"Getty Images has announced a new Web-use price of $49 for a 500k 72DPI file of any of its images, regardless of brand or pricing model. This fee entitles the purchaser rights to use any selected RM image on any commercial or editorial Web site, e-mail, mobile devices or multimedia project for one year. RR buyers get the same rights for up to 10 years and rights to use an RF image in perpetuity. This is a major reduction from Gettys RM prices in January 2007.
At the end of 2005, Getty CEO Jonathan Klein indicated that about 10 percent, or roughly 60,000, of Gettys total RM licenses were for Web use. Sources indicated at the end of 2006 that this percentage had grown to 15 percent or more. It is possible that much of the 9,000 image drop year-over-year in the reported number of RM images licensed in the last quarter was due to a fall-off in Web usage. The company has never given any indications of the number of RF licenses that were for the smallest file size, which might be an indication that the image was used on the Web.
Getty believes this new low price will help it capture a portion of the market that might otherwise go to competitors, particularly microstock. But microstock images of this file size license for between $1 and $2.
A few figures are worth contemplating. At a minimum price of $315 per usage, 60,000 RM images would represent $18.9 million, and in theory, many of the images used on the Web were priced at a much higher figure. That same number selling for $49 equals $2.9 million or a $16 million loss in revenue. To stay even, Getty would need to license rights to 385,714 at the $49 figure...."
Comment from Hat: this only confirms what I've suspected would happen; the macro agencies will have to reduce prices, but on the other hand the micro is massively underpriced; over the longer run we can expect them to meet in the middle somewhere. It wouldn't surprise me to see micro prices double over the next five years or so.