There are some who have been in the stock photo business for a long time who would like me to say that nobody can make any money selling microstock, or something along the lines of, "If you'll just license your images as rights-managed like I've always done, you'll get rich like I am." Such assertions are patently false and irresponsible to the next generation of photographers.
The American Society of Media Photographers has awarded $150,000 to the Picture Licensing Universal System Coalition.
As planned, the Stock Artists Alliance has merged with the Alliance of Visual Artists, which now unites six photo industry groups and their 45,000 members. SAA's own membership now stands at over 400.
Toronto-based Masterfile has announced the launch of an "Ambassador Program"--a North American referral program that pays fees.
The microstock submission process is an issue that frustrates many photographers. Lookstat simplifies this process for those more interested in spending their time taking pictures than sitting in front of a computer.
Kelly Thompson recently said: "Today, some artists are finding they can make a good living exclusively selling microstock. iStockphoto has many contributors making anywhere from $40,000 to $500,000 a year." Let's examine the earning potential based on the figures of some of iStock's top earners.
Following last week's announcement of a new services platform, PicScout released a statement full of enthusiastic testimonials by managers of professional associations and agencies in the U.S. and abroad.
Latest Nielsen Company figures estimate that online advertising spending on the top social network and blogging sites has increased 119% to $108 million since August 2008. Such sites' share of overall online ad spending has more than doubled during the same time period, rising from 7% to 15%.