Author Topic: Fotolia training buyers to expect "free" images (Read 7511 times)

Sean Locke Photography · « **on:** May 21, 2009, 12:10 »

Fotolia unveiled its new collection of 350,000 free stock images:
http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/content_display/photo-news/stock-and-syndication/e3i82a4bef380199312e8e5a30d29baaf68

Quote

“There’s a lot of people out there where even $1 is too much for images,” says Patrick Lor, Fotolia’s newly hired president for North America, who oversees PhotoXpress.

If they can't afford them, why is there a perceived right they should get them anyways? Weird.

sharpshot · « **Reply #1 on:** May 21, 2009, 12:28 »

As long as the free sites are just full of sub standard images, I don't see it as a big problem. I don't want to give my images away for free but there is no way to stop others doing it. If it can be used to bring new buyers to the sites, when they see that for a few dollars they can get something much better, it wont be so bad.

johngriffin · « **Reply #2 on:** May 21, 2009, 13:00 »

Sean, that is a great point but I think they view the email address/contact info they acquire from the signup to be more valuable then the content or keeping photographers happy/paid for their work. It's almost like a drug dealer and getting someone hooked on your product. Freebies have been around forever in my opinion but making a business out of freebies isn't going to do anything to stabilize image prices or help the industry in general.

The quote you chose is kind of ironic. If someone is paying 30 bucks a month for internet service, you would think that they could pay a dollar.

melastmohican · « **Reply #3 on:** May 21, 2009, 13:10 »

The only real competition would be photos licensed as Creative Commons only if most of them are not low quality leftovers.

gostwyck · « **Reply #4 on:** May 21, 2009, 13:19 »

Quote from: sjlocke on May 21, 2009, 12:10

If they can't afford them, why is there a perceived right they should get them anyways? Weird.

It's probably fairly harmless. The only photographers who are going to donate free images are those who consider their work to be commercially worthless __ and they're most likely correct in their assessment.

borg · « **Reply #5 on:** May 21, 2009, 13:35 »

I spent time, money and effort for my products, why should I give my product free of charge?
Nothing on the market isn't free for me...

designalldone · « **Reply #6 on:** May 21, 2009, 13:46 »

Text from their newsletter, for anyone that hasn't received it:

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COMING SOON: FOTOLIA'S FREE CONTENT API

The first website based on the Fotolia's free content API will soon be released! The site will drive traffic to Fotolia.com and is a fantastic opportunity for Fotolia's contributors to get additional visibility amongst stock photography buyers.

Fotolia's extensive API infrastructure (partner, Business, Developer and Reseller) has already shown their capacities in driving qualified traffic on the Fotolia website. We're confident that this new API will do the same.

As a backgrounder, Fotolia's free content API is based on free contents and unsold files. This API will be used by Fotolia to attract more stock imagery users and to invite them to buy additional imagery on Fotolia. That means: more traffic, more buyers and more sales. As you already know, you can add your unsold files to this program and get a half credit for each file added. Your file will be still offered on Fotolia.com at the standard price, while at the same time, being offered for free through the API.

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Karimala · « **Reply #7 on:** May 21, 2009, 13:51 »

Any word on what we'll be paid per DL on the freebies? Or did the reporter screw up and is actually referring to the 50 cent bonus for adding freebies to the archive?

Quote

Lor says contributors will be paid when their images are downloaded from the new service, but wouldn’t say how much, noting that it varies depending on the source of the images.

Milinz · « **Reply #8 on:** May 21, 2009, 13:55 »

Yup... I got paid $1 for 2 images hanged there 2 years and never sold... Anyway that images was exclusive to fotolia and I believe that will bring me more sales ;-)

helix7 · « **Reply #9 on:** May 21, 2009, 15:49 »

Quote from: gostwyck on May 21, 2009, 13:19

It's probably fairly harmless. The only photographers who are going to donate free images are those who consider their work to be commercially worthless __ and they're most likely correct in their assessment.

Agreed. Plus I don't see buyers going the other way down this road, converting from paying customers to free downloaders. No harm in this move, and it probably will be just a waste of time for fotolia.