Are we talking pounds or dollar?
But it is an interesting shift in the microstock market isn't it?
First of all, according to the anti-microstock brigade (i.e. photographers complaining that their personal sales would suffer as a result of a new market), It was supposed to be microstock that would be their eventual demise. And according to them, the big companies would suffer as a result.
Well it was only a matter of time before the big boys moved in really.
The next development is what do Getty intend to do now they have acquired istock. On istock they say they still have full autonomy over everything. But surely Getty must have some say.. $50 million worth of say in fact.
So will things stay the same???
NO WAY!
So what will change I wonder. I see it as going one of two ways...
Either, Getty will fully support the model but they'll make sure that more and more profits go to them which in the long run will be detrimental to the photographers profits and they will also start to hike up minimum requirements in terms of file size, quality etc. which will force out the thousands of amateurs and hobbyists, in fact the very people that built the microstock revolution.
They will also demand exclusivity from their photographers and use that to force another ever so slight increase in price until the boundaries between microstock and traditional prices become blurred to the point of non existence...
I'm also taking an educated guess that the recent price rise at istock is not entirely unrelated to the Getty's acquisition.
or
The big companies will attempt buy up all of the major microstock sites completely and wipe them out.
Now what's this site worth to them I wonder...?
10, maybe $20 lol
