Advance Notes: The introduction of Royalty Free, subscription services, and micropayment sites in stock photography creates a dilemma. But whose dilemma is it?

In blustery winter storms in the last century, farmers out here in northern Wisconsin used to tie a long rope between the farmhouse and the barn. During a blizzard, without holding onto the rope, a person could get lost in the whiteness just trying to get over to the house or barn. The rope was a life saver.

Do stock photographers need a similar lifeline today, in the face of the storms within the stock industry?
The “storms,” of course, for stock photographers, are the introduction of Royalty-Free, subscription services, and micropayment sites on the Internet, along with digital cameras, which together with bandwidth on the Internet, have introduced speedy and efficient ways of supplying images to formerly sleeping segments of the marketplace. Once the price of photos came down, the market expanded, thanks to technology and the innovative spirit of both buyers and sellers.

The only guideline we need for these storms of change (“Are we out of the storm yet?”) is history. The invention of the sewing machine did not put the seamstress out of business. Those who could not afford hand-tailored clothing in the past could now own three or four dresses. This technology phenomenon repeats itself as any industry adapts and progresses.
And how have they fared – the managed-rights photographers who had a monopoly on the industry in the 80’s and 90’s? Are they out in the cold or have they ridden along with the flow and adapted?

SAME OL’ SAME OL’

The equation hasn’t changed all that much. In the 80’s, the market for stock photos was small, and commercial stock photographers were selling Rights-Managed photos for $1,000 each, while editorial photographers were selling and re-selling one image 20 times for $50 each time. Postal delivery of images was sufficient.

In the 90’s, commercial stock photographers were selling RM photos for $2,000 each (inflation), while editorial photographers were selling and re-one photo 20 times for $100 each time. FedEx and other services were sufficient for photo delivery.

Today, a stock photographer can get $3,000 (inflation) for an exquisite RM picture, or the photographer (either commercial or editorial) can get $3,000 for one photo by selling it 3,000 times for a dollar through micro payment. It still stands: the photographers with business acumen, whether commercial or editorial, pro or semi-pro (with a professional delivery system), will end up at the top, in the end, riding out the predictable storms of increasing market size, cost of living increases, and the infusion of the micro payments phenomenon. –RE

Rohn Engh, veteran stock photographer and publisher of “PhotoRESEARCHER Newsletter,” has provided on-line targeted information for photobuyers, photo researchers and editors for two decades. No other newsletter brings photobuyers such up-to-the minute, practical information from an experienced picture professional intimately familiar with both sides of the stock photo desk. For more info: http://www.photosource.com/photobuyer/.