Microstock
Most photographers considering marketing their images as microstock want
to know what they can expect in the way of return-per-image (RPI) from
their accepted images. The question is impossible to answer because so
many variables are involved. However, by extrapolating from the data we
have gathered over more than 2 years on 195 of the top selling
iStockphoto photographers we get an interesting picture of the range of
possibilities.
Our semi-annual analysis of iStockphoto sales has once again produced interesting results. As of January 2, 1012
istockcharts was tracking the sales of 38,163 of the more than 100,000 iStock contributors. More than 90% of the images in the iStock collection belong to this group of contributor. Combined these contributors have had a minimum of 114,875,519+ downloads since each started working with iStock. During 2011 alone a minimum of 18,615,558+ images (and probably about 21.5 million) were licensed for use.
The microstock community
Dreamstime has announced that it saw consistent strong growth throughout 2011. Since 2007, Dreamstime’s customer base has grown from 350,000 to the more than 4.2 million customers. With this rapid growth, Dreamstime has positioned itself as a supplier of high quality digital images to the second largest community of registered stock image users. (It is believed that Shutterstock has the largest community of image users.)
The core business of providing pictures for commercial and consumer use
has moved from hiring a professional photographer to shoot an
assignment, to RM stock, to RF and then to
microstock. The next paradigm shift will be iPhoneography. Learn how this may impact you. Check out Jack Hollingsworth's two day workshop on the subject
Microstock sites are usually thought of as places to go to find generic commercial images, not editorial coverage. But, recently several microstock sites have started accepting unreleased, editorial images.
Dreamstime has provided links to images related to some of the major events its contributors covered in 2011.
One-hundred-thirty aspiring commercial photographers from all over the
world will descend on Cape Town, South Africa on 3 January 2012 to
participate in the Yuri Arcurs International Commercial Photography
Academy Bootcamp.
Masterfile has added 1.5 million budget-friendly photos and illustrations to its website at
www.masterfile.com, complementing its large collection of premium rights-managed and royalty-free images. Customers can easily toggle between the RM/RF collection and the $10 collection, but images from both collections are not shown at the same time.
Shutterstock Images LLC has released its
Shutterstock for iPad app, available for free download now in the Apple App Store.
Just 8 months after launch
ImageCollect.com, a celebrity picture library offering images at microstock prices, has doubled in size in 3 months and now has more than three million images available for download. The library contains archival imagery and current content supplied by top entertainment photographers. The company expects to have more than 5 million images by early 2012.
While Thanksgiving is a joyous event for many, for those less fortunate it can be a difficult time. With this in mind,
Dreamstime, is launching its “Give Thanks, Give Back” campaign to help share the blessings of this year’s Thanksgiving with those less fortunate.
Early next year 10 to 15 aspiring commercial photographers will be
offered an amazing three year FREE education in the technical and
business aspects of commercial photography as part of the Yuri Arcurs
International Commercial Photography Academy. Yuri is the most
successful microstock photographer in the world.
iStockphoto is celebrating completion of its fifth year in the stock video business by
discounting all video purchases by 15 percent from October 17th to 23rd.
The first thing everyone wants to know about microstock is how much the average person earns licensing images at those prices. This story provides some statistics. The story also deals with the misconception that in order to have high earnings in microstock it is necessary to have a huge number of images in the collection.
Pond5 will be giving away coupons worth $10,000 of free stock media at the Frankfurt Book Fair (Hall 3.1, Booth A 118), Oct. 12 - 16, 2011. Pond5’s
online collection includes more than 800,000 royalty-free stock video clips (the largest archive on the web), along with millions of other assets, including stock photos, illustrations, music tracks, sound effects, and After Effects motion graphics projects.
iStockphoto has launched
Feast, a new online community for creatives. Feast provides abundant helpings of inspiration from a diverse group of designers, photographers, directors, writers, marketing professionals and more. Feast’s centerpiece is a unique public mentorship between cutting-edge leaders in diverse fields such as photojournalist
Mario Tama and writer, director and producer
Kirby Ferguson, and protégés who apply to work with them online. In pre-launch, 25,000 people registered for Feast and 300 applied to be October protégés.
SuperStock, a leading stock photography agency specializing in
Contemporary, Travel, Fine Art, and Vintage imagery, has launched
SuperFusion, a new collection of value-priced royalty-free images
gathered from around the world. The collection features images from top
professional photographers including microstock stars Yuri Arcurs, Ron
Chapple, and Andres Rodriguez.
In an effort to engage with the next generation of picture professionals,
Alamy and
Dreamstime have launched separate initiatives to benefit students.
In a little over a year the number of
images represented by the top four microstock sites has increased by 41%. Fotolia has had a 59% increase. The number of people contributing images to Shutterstock has grown by 37% and now totals 313,393. This wouldn't be bad if demand were growing at the same rate, but it's not. Demand seems to be relatively flat and at iStockphoto seems to be declining. How will these numbers affect everyone who produces stock images? Read more.
Graphic Design USA (GDUSA) has released some of the results from its
25th annual survey of graphic designers to determine their use of stock imagery. A total of
1,008 readers responded to the survey with 96 percent saying they use
stock imagery in their work and 60 percent using it at least 20 times a
year. Both represent new highs for the survey.
Fotolia has released a major update to their website which offers improved navigation and usability. This story explains some of the changes.
AudioMicro, Inc., which operates a network of digital content licensing marketplaces, has announced that
ImageCollect.com, its celebrity picture marketplace launched just five months ago has more than 1,500,000 mostly “red carpet” images available for download. The company expects to have more than 4 million images on its site before the end of the year. The collection includes archival imagery from companies like Globe Photos and current content being supplied by top entertainment photographers.
Lee Torrens and Amos Struck, leading microstock industry analysts, have organized the first ever,
Microstock Expo and Conference that will be held in Berlin, Germany. The event is scheduled for 5-6 November 2011 at the
andel’s Hotel Berlin and is likely to be the forerunner of regular annual events.
iStockphoto COO Kelly Thompson will be moving from Calgary to Manhattan in September to become Senior Vice President, Product Development for Getty Images. He will lead a team of Getty Images and iStock Product Managers as they evolve the packaging and positioning of iStockphoto.com, Thinkstock.com, Photos.com and Clipart.com.
According to the NY Daily News
Getty Images may sell its WireImage celebrity and entertainment division to
Reuters for something “north of $300 million.” The deal could be announced in the next two weeks. Getty acquired WireImage in 2007 when it purchased MediaVast Image for $207 million.
After lowering royalty rates for non-exclusive contributors in January, iStockphoto introduced a
new strategy in early May that made it possible for non-exclusive contributors to offer a portion of their images at higher prices. Non-exclusive contributors are now allowed to nominate up to 15% of their total portfolios for inclusion in the Photos+ brand.