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Macro Stock / Midstock => General Macrostock => Topic started by: Rage on June 03, 2014, 01:48

Title: Understanding Getty and RM
Post by: Rage on June 03, 2014, 01:48
Hey everyone,

I've been uploading to Getty through their flickr link and have gotten a couple of sales over the past year. My last sale however raised a question

I thought that an RM meant that one image could only be sold once (you are selling the rights to use it), however Getty has sold one of my images twice now (not that I'm complaining). So can these images be sold more than once?

Second, i thought that the biggest advantage of micro stock was that you could sell the same image to multiple prople. So over a period of time the image might earn you more than if one person bought it through Getty. But if getty can also sell to multiple people then isn't it better than a microstock?

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Title: Re: Understanding Getty and RM
Post by: MichaelJayFoto on June 03, 2014, 02:54
Hey everyone,

I've been uploading to Getty through their flickr link and have gotten a couple of sales over the past year. My last sale however raised a question

I thought that an RM meant that one image could only be sold once (you are selling the rights to use it), however Getty has sold one of my images twice now (not that I'm complaining). So can these images be sold more than once?

Second, i thought that the biggest advantage of micro stock was that you could sell the same image to multiple prople. So over a period of time the image might earn you more than if one person bought it through Getty. But if getty can also sell to multiple people then isn't it better than a microstock?

RM = Rights Managed, the customer pays based on the specific use and time
RF = Royalty Free, the customer pays a fixed fee based on size, the use isn't controlled

RM has the advantage that sales and usage history is being tracked, so a customer CAN buy exclusive rights. But usually they would only do that for a certain period of time, a certain region ("America", "German speaking countries") and/or a certain industry. However, most RM sales do not include exclusive usage at all.

Different sites are targeting different clients with different needs at different price levels. One image could sell 1,000 times on microstock for $1 each. Another image could sell 5 times on macrostock for $50 each. Which one works better? In this case microstock. Then again, you might end up getting only 10 sales for $1 in microstock... or a single big sale on macrostock for $500.
Title: Re: Understanding Getty and RM
Post by: ShadySue on June 03, 2014, 02:57
RM just means a buyer has purchased the rights to use your image.
A complete buy-out of rights would net you hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars.
A typical RM use is far more restricted. E.g. 'Newsletter, one issue, 1000 copies', 'Calendar, UK, 5 years', 'book cover, North America, one year' or whatever.
Look at any RM file on Getty and try to buy it. You go through a series of dropdowns to indicate the use you want, Image Usage, Image Specs, Target Market, then they give you a price. However, be aware that probably repeat buyers have 'deals' and don't pay the full price.

A small-use RM could earn less than RF, as they don't want the huge range of repeat uses etc., but with Getty/RF netting as low as 40c in my case, and 7c as reported for April, it's hard to see how RM could be even less
Title: Re: Understanding Getty and RM
Post by: Rage on June 03, 2014, 07:25
So for a person who is contributing both to microstock (getty) and to most of the top tier microstock sites. How do i decide which image goes where?

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Title: Re: Understanding Getty and RM
Post by: Sean Locke Photography on June 03, 2014, 07:27
So for a person who is contributing both to microstock (getty) and to most of the top tier microstock sites. How do i decide which image goes where?

Typically, if you think it has a wide variety of commercial uses, RF.  If it is a rare image or has limited use, RM.  But deciding is just something you have to learn from experience.
Title: Re: Understanding Getty and RM
Post by: MichaelJayFoto on June 03, 2014, 09:55
Typically, if you think it has a wide variety of commercial uses, RF.  If it is a rare image or has limited use, RM.  But deciding is just something you have to learn from experience.

Yep. Upload a thousand images to RM, thousand to macro RF and thousand to micro. Then just wait five years to compare the results.  ;D
Title: Re: Understanding Getty and RM
Post by: Jo Ann Snover on June 03, 2014, 10:11
So for a person who is contributing both to microstock (getty) and to most of the top tier microstock sites. How do i decide which image goes where?

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It really is an "it depends" and "use your judgement" situation. However, as a practical rule of thumb (not great but reasonable and pretty quick to do), search a big RF site - I'd suggest Shutterstock because they have a really good search and a huge collection - using the keywords of images you're trying to decide on a home for.

If you see lots of good examples of your image on a RF site, you're unlikely to to make much from it via RM (where you're looking for a few high value sales; you'll not get the volume because RM is a hassle for buyers).

If you don't see any more many examples (assuming you've made good keyword choices) then you might try RM to see if you can make more that way. But even then, it might be you've found an unserved niche that you could "own" for RF buyers. Last June, luckily/unluckily I got Bell's Palsy and took some pictures of myself before it got better. I didn't find any Bell's Palsy images on the micros and so right now, I own that niche (which is small but bigger that you might guess as most people don't want to have pictures of themselves looking scarily awful) :)

Given the hassle to buyers of dealing with RM - they have to track usage and make sure they don't use it after their time is up or in the wrong market - most will go for RF if they can find what they need (or a photo shoot if they need something unique to them).
Title: Re: Understanding Getty and RM
Post by: Rage on June 04, 2014, 03:17
Thanks for the great answer. But then who are the people who typically purchase an RM? What are they looking for, it has to be more than just being forced to buy an RM because the image subject was not available on RF

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Title: Re: Understanding Getty and RM
Post by: Sean Locke Photography on June 04, 2014, 05:33
Thanks for the great answer. But then who are the people who typically purchase an RM? What are they looking for, it has to be more than just being forced to buy an RM because the image subject was not available on RF

It can be that.  It can also be they can get it cheaper then RF for a limited use.  Or they want exclusive rights.  Or they don't know better.
Title: Re: Understanding Getty and RM
Post by: Shelma1 on June 04, 2014, 05:36
Thanks for the great answer. But then who are the people who typically purchase an RM? What are they looking for, it has to be more than just being forced to buy an RM because the image subject was not available on RF

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From the perspective of ad agencies, clients will buy an RM image for a variety of reasons, but one important reason is exclusivity. Panasonic doesn't want Samsung using the same photo in an ad for a similar product at the same time.
Title: Re: Understanding Getty and RM
Post by: pkphotos on June 04, 2014, 05:48
Thanks for the great answer. But then who are the people who typically purchase an RM? What are they looking for, it has to be more than just being forced to buy an RM because the image subject was not available on RF

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From the perspective of ad agencies, clients will buy an RM image for a variety of reasons, but one important reason is exclusivity. Panasonic doesn't want Samsung using the same photo in an ad for a similar product at the same time.

That's right, good size advertising sales are still out there with RM images. Photogs who have only ever stocked the micros won't be aware that one off licenses can be had well into the thousands of $ even if it may be less frequent these days. However certain subjects are obviously RM and others obviously RF.
Title: Re: Understanding Getty and RM
Post by: Rage on June 04, 2014, 06:24
So what are the subjects that you feel are suited to only RM or RF. For example I get that my more art oriented images would sell better as RM, while images with more practical value (images of common products, travel locations and all) sell better as RF. It might also be because the people that the RM images are targeted at have deeper pockets and a very specific objective in mind. While a blogger looking for an RF image will either find what he needs or change it to some other image but will not pay the price of an RM.

But this is still pretty vague, so is my only recourse trail and error?
Title: Re: Understanding Getty and RM
Post by: Rage on June 04, 2014, 20:50
And i made a mistake, i checked my Getty account and all the images there are RF (moment and moment open) just higher priced than the micros

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