In a move that blurs the boundaries between professional and hobbyist photographers, Jupiterimages has invited the contributors of its micro-payment community Stockxpert to submit work for sale under the company's Dynamic Graphics brand.
The new program is open only to exclusive members who have been at the Xpert level for at least three months. Further, Dynamic Graphics will only accept images that are not represented elsewhere, which includes similar ones produced during the same shoot.
This established royalty-free brand retails in the range of $80 to $220 per image. The licensing cost depends on file size, which ranges from 3 to 28 megabytes. The technical requirements for submissions are high; Stockxpert contributors are warned that much work will be rejected due to tight editing.
According to Jupitermedia Corp. chairman and CEO Alan Meckler, the arrangement is beneficial to both sides. Qualifying Xperts would get a new, higher-revenue distribution channel, while the Dynamic Graphics collection benefits from fresh content.
Although Meckler refers to this development as a unique benefit for the Stockxpert community, it is not unprecedented. When Corbis launched SnapVillage, it promoted the opportunity to move up to the premium level as one of the key contributor benefits. Kelly Thompson, senior vice president of iStockphoto, says the microstock segment leader was the first to move its best-selling photographers up to the traditional stock level of its parent, Getty Images.
"This is just the beginning of a variety of ways we will be leveraging our growing Stockxpert brand," Meckler added in his blog. In a few days, Stockxpert is scheduled to launch a subscription offering. According to its CEO, Jupiterimages has been successful with subscription models for brands such as Photos.com, Liquid Library and Jupiterimages Unlimited. Now, Meckler intends to "lengthen our lead in an area that is most likely going to be a very significant portion of the future of the stock photo business."
Even when it was limited to its own domain, microstock had cannibalized a portion of pro revenues. Since Getty's purchase of iStockphoto last year, the professional market segment has been assimilating a slow-but-steady influx of amateurs and semi-pros. They might not have academic credentials, and many do not earn a full-time living from stock, but their work has been accepted by experienced image editors.