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Page 12 of 14
Pressure To Engage
The squeeze has definitely been on photographers from a number of fronts to “diversify” into RF. Content developers and distributors, along with some RF photographers and industry “pundits” are all urging photographers to shoot RF. According to them “RF is an opportunity to seize or lose”.
For example, Picture magazine - extensively read by emerging professionals and students - recently ran an feature article on stock which describes RF as “the profitable business model of the day” and credits several successful shooters for recognizing that the RF business model is “not to be feared or avoided, but embraced and developed.” The message is summed up in the title: “Smiling All the Way to the Bank.”
Another example is an online advice columnist called “Ask Mr. Smarty” who offers a sound put-down to any stock photographer who resists the RF offer:
“The old-timers would have you believe that choosing whether or not to produce RF is a moral issue...IT’S NOT...it’s a BUSINESS decision. In just over a decade RF has already reached a point where it probably accounts for at least half of all the stock industry’s revenue. It ain’t going away, and while the dinosaurs who refuse to change with the times keep their heads buried in the sand, I personally know of several photographers who are laughing at them all the way to the bank.”
The message to photographers is that the RF “business decision” is an easy one and blithely glosses over the hard facts and concerns that SAA is addressing in this Paper. Furthermore, this kind of name-calling poisons an already stressful business environment, and disrespects the business decisions of fellow professionals.
Royalty Free is a “sore subject” within the photography community and has led to such heated debate because most stock photographers – along with many other industry professionals - are uncomfortable on some level with the RF business model.
It is a harsh reality for stock photographers that Royalty Free is such a firmly entrenched business model for both stock users and stock distributors. RF clearly had a detrimental (and divisive) effect on stock photographers and diminished their ability to profit from their images.
SAA’s position on the Royalty Free proposition to photographers is frankly expressed in one of our SAA Issue Posters:
“You are invited to accept a much lower share of royalties, lose control over your images and your ability to maximize profits from your work. Welcome to the RF business model. Royalty Free licenses give your stock distributor most of the revenues while lowering their overhead with standard pricing, no rights control and e-commerce sales. RF gives the stock buyers your images for any use, anytime, anywhere, forever”.
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