At the end of 2016 Shutterstock had 190,000 contributors. By May 2017 that number was up to 225,000 and in September when they launched
Shutterstock Custom Content they said they had 250,000 contributors. Presumably the number was even higher at the end of the year.
Heritage Images Partnership has announced that their company CEO and friend Sheldon Marshall passed away on 17 December 2017 during an expedition to Mount Everest; one of his long standing dreams. Marshall had been active in the stock photo industry for decades.
Following its
Visual Trends predictions for 2018, Adobe recently released a deep analysis of its first trend –
Silence and Solitude. In this chaotic, always-on world where people are bombarded with constant speeds and feeds, the Adobe is seeing a growing demand for images that convey comfort and regeneration.
One of the things I said in my
2018 Predictions is: “Image creator may be given more useful information about what is in demand.” In recent years we’ve seen a huge growth in the number of creators entering the stock photo business as well as images added to the collections. But we’re no longer seeing a corresponding growth in revenue.
Here are a few stock photo industry changes that I predict will occur before 2019.
1 – At least one radically new and different business model for licensing stock images will be introduced. 2 – Customers will become more disenchanted with the major stock photo distributors. 3 - Image creators may be given more useful information about what is in demand.
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Can blockchains improve tracking of stock photo sales, give creators greater control, cut costs and increase royalties? Various companies are talking about instituting such systems. Announcements are expected in the near future. Such systems may reduce the need for some of the services stock agencies currently provide and remit 80% to 90% of the fee the customer pays to the photographer.
Most commercial users want to be honest. They don’t set out to steal. They certainly don’t want to be chased by a photographer and his/her legal team once it is discovered that they have used an image without permission. If photographers want to license more images to professional users – and get better prices – then they must make it easier for customers to find them once the customers finds an image they would like to use. The process is easy enough if the customer finds the image on a stock agency website, but more and more customers are finding the images they would like to use by searching Google, Bing, Flickr or by randomly searching Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, other social media sites or various publications.
The European Parliament is debating new legislation that could require Facebook, Google, Twitter and other major players to share some of the advertising revenue they earn from making the information produced and supplied by major European press agencies available to readers for free.
Photographers and stock agencies may want to start paying a little attention to all the news about blockchains and cryptocurrency. Promoters say that blockchains can cut out some of the middleman costs and provide a more efficient and less costly payment system between image creator and buyer. With many cryptocurrency transactions it is possible to immediately convert the currency into green backs that can be used at any local store, or hold onto the cryptocurrency with the hope that it will increase in value.
Last week Shutterstock notified its editorial shooters that they had begun showcasing all of their Premier Editorial content on Shutterstock.com. Previously this content has only been accessible through the Shutterstock Premier website. “The new editorial tab will include our historic Rex collection, images from strategic partners, including AP, BFA, epa, and live coverage of breaking news, entertainment and sports events,” they said.