pretence at being a math genius), this is not too bad. Shutterstock is
one of the top “must subscribe to” libraries, in my view—proof, if
needed, that you can make dollars from cents.
Shutterstock’s nice, clean site is appealing to those who just want
to get on with business, and their FTP upload option helps to make
life easy for photographers who want to upload in bulk.
FOTOLIA
Fotolia’s commission structure is pretty complex, with a number of
variables. The minimum commission is 33% of the sales price for a
nonexclusive image and 50% of the sales price for an exclusive image.
There is no artist exclusivity option on Fotolia.
The percentage commission increases with the photographer’s
ranking, which is based on the total number of downloads. There are
eight levels, ranging from White for a beginner with fewer than 100
downloads to Diamond for a photographer with more than 500,000
downloads. The percentage commission jumps by 2% for each level,
reaching a maximum of 47% at Diamond level. At the time of this
writing, no one has reached Diamond level on Fotolia. These percent-
ages are scaled up for images offered exclusively; add 7% to each
level.
Another factor is the image size, with the number of credits
required to buy an image increasing by size, from one for small
through fi ve for XXL, fi ve for vectors, and more for extended
licenses.
There is an FTP upload option available.
Fotolia’s strong presence in the European market is an undoubted
benefi t to any photographer looking to maximize his or her portfolio’s
exposure to a broader range of buyers. Fotolia has a local presence
in eight countries (United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany,
Spain, Italy, Brazil, and Portugal). It also offers Web sites, key wording,
and customer support in six languages (English, Spanish, French,
German, Italian, and Portuguese). One of the benefi ts is that a pho-
tographer can upload and key word images in his or her native lan-
guage, and, upon acceptance, the key words are automatically
translated into all six languages supported on Fotolia.
Currently, Fotolia has undergone a major database redesign
intended to increase its speed. There have been some spin-off
problems, but it is getting back to normal now. The site is less “tight”
in appearance than Shutterstock’s site, and the Fotolia menu layout
is, I think, frankly bizarre. But Fotolia is a site on the way up, with
a particularly strong European focus, and it has been rated by none
other than Bruce Livingstone of iStockphoto as a threat. Defi nitely
a site to watch.
ROYALTIES AND LICENSES, OR “WHERE IS THE CASH?” 25