Chris Barton, managing director of Photographers Direct has written a humorous article on the
multiple use of microstock images that shows five young people—three women and two men—promoting the products and services of a dozen different companies, with copy that
would lead the reader to believe that these people were employees of all
these companies. Every rights-managed photographer will enjoy this
piece.
What an image is worth to a customer depends entirely on the customer's intended use. The size of the file delivered has very little to do with how an image might be used, or the value the customer will receive from using it. Granted, there are limits as to how a very small file can be used. But, there are many ways that a medium-size file can be used, with widely varying values. The biggest problem with royalty-free licensing, and particularly with microstock, is not that it prices certain uses very low, but that the system of pricing by file size has tried to ignore use in an effort to achieve simplicity.
One of the key things to understand about stock photography is why some customers are willing to pay more than others to use an image.
In response to "Use-Based Pricing: Corbis Moves in Right Direction," Jain Lemos said: "I am not convinced that the rights-managed model should disappear entirely, and promoting that idea too soon could have a negative impact that Corbis and others don't intend. Perhaps rights-managed and [traditional] royalty-free are going away on their own, but they have worked well for many years, and I'd hate to see the baby thrown out with the bath!"
Given the time pressures customers are under, most tend to go to the sites where it is easy to find a usable image. Given the way traditional and microstock sites are designed, it is infinitely easier to find a good, usable image in microstock than on traditional sites -- and microstock customers get the added benefit of paying less.
Alamy salesfor the 2009 were $22,864,000, down 27% from 2008. Fourth quarter sales
were down less than 2% compared to the third quarter of 2009 and were
down 14% compared to the fourth quarter 2008. British pound and Euro
sales were up slightly compared to the third quarter of
2009, but U.S. dollar sales were down 12% compared to Q3 2009 and 22% compared to Q4 2008.
The stock photo industry needs a change in strategy so all images can
be made available for all uses at a reasonable price based on the value
the customer will receive from using the image. We need to get away
from the whole idea of rights-managed and royalty-free and recognize
that, in all cases, the price is based on use. Rights-managed licensing has always been much more about pricing
based on use rather than on managing rights. The vast majority of
rights-managed customers are not concerned with rights control or
exclusivity.
In response to "Stock Photo Lottery," Bill Bachmann said: "I don't know where you get the idea that 1% of images are sold are RM. I think you are pulling that figure out of a hat."
Alamy sales for 2009 were $22,864,000, down 27% from 2008. Fourth-quarter sales were down less than 2% compared to the previous quarter but 14% compared to the fourth quarter of 2008. British Pound and Euro sales were up slightly compared to the third quarter of 2009, but U.S. dollar sales were down 12% compared to Q3 2009 and 22% compared to Q4 2008.
Katy von Brandenfels, of BigCheesePhoto won €100 our May/June
PhotoLicensingOptions’ contest designed to encourage those interested in
the business of producing and licensing rights to images to sign up for
this FREE weekly email every Saturday.