Is The U.S. A Democracy?

By Jim Pickerell | 2319 Words | Posted 6/16/2021 | Comments (2)
This story is not about stock photography. Lately, I have been concerned about the state of Democracy in the U.S. This story outlines some of my thoughts. It is an issue that should concern every U.S. citizen, and maybe citizens of other countries. If you have friends who might be interested in this subject, please feel free to forward the story or use the information in any way.

Dealing With Model Releases

By Michael McCloy | 596 Words | Posted 5/14/2021 | Comments
It should come as no surprise that, in recent years, online waivers and release forms have grown in popularity, especially during the past year. They’ve made it much easier to collect information while maintaining pandemic-approved standards. The stock photo industry, for example, has benefitted from online photo release forms. It provides an effective and efficient way to collect releases from models and online waivers will continue to be utilized as a better approach to signature-collecting. 

Jon Oringer’s $52 Million Hampton Home

By Jim Pickerell | 259 Words | Posted 5/11/2021 | Comments (4)
Take a look at Jon Oringer’s $52 million home https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9562059/Billionaire-founder-Shutterstock-lists-oceanfront-Hamptons-home-52-million.html in the Hamptons on Long Island.

Future Of Stock Photography

By Jim Pickerell | 1132 Words | Posted 2/18/2021 | Comments (6)
I launched Selling Stock in 1990 with the goal of helping professional photographer understand the stock photography business and the opportunities it offered. For a couple decades many photographers earned significant additional revenue from the licensing of stock images. A large number earned their entire living by producing photos on speculation and licensing them as stock.

Eleven Year Shutterstock Growth Trends

By Jim Pickerell | 729 Words | Posted 2/11/2021 | Comments
The chart below allows you to easily track the growth trends of Shutterstock quarter-by-quarter over the last 11-years and see the number of images in the collection, number of downloads and the gross quarterly revenue at the end of each quarter. You can also see the average revenue-per-download and revenue-per-image-in-the-collection trends.

Shutterstock Q4 2020 Financial Results

By Jim Pickerell | 1851 Words | Posted 2/11/2021 | Comments (1)
Shutterstock has reported Q4 2020 revenue of $180.9 million up 9% compared to $166.4 million in Q4 2019 and up from $165.2 million the previous quarter. Revenue per download was $3.91 per-image compared to $3.44 in Q4 2019 and $3.79 the previous quarter. The average revenue per download for all of 2020 was $3.68 compared with $3.43 for all of 2019.

Copyright Small Claims For Photographers Have Arrived

By Jim Pickerell | 852 Words | Posted 12/29/2020 | Comments (3)
Photographers got a late Christmas present when President Trump signed the massive 5,593-page, $1.4-trillion omnibus spending and COVID-19 relief bill, titled the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021. () Buried deep within this omnibus spending bill was the 63-page CASE Act.

Nikon Moving Manufacturing To Thailand

By Jim Pickerell | 527 Words | Posted 12/21/2020 | Comments (1)
I purchased my first Nikon camera in 1958 when I lived in Tokyo. At that time Nikon was the premier Japanese camera company. Nikon has announced that they will now move all manufacturing of new equipment from Japan to Thailand. The reasons are simple: Blue Collar workers in Japan average $18.94 per hour -- Blue Collar workers in Thailand average $4.15 per hour.

Who Is Behind Wirestock.io? Founders, Funding and Places

By Robert Kneschke | 719 Words | Posted 12/21/2020 | Comments (2)
After my article a few days ago about Wirestock's questionable deal with Freepik, I got some comments and pointers that I want to summarize here.

How Oringer Could Improve Creator Compensation

By Jim Pickerell | 506 Words | Posted 12/16/2020 | Comments (3)
If Jon Oringer of Shutterstock donated his annual salary of $4,598,580 to image creators who produce the products Shutterstock licenses, and divided it among creators based on the number of images licensed, how would that benefit image creators?

About Michael Masterson

Michael Masterson has a broad range of experience in marketing, business development, strategic planning, contact negotiations and recruiting in the photography, graphic design and publishing industries. In addition to his long experience at the Workbook and Workbookstock, Masterson owned and was creative director of his own graphic design firm for several years.

Masterson has been a speaker or panelist at industry events such as Seybold, PhotoPlus Expo, Visual Connections and the Picture Archive Council of America (PACA) national conference. He is currently the national president of the American Society of Picture Professionals (ASPP). He also serves on the board of the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council in his Los Angeles community. He chaired the marketing committee for the Los Angeles Conservancy, a historic preservation advocacy group, for many years.

He currently heads Masterson Consulting, working on projects ranging from business development for creative companies and sourcing talent for them to promoting and marketing industry events as well as providing resume and professional profile services for job-seekers. He can be reached at zvpunryqznfgrefba@tznvy.pbz.