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iStock Royalties Changes
Weve got some important and positive news to share with you about changes to your royalties including:
Redeemed Credits retirement of the current system at the end of 2016.
Exclusive royalty rates new tiered system based on downloads (including subscription downloads and downloads on GI.com), effective January 1, 2017.
Non-exclusive royalty rates retirement of tiering in favor of flat rates per file type, scheduled to be effective November 25, 2016.
Flat subscription download rates replacement with a percentage royalty based on the price per file, scheduled to be effective November 25, 2016.
All of the changes are designed to produce a simpler, more transparent system that accounts for the growth of subscription and sales across Getty Images and rewards Exclusivity.
Redeemed Credits
The Redeemed Credits (RC) system was intended to encourage contributors to submit fresh, high quality content and deliver increasing royalty rates as credit thresholds against the content were met. With the growth of subscription products and the expanded licensing from gettyimages.com, a credit-only system no longer reflects the wider performance of content.
Exclusive iStock Royalty Rates
The Redeemed Credit system will be retired at the end of 2016 and replaced with a Download Target system to reward our Exclusive contributors, as follows:
Consistent with current rates, exclusive rates will start at 25% with the potential to reach 45%.
iStock.com rates will be determined based on the total annual downloads for each file type; across all iStock and Getty Images sales channels and products (excluding Thinkstock and API).
Every Signature+ file downloaded on iStock.com will count twice towards your Download Target.
We are creating a new Signature+ collection for Illustration files. These files will also count twice towards your Download Target.
Download Target royalty rates will be applied to all iStock downloads credits and subscriptions.
Timeline for Download Targets
As in the past, you will begin 2017 at the rate at which you ended 2016.
Annual Download Targets for upcoming year will be announced in Q4 of each year, with the targets for 2017 being announced before the end of 2016.
Your earned rate, based on previous year targets, comes into effect on January 1st of each year.
Earned rate increases for those who reach a new target level within the year will begin at the start of the following month after that level has been attained.
The download rates for 2017 will be modeled on 2016 tier data, with the intention that the royalty rate tiers are comparable.
These changes will better reward Exclusive contributors for their performance in subscription products, and, in total, will result in iStock paying over a million dollars more in royalties during 2017.
Non-Exclusive iStock Royalty Rates
Scheduled to be effective November 25, 2016, were moving to flat rates for non-Exclusive content; 15% for Photo files and 20% for Video and Illustration. Due to system cutover constraints, we need to migrate to this rate in two stages, moving to the 15% flat rate for subscription downloads from November 25 and then moving to the 15% flat rate for credit downloads on December 1. As a result, youll continue to receive your current percentage for credit downloads up until November 30.
iStock Subscription Download Rates
For both Exclusive and Non-Exclusive artists, iStock.com flat subscription download rates will be replaced. Schedule to be effective November 25, 2016 a subscription price per file (PPF) value will be calculated based on the price the customer paid for the subscription divided by the number of files downloaded against the subscription. Your royalty rate will be applied to the PPF.
For example, if a customer had a Signature 100 image subscription for which they paid $299 per month and they downloaded 50 images, we would divide $299 by 50 to give a $5.98 PPF. This would result in a contributor royalty of $1.50, assuming a 25% rate.
If a customer bought an Essentials 100 image subscription for $149 and they downloaded 50 images, the PPF would be $2.98 per file. Assuming a 15% royalty, you would receive $0.45.
This method means you will always earn your royalty percent against a subscription download regardless of the specific subscription a customer purchased or how many downloads they made. If a customer downloads fewer files from their subscription you will earn more due to the higher PPF, with no maximum payments established. We are also implementing a minimum PPF as a safety net for when customers fully utilize their subscription download caps. Those minimums are as follows:
Category Minimum PPF Example royalty % Example royalty payment
Non-Exclusive $0.10 15% $0.02
Exclusive: Essentials/Signature $0.75 35% $0.26
Exclusive: Signature+ $4.15 35% $1.45
Gettyimages.com Royalty Rates
Royalty rates for all iStock content sold on gettyimages.com (GI Sales and API) will continue to be paid as follows:
Exclusive Non-Exclusive
Photo 20% 15%
Illustration 20% 15%
Video 25% 20%
Summary
Were sharing these changes with you well in advance and also announcing them together so that you can see them in context. As mentioned above, the changes will result in us paying over a million dollars of additional royalties, while reducing complexity, increasing transparency and rewarding those who contribute high-quality exclusive content.
We are working hard to meet all of the scheduled dates mentioned above, but as with any technology project, delays are possible. If anything changes, well let you know as soon as we can.
We will update the Rate Card available on
www.istockphoto.com/in/help/sell-stock/rate-schedule effective November 25, 2016 to reflect all of the changes above. To see the Rate Card that will be effective November 25, 2016, please click here.
Many thanks
The iStock team
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