Can you choose to place your file only in RM on Photographer's Choice?

Yeah but it's $50.

I though the first ten images are free, and for each image sold for the first time you get another free slot. Or did they change that?

They normally offer the first 10 slots free. Years ago I had a problem with it when the RPI/year was over $400. A year ago I checked with 4 Getty photographers and they all averaged under $40 RPI/Year. So in that time the RPI is only 10% of what it was yet they still have not reduced the price to stay the same percentage.

Lets have some of Sheldon's fun with math....
For simplicity sake we'll avoid the "free" slots and fractions of percentages.

Lets say you spend $10k with Getty for 200 images.
Artist -$10,000  Getty +$10,000.
Artists RPI $40/Image/Year
Artists PC Commission is 35%
Getty sells image for $115
Getty Pays Artists 35% = $40
Getty Profit $115-$40= $75
Assuming you did good enough to get an RPI of $40,
Getty 200 images x $75 = $15,000 + your $10,000 payment = +$25,000
You 200 images x $40 = $8,000 - your $10,000 payment = -$2000
Of course this is assuming you did good with an RPI of $40 in this day and age.
So after 1 year you are out $2000 and Getty is up $25,000.
It's pretty obvious why Getty loves Photographers Choice.
There are other variables that can't be calculated, such as 2nd year sales and free slot placements, but even if you sold 20% of your images within a year you would only get 40 free slots.
Just seems a very difficult business proposition to swallow.

If you sell 200 images in that year and get 200 free spots, and those sell too (assuming the RPI of $40), then the photographer will earn $16,000 - 10,000 = $6,000. That's a decent profit for a $10K investment in one year (of course we're discounting the cost of the photos etc).

Do you have to be accepted by Getty to do PC or can anyone who's willing to pay to play upload their images via that route? And do you pay a one-time fee of $50 or is that an annual fee? It does seem outrageous that they get the lion's share of the profit on photos that you have paid to have them host, but I've heard of others in PC who feel the investment was worth it.

Anyone else care to comment?

From what I remember it was 10 free images a quarter for RF in Photographer's Choice. And if you get good sales, you could ask them to increase the free slots. I think they would look at your sales anyway once a year.

The return in sales for me was exactly like having a file in Photodisc, at least for sales on the Getty site. But Photodisc gets additional exposure from partners, I am not sure PC was distributed as widely.

I would usually submit to House first and if a series or image was declined, but I felt it had good sales potential on the plattform, I would send it to PC. Got quite a few decent sales this way.

But when we could nominate E+ I stopped submitting directly to Getty. E+ gave double exposure and put me in control. Excellent combination and files that were on both istock and getty always earned a lot more than files only on getty.

Anyway, good luck! I would suggest to go over the Getty database with a fine comb and look for what is missing. Inspite of their millions of files, they have huge gaps in the collection or subjects that need to be refreshed.

Another advantage is that you can see which country the file was sold in. This is really helpful, to see if the target group you are trying to reach is really buying your files.

ETA: for all the work you do for them here, I am surprised they haven�t given you a house contract yet. Your giving them a lot of free PR. There is value and a price on this kind of dedication.

And if you do submit directly, please come back here and report if you think it is a good financial and overall experience.

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A chance to buy your way into the Getty Images collections.

But how (i.e. where) would one even join it today?

The $50 per image will cease to exist, it is being replaced by the 20 RM images per quarter.