shutterstock

Shutterstock's new tools revamp photo and video search

It's a challenge for anybody selling a wide range of anything online: how do you get the right products in front of the right customers?

Shutterstock, which sells stock-art photos and videos to customers such as ad agencies and PowerPoint presenters, has the matchmaking problem in spades. With 550,000 active customers and more than 23.7 million images, pairing the right buyer with the right photo isn't easy.

Which is why the New York-based company, which went public last October, is retooling how it presents its products to better compete with iStockphoto and other rivals.

Shutterstock has … Read more

Shutterstock buys rival, shifts photo sales strategy

Shutterstock, a "microstock" company that sells royalty-free photographs for relatively low prices over the Internet, has acquired rival BigStockPhoto and a new sales method along with it.

Shutterstock had offered its photographs and videos through a subscription payment plan, but BigStockPhoto sells its individually with credits. Both rely on a large pool of photographers to supply them with stock photography used in everything from corporate PowerPoint presentations to tourist brochures.

"This addition will enable Shutterstock to better satisfy the diverse payment preferences of stock photo buyers worldwide," said Jon Oringer, founder and CEO of Shutterstock, in … Read more

Shutterstock photogs to get press credentials

update Shutterstock, one of a host of "microstock" sites that lets photographers sell stock photography online at low cost, plans to announce a program called Red Carpet that strives to endow its members with press credentials.

"The company will work to facilitate the acquisition of coveted press passes, whether at film premieres, awards shows, concerts or political rallies," the company said in a forum posting on Monday. "While taking steps to secure preferred access for its photographers, Shutterstock will expand its library of celebrity images, a popular category among buyers."

Press passes typically enable … Read more

Shutterstock raises photographers' pay

Shutterstock, a company that sells "stock art" images taken by members of its community, gave its more valuable photographers a raise on Monday.

The company pays photographers 25 cents for each image that a customer downloads. Beginning May 1, founder and Chief Executive Jon Oringer announced Monday, anyone who sells more than $500 worth of images will get 20 percent more per image--30 cents.

Oringer also said his company now has 25 full-time employees.

Shutterstock competes chiefly with Internet-based stock art shops including iStockphoto, Fotolia, Dreamstime, but also with traditional powers including Corbis and Getty Images.

(Via Stock Photo Talk) … Read more