500px new project Prime, a commercial licensing marketplace for 500px photography:
http://500px.com/blog/998/introducing-500px-prime

"First: We are pricing all licenses in a way that brings dignity to the photographer, we are not joining the race to the bottom. Our licenses will start at $250.

Second: We are giving you, the photographer, 30% for every one of your images that we license. It doesn�t matter how it is bought, who buys it, or under what license, your 30% comes off the top.

Third: We are using the power of the 500px community to give buyers insight into how photos will be received and perceived before licensing them. Imagine searching images by potential vitality, hero status and visceral reaction. This is revolutionary and something only 500px can do."

"Our vision is to fundamentally change the way photos are licensed." - I don't see anything that fundamentally changes anything.

The comments below by the photographers aren't particularly positive, lol.

Some gems in the comments:

"no, not joining race to the bottom you just start there! What a load of crap. Photographers dignity, my arse!"

"Whoever made the decision on 30% should be "shot" and fired."

Unlike Getty, they don't have much negotiating power in strong-arming photographers to take this awful deal. Getty had the existing earnings as the carrot and their "don't let the screen door hit you on the way out" stick (they should start a charm school...but I digress). This is more like the situation where iStock wanted to start Vetta for illustrators and offered a terrible deal but allowed an opt out. The illustrators largely opted out so iStock sweetened the pot temporarily.

My guess is that 500px will get few takers with their current offer - they have no track record of sales to make their case with.

Looking at the comments, I find it a little funny that these photographers who were (presumably)  happy to go out and eat the costs of their production for their hobby or whatever are suddenly upset that the amount they would get paid from the licensing isn't enough to cover their outlay.

Looking at the comments, I find it a little funny that these photographers who were (presumably)  happy to go out and eat the costs of their production for their hobby or whatever are suddenly upset that the amount they would get paid from the licensing isn't enough to cover their outlay.

They added them to a site that didnt monetise their assets to begin with, so they probably have a different drive behind creating images.

LOL, what a way to say, you gave us all your images, we are going to monetise them and now we get filthy rich, and take the bigger cut. It should be 70% to the photographer.

And good luck to them dealing with releases.

Given enough time there will be someone that comes across their image being used in some way that will piss them off enough to make a big stink out of it - and with no MR 500 px is going to be in a deep hole.

Looking at the comments, I find it a little funny that these photographers who were (presumably)  happy to go out and eat the costs of their production for their hobby or whatever are suddenly upset that the amount they would get paid from the licensing isn't enough to cover their outlay.

As someone who's at least partially in that category, I'd say the actual amount doesn't affect me, psychologically, as the fact that it's such a small percentage of the sale.  So 500px, fuggedaboudit.

What am I missing here, 500px is giving a higher royalty % than Shutterstock (and iStock for nonexclusives), it's what Offset is paying too and that has been lauded as a great opportunity.  The royalty % doesn't seem to be that bad comparatively does it?

yeah but I don't think they are looking after the "regular" stock pictures, anyway never made much research there

I have a few files on the 500px site from 2012 or something (21 only), they allow 20 pics a week, anyway this prime is a different thing so might worth the look, at this moment only with invitation code

(https://500px.com/upgrade)

just found that I had a 2$ sale back on November 2013

Is there watermark on Free account images?
Protected & private is only for $25 or $75 payed account?

mine is the free one and I have watermark on them (add them myself), buyer got it I believe without, I have both versions uploaded if I remember well

This is from the 500px Prime FAQ as of today:

500px Prime Frequently Asked Questions
Last Updated: Mar 03, 2014 08:32PM EST
What is the difference between Exclusive and non-Exclusive licenses?
​
Exclusive licensing means that only 500px Prime can license the image commercially and you have never licensed this content commercially before. ​Non-Exclusive licensing means you can sell your image to other commercial licensing vendors, or to other commercial buyers or you have licensed it commercially in the past.

​The licenses will start at $250 (USD) and the photographer will receive 70% of each license sold. You can still use your licensed photos for selling fine art prints, self-promotion and for your portfolio.

Which license is better for the Photographer?

Exclusive licensing provides a greater revenue opportunity for the Photographer and exclusive content will be featured more often by 500px. Exclusive content means only 500px can license this photo and you cannot license this photo to any other agency or make it commercially available to anyone else.

While both licenses offer $250 price per photo, an exclusive license can potentially be "bought-out", which is a one time sale of the photo, for several thousand dollars in most cases. Once a photo is bought-out, it can not be sold commercially ever again. The photographer will earn 70% of the buy-out price.

Non-exclusive Licensing is meant for photos that have been licensed in the past, or you want to make available for commercial licensing through other vendors or agencies.
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So - at least for the beta test according to this FAQ copied directly from their site - the photographer gets 70% of the sale.

And licenses start at $250.  Thus, a sale of $250 would net the photographer around $175 US Dollars.

Maybe I'll write to them and ask what I am doing wrong? Do they have a selection process or do they take everything you upload? Edited collection or more like Photoshelter?

It is always nice to be invited and I appreciate it. So I would definetly like to try them out and see what happens.

Obviously 70% of 250 dollars sounds great.

But can they sell?

stocksy is doing a fantastic job and have set a very high bar for what is possible as a start up. And Westend61 is an established Macro House with excellent reputation in Germany.

Problem is they dont have watermarks and huge previews

Quote from: cobalt on March 07, 2014, 16:42

Maybe I'll write to them and ask what I am doing wrong? Do they have a selection process or do they take everything you upload? Edited collection or more like Photoshelter?

It is always nice to be invited and I appreciate it. So I would definetly like to try them out and see what happens.

Obviously 70% of 250 dollars sounds great.

But can they sell?

stocksy is doing a fantastic job and have set a very high bar for what is possible as a start up. And Westend61 is an established Macro House with excellent reputation in Germany.

They do not take everything you upload - they have editors going through the vast 500px photo library and inviting specific photos.  I've had about three dozen photos of mine invited this way.

They sure have a great website and a lot of new venture capital backing according to the Toronto press.  Do they have buyers?  Unknown.

But I'd rather give them a shot then see my stuff devalued at Getty.

Hello Jeff, I am not understanding the process very well and wonder if you would be kind enough to answer a few question I have. I have an old account on 500px with some older photos that have editors choice awards and high popularity. I am no longer active and not set up to sell on the site.

Are you saying that they are going thru images on the site and they are inviting only those images that they choose to participate in the prime site?

Or are they including images in the the prime marketplace that have been added to your store when you enable the store function in your 500px account?