Toronto-based Masterfile has launched a Web product similar to Getty Images' recently launched controversial license. The stock agency's announcement of its new $49 Web-use license came as The New York Times futurist-in-residence Michael Rogers was delivering the keynote address at the international conference of the Picture Archive Council of America.

Masterfile is making 900,000 500-kylobyte, 72 dpi royalty-free photos available under the new license. Senior vice president Tomas Speight says the move will allow budget-conscious buyers to use as many images as they need for Web projects without compromising quality.

In September, Masterfile president Steve Pigeon told Selling Stock he believed the Web offered a large market for lower-priced imagery. Pigeon says that microstock has thus far filled this niche. Though he does not think the new $49 price point will lure microstock customers currently paying $1, Pigeon believes the price reduction will encourage Masterfile's existing clients not to look elsewhere for online imagery.

The new Web resolution price is available at masterfile.com and through every Masterfile office, which include European headquarters in Düsseldorf, sales offices in New York, Chicago, London, Milan and Paris, in addition to the Toronto headquarters.