In response to “Use-Based Pricing: Corbis Moves in Right Direction,” Jain Lemos said: “I am not convinced that the rights-managed model should disappear entirely, and promoting that idea too soon could have a negative impact that Corbis and others don’t intend. Perhaps rights-managed and [traditional] royalty-free are going away on their own, but they have worked well for many years, and I’d hate to see the baby thrown out with the bath!”

Given the time pressures customers are under, most tend to go to the sites where it is easy to find a usable image. Given the way traditional and microstock sites are designed, it is infinitely easier to find a good, usable image in microstock than on traditional sites — and microstock customers get the added benefit of paying less.

The stock photo industry needs a change in strategy so all images can be made available for all uses at a reasonable price based on the value the customer will receive from using the image. We need to get away from the whole idea of rights-managed and royalty-free and recognize that, in all cases, the price is based on use. ...

In response to “Stock Photo Lottery,” Bill Bachmann said: “I don’t know where you get the idea that 1% of images are sold are RM. I think you are pulling that figure out of a hat.”

Alamy sales for 2009 were $22,864,000, down 27% from 2008. Fourth-quarter sales were down less than 2% compared to the previous quarter but 14% compared to the fourth quarter of 2008. British Pound and Euro sales were up slightly compared to the third quarter of 2009, but U.S. dollar sales were down 12% compared to Q3 2009 and 22% compared to Q4 2008.