Capture Office Online, a suite of Web-based back office software widely used by photographers, stock agents and photo buyers in the U.K. and Europe, has integrated the Picture Licensing Universal System into its pricing functionality.
A recent proposal a use-based pricing model generated many subscriber comments, which this article endeavors to address.
Leading traditional and microstock photographers and agency owners share their views on selling the same images at different prices.
In 2008, Alamy paid its contributors $20.8 million of $31.5 million in gross sales. The company has also disclosed summary sales and return-per-image information for the top 100 sellers in the photographer and agency categories, demonstrating that there is no right answer to the age-old question of loose versus tight editing.
If the iStockphoto's growth rate were to remain flat for the rest of 2009, it would license rights to over 25,690,000 images for the year.
The industry needs a new pricing model. The models we have include rights-managed, royalty-free, subscription, microstock and rights-ready, which is about to become extinct. What is needed is use-based pricing, or UBP.
Many photographers found the language of the new 15-page iStockphoto Exclusive Artist's Supply Agreement difficult to comprehend. A big part of the confusion lies in the fact that an exclusive arrangement with iStock is
photographer-exclusive for royalty-free content, unlike nearly all other exclusive arrangements in the industry, which are
image-exclusive.
Stock photography producers and sellers have lost sight of how to value their images. It is time for all sellers to reevaluate their pricing strategies.
Some believe that microstock has resulted in a contraction of total stock-image revenues, but this is not beyond dispute. Though microstock is showing signs of slowing growth, 2009 may still see an overall revenue reduction, as recession pushes buyers to lower-priced images.
Some sellers and customers argue that photos of a single subject on a white background should be less expensive than more complex shots that require models, props and additional time to produce. One of the driving forces behind the development of microstock was the buyer desire to have access to such shots for prices that are lower than traditional. Isolated subjects have since become the domain of microstock agencies.