Another stock image shake-up ahead?

This week Getty Images made their 1st Quarter 2007 Earnings Call. As usual there were a number of fresh announcements made. The headliners have all been reported on the usual stock image news sites & blogs. One statement that was not discussed went as follows...

"We have a number of other initiatives underway at iStock, which I'm just not going to talk about now. OK, I'll give you a hint. They include product enhancements, additional licensing models and further international expansion."

The three words 'additional licensing models' make this BIG news that's actually been inevitable since microstock gained a foothold in the existing marketplace. 'Additional licensing models' at the micro price point, marketed by the industry leader would radically revise the secondary editorial market if it where in a form of rights managed licensing. Micro is currently RF and RF needs releases. Editorial usage does not. The leading subscription micro, Shutterstock, has accepted unreleased RF for editorial-only but they do not have an established publishing industry customer base to quickly make any real impact. Getty-iStock do. In just 7 years Alamy have organically built a phenomenal secondary editorial business selling at a premium price point by adhering to a zero editing policy. It has resulted in over 7000 contributors, between them covering every generalist topic in unparalleled depth, with what is largely unremarkable, easily captured imagery. iStock have over 27,000 contributors (and counting) who are just as capable at producing this sort of material. A simplified (rights-ready) editorial license coupled with a decent % royalty payout would see this business rocket. It would be irresistible to buyers for its depth, pricing and simplicity, and irresistible to amateur photographers for its accessibility and acceptance. This stuff would be their holiday snaps, hometown architecture & events, and their dabbling's with 'wildlife' photography. Releases would not be required - Licensing would be clearly set as editorial only.

Consider the effect of several 10's of thousand (where Getty/iStock lead, others invariably follow) enthusiastic amateur DSLR toting users supplying this very simple model...

• Editorial printed cover/Web home page, Worlwide, unlimited print run & perpetual = $45
• Editorial printed inside/Web secondary page, Worldwide, unlimited print run & perpetual = $15
• A 45% royalty payout to the contributor.

After a couple of years, if the IT infrastructure and staffing where in place, Alamy's current 8 million images could look rather paltry next to iStock's tally. If iStock don't do it now then Yahoo (Flickr) or Google will soon. They have the customer base in place simply by being pervasive.

For a couple of years now I've asserted that the rapidly evolving photography industry (as a whole) will come to re-align itself on just one issue: Product Quality. Be it wedding, advertising or travel stock, price points will effectively be set on image quality as it is perceived by the marketplace: The fundamental law of supply and demand. Premium stock image pricing, RM or RF is not going to go away. What will happen (is already happening) is that images will finally be priced inline with their commercial appeal. Commercial appeal goes beyond subject matter and aesthetics. The quantity of competing imagery is also a weighty factor. Superior conceptualisation, production value and execution removes competition, thereby placing the resulting image product well in the premium price bracket... No matter how many horse images end up on the micro's, Tim Flach's stunning Equus series will have zero competition.

The days when a stock photographer could earn $0000's from some quick shot of traffic trails, a snowflake, or sand dunes have been on steep decline for several years. Soon they may over for good.