Marrying the features made familiar by companies such as OnRequest, fotoLibra and various community-based photo businesses, Austin-based FocalPop launched a marketplace where buyers can post requests for photographers to reply with photos. Buyers describe images, the price they are willing to pay and the type of license they seek—then select a winning image among submissions from site users.
Though crowd-sourced and reminiscent of Web-based businesses that perpetuate speculative creative, FocalPop positions itself as a more equitable alternative than microstock: “Photographers have seen revenues shrink with recent trends towards low-costs transactions on microstock photography sites,” reads the press release. FocalPop also suggests that photographers who have trouble discerning what type of imagery sells or who are unwilling to invest in photo shoots without defined criteria may benefit from the new service.
Photographers can sign up for request notification and participate at will. Shooters retain 70% of sales, which have a minimum price requirement of $50. According to its founders Brian Romanko and Becky Parker, who devised the business plan during an MBA program and won the Texas Moot Corp Competition and several other honors, FocalPop has been enthusiastically received by photographers since its beta launch in September. The beta united over 2,000 visitors from 62 countries.