One Red Cent

  Several years ago I was in a conversation with other photographers, back when I would actually have conversations with other photographers, about making a little money on the side with photos that didn't fit within our portfolios. One of the photographers said he used those non-portfolio photos as stock photos on agencies such as Getty, iStock, Shutter Stock, etc. He claimed at one time to make enough from royalties to pay a good portion of his monthly bills, and that Getty would sometime payout hundreds for a single image, but recently that dollar amount has been falling. I figured I had nothing to lose by giving it a try.

  The first agency I tried was Shutter Stock, but after four months I didn't sell one single photo. I deleted the account. Next I tried Getty with their known reputation and higher royalty payouts. Since I was new to them they pawned me off on their other stock photo agency iStock and said that over time I could be moved up to Getty. I agreed and began to upload photos. It didn't take long before my photos began to sell but making even a dollar for a single sale seemed tough. 

  Month after month my photos were selling and I was lucky enough to pay my thirty dollar mobile phone bill. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. But then I began to notice a change that didn't sit well with me; the number of photos sold increased but the payments went down. I also began to look at my invoices more closely and noticed that half of my sales were coming from Getty, the company that owns iStock. But I was still receiving the pittance sum that iStock pays out. I got peeved, and contacted Getty. I explained the situation and asked to be upgraded to a full fledge Getty account, but my request was ignored, several times. And during the next couple of months the royalties per photo fell even further. I had enough!

  The first thing I did was delete my iStock account, which was no easy task that required a few follow up emails. I thought all was good when a month latter I received a royalty payment of twenty cents. Yes, twenty freaking cents. I asked myself how could this be since I deleted my account? I went to iStock and my photos were no where to found, but when I searched on Getty, some of my photos were still listed. After several emails with next to no response, my photos were removed from Getty's listings. Finally, I thought this mess was over. Then.....

  Over the course of the next six months I began to receive royalty payments to PayPay account in sums of six cents each. I was livid! I sent emails that went unanswered. I tried calling, but got nowhere. And then I began to do some investigating. What I found was that Getty/iStock gave permission for Canva to license my photos. They never got my permission to do so. So...I started the process again of contacting Getty, iStock and now Canva to no avail. After a month I finally got a response that said my photos were deleted and they had no idea who gave permission for Canva to use my photos. This response came from Canva. Getty was still ignoring me. Once again I though this scam, this ordeal, was over. But once more I began receiving payments, and now they were down to three cents each. I again reached out and this time I threatened to sue, even though I could not find a lawyer who want to take the case. Finally, finally, it stopped. And for three years there was nothing until last night, when I received a payment from Getty for one fucking cent!!!

FYI - This year Getty has purchased the photo stock company Shutter Stock to create a $3.7 billion dollar company. One that will payout even less.