Microstock Images Get Multiple Uses

Posted on 3/15/2010 by Jim Pickerell | Printable Version | Comments (4)

Chris Barton, managing director of Photographers Direct has written a humorous article on the multiple use of microstock images that shows five young people—three women and two men—promoting the products and services of a dozen different companies, with copy that would lead the reader to believe that these people were employees of all these companies. Every rights-managed photographer will enjoy this piece.

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Comments

Ellen Boughn Posted Mar 15, 2010
Ahh...but it happens in rights managed too. Remember unless a user purchases 'protection' or exclusivity they get no more protection from competitors using the same image than users of microstock. Some control is excercised by some companies without the extra fee for protection but many don't especially now in the era of online licensing. I remember a photo that appeared on two magazine covers in the same month and both magazines had the same demographic.

Ralph Clevenger Posted Mar 15, 2010
Isn't this what a good stock image does. Get licensed by multiple users, over and over again. The ability to make an image useful to as many clients as possible is how stock images make money. I think you said it once Jim, only about 2% of what a photographer shoots is licensed and that 2% has to sell enough times to pay for the other 98 images. So I want my stock images to be as timeless and generic as possible. Otherwise it's called an assignment.

Fred Voetsch Posted Mar 15, 2010
Not impressed. Sorry, but this has been the case since stock photography came along. It's just more pervasive now.

But honestly, these are the same types of photos that used to sell for hundreds of dollars, now at least the buyers are not paying so much for what is quite honestly, a commodity.

Sheron Resnick Posted Mar 16, 2010
And this has been going on in RM for as long as it's been around. 20 years ago I received one of those "multi-coupon mailers". Inside was a coupon for a home remodeling company showing a picture of a home with a happy couple in front of it. Three coupons down was a different home remodeling company with the same picture! The picture was from FPG.

Don Resnick

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