Stock photo sellers and producers should read the New York Times story “How the Internet Is Saving Culture, Not Killing It” (
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/16/learning/questions-for-how-the-internet-is-saving-culture-not-killing-it.html?_r=0 ) The story makes the argument that increasingly Internet users are willing to pay for certain content and no longer expecting that everything they find on the Internet should be free.
I don’t agree with all the conclusion in the article, but if there is a greater willingness among Internet users to pay for content it could be good news for stock photographers. Maybe the people producing content heavy websites will start earning more money and recognize that in order to continue to attract the kind of users they want they may need to pay a little more to get the best quality images for their service.
A little more isn’t necessarily all that much since many of these customers are getting all the professionally produced images they need for $1.00 to $2.00 each (sometimes a little more). If those prices could be increased by just 50% one wouldn’t think that it would hurt the buyer that much. But, given the volume of such sales, a 50% increase is royalties would be welcome.
At least pricing might start going in the right direction.