Thanks to information supplied by
microstock.top concerning Shutterstock contributors and information from
Nationmaster.com regarding the average 2014 monthly salary from 162 countries, it is possible to get a better understanding of why more than 60% of the images in the Shutterstock collection are provided by Eastern European and Asian creators.
Given current image licensing fees, Eastern European and many Asian creators have a huge economic advantages given the low costs of living in their countries compared to creators in North America and Western Europe. Consequently, it seems likely that creators from low cost-of-living areas of the world will produce a growing share of future stock images.
I began my analysis by looking at the countries identified by microstock.top as having contributors who had supplied more than 999 images to the 119,000,000 Shutterstock collection. Out of Shutterstock’s 164,900 contributors only 14,373 had supplied that many images and combined they have 91,700,000 images or 87.1% of the total.
Of the 14,373 contributors, Shutterstock does not supply country of residence information for 3,671 or 25.54%. If we assume that contributors with no country listed represent the same portion of the 91,700,000 images as they represent of total contributors, then the number of images remaining is 68,316,500. Contributors from countries that have fewer than 10 contributors with over 999 images represent 6,892,832 total images leaving a total of 61,423,668 images in the four collections we are examining.
Breakdown As Follows
The chart below makes it easy to see why so much of the production comes from Eastern Europe and Asia. Given the much lower cost-of-living in most of these countries it is easier for photographers and illustrators to earn a decent living from stock photo production than is the case for those in the Western world.
| |
Total |
Images |
Average |
Average |
| |
Countries |
|
Monthly |
Annual |
| |
|
|
Income |
Income |
| U.S. and Canada |
2 |
5,347,317 |
$3,017 |
$36,204 |
| Eastern Europe, Former Soviet Union |
12 |
23,805,922 |
$429 |
$5,148 |
| Asia |
15 |
13,168,293 |
$1,458 |
$17,496 |
| European Union, other Western Europe Countries |
28 |
19,102,136 |
$2,034 |
$24,408 |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
61,423,668 |
|
|
Most North American photographers trying to earn a living and support a family from photography need to earn $35,000 to $40,000 annually. In Eastern Europe that average is a little over $5,000 and in many countries it is less than that. In Eastern Europe $2,000 to $3,000 a year can be a significant supplement to some other source of income and it is worth spending a significant amount of time trying to produce more images that might grow their revenue.
Of course, a few with larger collections may earn more than these
numbers, but when numbers this low are still considered reasonable earning there is
more of an incentive to give stock photography a try, and stick with it.
In North America, and to a lesser degree in Western Europe, $2,000 to $3,000 is such a minor portion of income that a producer cannot justify spending much time producing stock images on speculation.
In addition to time, there are production costs. In all likelihood the cost of models, clothes, props, location rentals, assistants, retouching, etc. are all much less expensive in Eastern Europe than in the U.S.
It is important to also note that the Nationmaster.com analysis was from 2014. Given the strengthening of the U.S. dollar in the past year creators in countries outside the U.S. probably have an even greater advantage compared to U.S. producers.
Country-By-Country Breakdown
| |
Images |
Average |
Contributors |
| |
|
Monthly |
|
| |
|
Income |
|
| United States |
4,377,154 |
3,259 |
665 |
| Canada |
970,163 |
2,774 |
172 |
| |
|
|
|
| Total |
5,347,317 |
6,033 |
837 |
| |
|
|
|
| Russia Federatlon |
8,341,695 |
686 |
1,552 |
| Ukraine |
9,920,419 |
358 |
1,412 |
| Belarus |
1,472,245 |
502 |
274 |
| Serbia |
1,376,406 |
507 |
201 |
| Armenia |
43,176 |
313 |
13 |
| Azerbaijan |
390,782 |
525 |
50 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina |
242,969 |
562 |
9 |
| Georgia |
305,633 |
299 |
11 |
| Kyrgyzstan |
698,464 |
614 |
57 |
| Macedonia |
58,606 |
387 |
16 |
| Moldova |
267,767 |
244 |
60 |
| Turkey |
687,760 |
756 |
105 |
| |
|
|
|
| Total |
23,805,922 |
5,753 |
3,760 |
| |
|
|
|
| Thailand |
7,960,642 |
503 |
1,823 |
| Japan |
865,518 |
2,782 |
136 |
| Malaysia |
525,715 |
980 |
111 |
| Australia |
730,411 |
3,781 |
98 |
| China |
601,006 |
731 |
107 |
| Hong Kong |
204,734 |
2,496 |
26 |
| India |
555,686 |
452 |
79 |
| Indonesia |
510,015 |
304 |
99 |
| New Zealand |
155,829 |
2,693 |
22 |
| Pakistan |
206,334 |
239 |
21 |
| Philippines |
79,182 |
331 |
21 |
| Singapore |
179,401 |
2,759 |
18 |
| South Korea |
153,384 |
2,174 |
24 |
| Taiwan |
301,905 |
1,307 |
40 |
| Vietnam |
138,531 |
335 |
25 |
| |
|
|
|
| Total |
13,168,293 |
21,867 |
2,650 |
| |
|
|
|
| Poland |
2,408,190 |
906 |
312 |
| United Kingdom |
2,086,978 |
2,961 |
278 |
| Germany |
1,862,617 |
2,852 |
366 |
| Romania |
1,857,136 |
487 |
179 |
| Spain |
1,602,637 |
1,635 |
243 |
| Italy |
1,427,617 |
2,118 |
307 |
| Czech Republic |
1,080,557 |
1,020 |
227 |
| Croatia |
156,430 |
870 |
37 |
| Andorra |
55,469 |
2,731 |
176 |
| Austria |
132,468 |
2,457 |
39 |
| Bulgaria |
274,896 |
507 |
74 |
| Denmark |
92,034 |
3,270 |
25 |
| Estonia |
559,800 |
915 |
56 |
| Finland |
143,699 |
2,924 |
31 |
| France |
768,989 |
2,762 |
108 |
| Greece |
250,349 |
953 |
40 |
| Hungary |
380,166 |
668 |
79 |
| Ireland |
484,950 |
2,991 |
14 |
| Latvia |
961,101 |
713 |
94 |
| Lithuania |
331,800 |
701 |
62 |
| Netherlands |
426,883 |
2,938 |
104 |
| Norway |
78,706 |
4,215 |
14 |
| Portugal |
391,937 |
1,082 |
53 |
| Slovakia |
245,825 |
948 |
55 |
| Slovenia |
130,891 |
1,276 |
32 |
| Sweden |
365,574 |
3,181 |
46 |
| Switzerland |
182,952 |
6,302 |
35 |
| Belgium |
361,485 |
2,565 |
30 |
| |
|
|
|
| Total |
19,102,136 |
56,948 |
3,116 |