IStock

iStockPhoto (website) is an online, royalty free, stock photography provider operating on the micropayment business model. Images cost as little as $1 and as much as $20. According to their website they are "the world's fastest growing collection of original, independent, royalty-free images."

The online photo library contains (as of Dec '05) over 559,000 images, contributed by over 13,000 photographers at the rate of 11,000 images per month.

Contributing

Contributing photographers must apply before they are eligible to upload their images. The applications are screened for quality and suitability before they are approved.

Once approved, photographers can begin uploading their work immediately through the website. They supply keywords, categorize the images, and submit them to the "inspection queue," where each and every image is examined to ensure that it meets the rigorous standards of quality, usefulness, copyright and trademark laws, and overall suitability.

iStockPhoto also sells vector graphics made in programs like Adobe Illustrator or Macromedia Freehand; Macromedia Flash elements and raster illustrations created in 3d graphics programs or bitmap editors like Adobe Photoshop.

Contributors receive a commission of between 20% and 40% of each sale, depending on whether or not they are "exclusive," and on their current "canister level." New canisters are awarded for various milestones such as 500 sales, 1,000 sales, 10,000 sales, 25,000 sales, and 100,000 sales. Only one member, lisegagne, has reached the 100,000 point, while around thirty members have passed the 25,000 level and received the coveted "diamond canister."

Contributing photographers who reach a minimum of 1,000 sales are offered to option of becoming exclusive to the company. If they do so, a bonus is added to their commission and they must not sell royalty free stock images anywhere else. Rights managed sales are allowed off site even under the exclusivity contract.

Purchasing and Use

Each approved image is added to the searchable online database, where it can be found by purchasers. Depending on the original size of an image, it can be bought in Small, Medium, Large, XLarge and XXLarge sizes. These cost 1, 2, 3, 5 and 10 credits. Some XXLarge images cost 20 credits, at the contributor's discretion. Vector and Flash files cost 1, 3 or 5 credits, based on complexity.

iStock credits are purchased ahead of time in any amount, and are worth $1 each. Bulk purchases usually offer a discount.

Files can be downloaded immediately, and used in almost anything. The license agreement prohibits only a few uses, such as web templates, print on demand, adult materials, etc. Any print runs over 500,000 must pay additional royalties.

Community

iStockPhoto's online community includes forums, a creative-network for keeping track of friends, and peer review/rating system.

The forums are a great place to get to know the rules and procedures, and to seek help understanding the site or improving one's skills.

iStockPhoto has a reputation for interacting with their member-base and discussing changes and new ideas openly before and after implementation.

iStockPhoto get-togethers are occasionally held in various cities around the world, and are sponsored by the company. They are referred to as iStockalypses.

History

The company was founded by Bruce Livingstone in May 2000. Originally iStockPhoto.com was a free stock imagery website. Over the course of time, however, with its increasingly large collection of high-quality images it transitioned into its current micropayment model.

The Price Debate

For many iStockPhoto represents a threat to an old and well established precedent. Stock photography has long been an expensive and elite market. Some feel that the extremely low prices are undercutting and devaluing the stock photography market, by offering images vastly below accepted standards.

Members of iStockPhoto and its administration argue that the micropayment model has two benefits:

Firstly, the much higher number of sales which are made at the lower price range offsets the lower comissions, often netting the contributor more than he or she would recieve from the same portfolio in a traditional stock library over a given period of time.

Secondly, the lower price makes high quality images available to a much wider market, including small business, educational organizations, and personal use. This broadens the market, and improves the overall quality of web and printed material.