Earlier this month,
Selling Stock published statistics showing that many of the leading microstock sellers have begun to see substantial drops in the number of images licensed. Rumors abound that traditional sellers have been experiencing similar declines. Several of Getty Images' leading photographers have provided
Selling Stock with detailed breakdowns of their March 2009 sales, which offer some insight into the current state of the industry.
Given the rather pessimistic predictions of "Opportunities for Professional Stock Photographers," photographers and stock agents ought to consider several career decisions.
More and more young people aspire to a career in photography. They sell some of their images and believe that, if they work hard, they can be successful. Often, they hope to become full-time stock photographers, so they can shoot what they want, when they want, and eventually achieve fame and fortune. Yet the hard reality is that opportunities for professional stock photographers are in a decline, which will continue in the years ahead.
Last week, I made the statement on my Facebook page that opportunities for professional stock photographers would decline in next few years. Several of my friends and colleagues responded.
Those selling images to big business at traditional prices must develop a different strategy for addressing the B2SB (small business) market. The strategy needs to embrace the idea of pricing based on value received, so big businesses that receive greater value from the images they purchase continue to pay reasonable fees for that value.
Traditional stock-photo sellers wonder why there does not seem to be any growth in demand for their product. The 2006 U.S. Census Bureau statistics of U.S. businesses could provide some clues.
As of June 4, iStockphoto has modified how it displays the number of downloads for each file and contributors. Rather than exact numbers, downloads are now reported as approximations, such as >20, >300, >1,000 or >10,000.
One thing microstock has done for all stock photographers is give them access to better statistical data than has ever been available in the traditional industry. Getty Images, because it was a public company, used to provide the industry broad statistical data that was helpful, but that changed when the company went private in early 2008. Now, Alamy is the only traditionally priced company that gives image producers useful information beyond the individual's personal sales.
Leaving out iStock shooters that prefer to remain anonymous, 124 of the 150 top iStock contributors licensed 431,708 combined gross units in March. This number dropped to 380,934 in April and went slightly up to 387,500 in May. These totals suggest that iStock sales may have reached a plateau, but several more months of data is needed to help determine the level and why.
The chart in this story provides details of the number of image downloads in the last three months of images belonging to 124 of iStockphoto's most productive contributors. Based on the statistics supplied by
istockcharts, I have tracked sales for the last three months of the top 150 producers. Of the 150, twenty-six have asked to remain anonymous, so it was only possible to see specific figures for 124 contributors. The combined gross units licensed in March by this group was 431,708. That dropped to 380,934 in April and was 387,500 in May.