocked deviants for that. Also with this, administrators won't have to get involved too much with the stock exchange network. You'll still have problems with art thieves, but on an art site there's no such thing as the non-existence.

I think the selling of stock should be up to the individual stock provider here on DA. I know that a lot of photo manipulators would no longer use DA as a stock resource if they had to pay. There are a lot of sites already existing on the internet for those who wish to sell their images, and free sites like DA are an outlet for those who do not wish to sell their work, but share with the public. I agree that stock holders should be able to make profit off their work, especially if a good manipulator can sell his or her images for money.
I think a dual system built upon trust like the one we have now would be good. Before you can choose to sell your photo manipulation or work of art here on DA you should have to pay the stock providers. But I think for the huge number of amateur and intermediate photo manipulators who only want to design pieces of work for enjoyment but not profit maybe should not have to pay.

Definitely agree

agree!!

i love it