Usage-based pricing is not going away; there will always be some demand for exclusive uses, for which customers will be willing to pay significant amounts of money. The question is how much and whether or not it is wise for most photographers to chase these customers.
A huge percentage of all professional imagery licensed is used in one way or another to promote a product or service. But advertisers have recognized that the old ways of promoting are no longer working. They are aggressively searching for new and better ways to reach consumers. Advertisers' decisions dramatically impact future demand for photography, as well as where and how it will be used.
In "Handshakes, Challenges and Success as a Stock Photographer," John Lund argues that photographers should shoot the old tried-and-true concepts but in a new and different way. As photographers strive to create unique images, it might be instructive to take one concept--handshakes, to follow Lund's example--and understand what the competition is like in the market today.
Alamy has announced that it paid out over GBP8 million (approximately $12.5 million) to its contributors in 2009. The company has not reported gross revenue for the 4th quarter.
I was recently asked: "If you were shooting stock (hey, maybe you are...), would you be shooting for rights-managed, royalty-free, microstock or some combination?"
A San Francisco-based photographer recently asked: "There is a lot of speculation about tablets like the Kindle and the iPad possibly leading the way for more image use and therefore a possible boon to stock-photo licensing. Do you have any thoughts on that?"
There is a lot of concern among iStockphoto contributors as to whether Getty Images' new Thinkstock venture will benefit them or result in reduced revenue overall as sales on the main iStockphoto site decline. This particularly worries exclusive photographers. Calculating the potential loss is very complex, but photographers must hope that none of iStock's volume customers turn to Thinkstock and that a large percentage of Shutterstock customers will start rushing to Thinkstock. To be successful, Getty must capture more revenue from Shutterstock customers than they lose as a result of customers leaving iStockphoto and Getty Images to buy subscriptions.
SpiderPic, a division of the Israel based company Ginipic, has launched a new service to help image buyers find the cheapest source for microstock images. This is accomplished by simultaneously searching across multiple sites for specific images.
Corbis has notified photographers with rights-managed images on Veer that the company will be moving all that imagery to the Corbis site in 2010 to more "strategically differentiate their two stock photography brands." The rights-managed imagery that has been placed on channel partner sites around the world will continue to be marketed through those sites.