Microstock: No Longer $1

Posted on 5/22/2009 by Jim Pickerell | Printable Version | Comments (3)

Many experienced professional photographers have been watching image prices fall but just cannot bring themselves to license their images for $1. Yet the truth is that at today's microstock prices, it does not take all that many sales to match what a photographer would earn from a single rights-managed sale, and there are a currently a lot more microstock sales than rights-managed ones.

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Copyright © 2009 Jim Pickerell. The above article may not be copied, reproduced, excerpted or distributed in any manner without written permission from the author. All requests should be submitted to Selling Stock at 10319 Westlake Drive, Suite 162, Bethesda, MD 20817, phone 301-461-7627, e-mail: wvz@fpcubgbf.pbz

Jim Pickerell is founder of www.selling-stock.com, an online newsletter that publishes daily. He is also available for personal telephone consultations on pricing and other matters related to stock photography. He occasionally acts as an expert witness on matters related to stock photography. For his current curriculum vitae go to: http://www.jimpickerell.com/Curriculum-Vitae.aspx.

Comments

Bill Bachmann Posted May 22, 2009
Jim,

Give us the approximate total sales in dollars of Microstock as opposed to approximate total sales in dollars of Rights Managed. You always make it sound like so many sales in Micro, but what are the total dollars divided between agency & photographer?

While you nare at it, also (out of one dollar) what is the average percentage of that dollar from Microstock agencies?

That will help.... not just total hits & sales all the time.

Bill Bachmann
Orlando, Florida

Dan Heller Posted May 22, 2009
> traditional prices seem to be declining rapidly,
> while microstock prices are rising at an equally rapid clip.

I've written for years that this very phenomenon would happen. A directly related article: http://www.danheller.com/blog/posts/myth-that-microstock-agencies-hurt.html

Dan Heller
VP Marketing, PicScout

Jose Pelaez Posted May 22, 2009
Bill, is this what you're looking for?

http://www.selling-stock.com/2009/04/15/2008-market-size-revenues-by-image-type/

see table 3

Jonathan Clymer

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