Micropayment, Look Out . . .

Stock Asylum Staff Report
May 11, 2007

Free high-quality photos for minor uses?

Well, not yet. But this is one possible result of an experiment SuperStock will launch with Pixsy, a web-based search engine that aggregates images from a number of sources.

The two companies soon will introduce three targeted web sites featuring SuperStock images. When the sites launch in a few weeks, they will be for viewing images only.

But, with these new sites, SuperStock clearly is considering the possibility that third-party advertising could replace licensing fees usually paid by image users who want photos for modest applications like personal web sites and PowerPoint presentations.

If the experiment goes that far, SuperStock could undercut even the micropayment web sites, which charge very low fees for royalty-free photos produced by amateur photographers and entry-level professionals.

SuperStock would be pulling images from its collection of 1.4 million images, most of which were produced by professional stock shooters.

The company said the first three web sites will contain fine art, travel photos and contemporary creative imagery from the SuperStock and Ingram Publishing collections. It is possible additional web sites with different subject matter will be uploaded later.

"I think this kind of approach is going to lead us down the path to a number of interesting business models," said Philip Garfinkle, executive chairman of a21, SuperStock's parent company.

"I do think we are seeing an increase in the casual usage of stock photography," Garfinkle noted. "I'm optimistic that this kind of approach could end up creating a way for the consumer to get used to using stock photography."

According to Garfinkle, SuperStock editors are already sifting through the company's collections to find appropriate images. He said chosen images "might be of the same quality and professionalism (as those on the regular SuperStock site), but not necessarily the same images."

While there might be some crossover from the company's royalty-free collections, it is highly unlikely that rights-managed work will be included in the new libraries, Garfinkle said. Web site browsers will see thumbnails on the new web sites, but larger versions of the images will be a click away on the SuperStock web site.

Even if SuperStock eventually offers free imagery, the company will not be the first to give away usage rights to photos. Stock.xchange, a site owned by Jupiterimages, provides 250,000 user-created free images. Some micropayment web sites also offer limited numbers of free images.

Noting that segmentation in the stock industry is confusing some image users, Garfinkle said SuperStock is trying to create "some very simple segmentation that can add some clarity to how images can be searched and used on the web."

"The lines are becoming more and more blurred by these microstock sites because they are starting to move upstream. We're going to provide very clear segmentation so the folks who are used to buying images have clear choices and those who aren't used to it are provided some business models that allow them to use images casually."

The SuperStock web site is at: http://www.superstock.com.

Pixsy is at: http://www.pixsy.com.

Stock.xchange is at: http://www.sxc.hu.