Hello all,

Thanks for all of the feedback.  I've already answered some questions in my earlier posts with respect to how we're selecting images for the collection - authentic images with high quality standards, but those that also have a storytelling and narrative quality to them, as well as exceptional art direction and style.   National Geographic is an example of one of our early contributors.

I'd say that any speculation that you're not invited is very premature.   In fact, I believe I've said quite the opposite - it's a little ways off, but the goal is to open up submissions in the future.   

Ultimately, this is another opportunity for you and all artists, which is a great thing.  I'm here to keep you informed as things develop and show you the respect you deserve for your questions and interests.

For this initial beta phase, we're carefully shaping the collection so that unlike other agencies and collections - the exceptional quality and characteristics named above will be very clear to customers and contributors alike.  Shutterstock releases new products in iterative steps and phased approaches - it's never "everything all at once and done" with us - we grow our products, improve, grow, improve, expand the audience, etc...   That's part of our core philosophy and what makes Shutterstock different than many other agencies.  Occasionally, we release bigger products, like our new Spectrum search tool, mobile applications, etc..., but we're continuously iterating on them.

Regarding royalties...we don�t yet offer public submissions so we�re not officially disclosing our royalty structure, but for estimation purposes, you can expect it to be similar to our core business. Shutterstock pays somewhere in the vicinity of 30%. 


Best Regards,


Scott
VP of Content
Shutterstock

 

By "somewhere in the vicinity of 30%" I wonder if he means more like 24%?  Jon has said that Shutterstock pays 30% on average but it's really not, 27% is what Shutterstock and Bigstock pay on average but that number is bolstered by Bigstock paying 50%.  I wouldn't be surprised to see the average royalty rate go down next year as Bigstock customers are moved to subscriptions and away from the 50% royalty rate.  It seems very dishonest for him to say that they pay near 30% when at best it's 27% (if Bigstock got 0% of sales) but likely around 24% if Bigstock accounted for 10% of sales.  That statement would be a bit like Istock claiming they pay somewhere in the vicinity of 45%, maybe it's true for someone but it certainly isn't near the average.