The results of the Stock Artists Alliance February survey paint a familiar picture of the past 18 months: declining revenues and continued division over microstock.
A total of 427 photographers responded to the SAA survey. More than half of the respondents (52%) said their primary business focus was stock. A quarter (26%) reported specializing in commercial photography and 14% in editorial work.
Overall revenue trends were not surprising, with many more respondents reporting decreases than the opposite. For 34%, revenues have fallen by more than 50% in the last 18 months. Another 20% reported more modest losses (25% or less), while 23% say there has been no change.
Though only 20% of survey respondents are current SAA members, overall respondent demographics appear in line with the organization’s core constituency:
a group of overwhelmingly male (86%) full-time (69%) shooters over 40 years of age (80%), whose work is represented by Getty Images (37%), Corbis (17%) and a handful of other traditional and microstock agencies.
Just over a fifth (21%) participate in microstock, with iStockphoto representing 16% of all respondents. A seemingly parallel 21% of respondents have entered the photography business during the last two to five years. The rest have been at it for a lot longer: roughly a third have been shooting stock for more than a quarter of a century.
In addition to agency representation, most respondents (71%) license stock directly to clients. Yet for 43% of respondents, direct licensing accounts for less than 10% of total revenues. Direct-to-buyer may be the hot trend that is paying off for some, but apparently not the majority. In contrast, microstock brings in more than 25% of total revenues for the 46 photographers who offer images at micro prices.
SAA members say the organization’s greatest value lies in networking opportunities and industry advocacy. Close to a third (29%) of survey respondents want the organization to provide more online education, and 16% would like to see more microstock advocacy and education.
Respondents were evenly divided into “yes” and “no” camps when asked if SAA should advocate more strongly for a combination of traditional and microstock photography. For more on the SAA constituency’s views on this subject, see “SAA Survey: The Microstock Divide.”