In 2008, a new microstock agency popped up that caught a lot of our attention.  The site’s design was so simple, yet visually pleasing and easy to navigate.  Even the back end for contributors was designed for speed and ease of use.  I’ve been personally selling my images from them from the start, and recently I had an opportunity to interview the team.  I’m sure many will be interested in getting some insight from Yay Micro coming directly from it’s founders and employees.

To give some background information about Yay Micro, they are located in Oslo, Norway.  The company was founded by Jan Ole Kjellesvig, Linda Johannessen and Roger Bystrøm, all former employees at Scandinavia’s largest image agency Scanpix. In January 2009 Oddbjørn Sjøgren replaced Bystrøm as CTO. YAY Micro aims to be the best creative and editorial microstock agency in terms of low price, high quality, a good reputation and a high customer and contributor satisfaction rate. Yay Micro’s vision is to be a leading digital content provider.

Todd: Hey guys!  To start things off, besides Jan, Linda and Bjorn, how many others make up the Yay Micro team?

Yay Micro: The core team in Norway is Jan, Bjørn and myself, Linda. In addition, we have a Chinese office run by Martin and Tormod. People from the China Office are responsible for most of our routine tasks, while the Norwegian office mainly focuses on strategy, sales & marketing as well as system development. When needed we have additional people working for us in Norway, as well as China.

Todd: I’d like to say that Yay is definitely one of the easiest sites to navigate as both a buyer, and a seller.  Was this your original plan, and what did you learn from your experiences in the business prior to opening Yay?

Yay Micro: We get a lot of positive feedback on our design/usability! When we began we knew we had to make the upload process easy for photographers to give us a chance. We got great feedback from the first photographers, and based on this we adjusted the upload process to best suit photographer needs.  The same is true for customers – when we get customer feedback on difficulties we try to adjust our site. In addition, we have a strong interest in usability and clean design. The goal for YAY is that our website is easy to use –for newbees to online shopping, but also for the hyperactive web-user with low, or no, patience. By tracking all movement on the site we’re able to identify problems, and we have several major improvements planned for the next couple of months. (Both for customers and photographers).

Todd: Where do you think you see the stock photography business heading in general, in the next 5-10 years?

Yay Micro: We’re still in the middle of the industry settling into the paradigm shift of the digital era – with the Internet, more affordable, high quality digital cameras and user generated content, growth of RF-licensing and the lack of national boundaries for image agencies.

We can all agree that the largest change for the stock photography industry lately has been the growth of Microstock agencies. And, in the financial climate we have today, with focus on cutting cost in almost all industries, we believe Microstock will continue to grow and dominate the stock photo industry. We also see a future were news and celebrity images, together with microstock, will be the core business for the large stock companies, such as Getty.

For microstock companies I think we’ll see more of footage and audio, as well as other digital content. Some agencies will try to take the place of the traditional stock – as we already see – by making parts of their images more exclusive and sell for a higher price, or they’ll aim for a “midstock” price level. Others will keep true to the original microstock business model with extremely low prices for high quality images.  Nonetheless, there will always be a market for original, quality photos – and these will still manage to get a high price.

Todd: Do you think this low-price model will last, or will the general increase in photo quality and artistry lead to an uprising of the value of the images?

Yay Micro: As mentioned in the previous question, we think some of the microstock agencies will find their place in the low-price range, and others will try to raise their prices, with exclusive or “editors choice”-collections, and also by changing the size/price equation. We don’t expect the increase in technical quality to raise the prices; mostly the customers value the images in numbers (1 image) and the object/content of the photo.  Wasn’t it Yuri who experienced that an upgrade of his photo equipment did not increase his revenue proportionally?

At YAY we don’t have any plans for increased prices.

Todd: With so many microstocks in the industry, a lot of us are pulling for Yay Micro to succeed.  How do you think that Yay will be able to hang with the big boys, so to speak?

Yay Micro: Thank you, we really appreciate all the support we get from both contributors and customers!

We have been a slow, but steady growing company. Too slow some might think, but I like to think of it as the fable “The Tortoise and the Hare”.  We are building a quality company from scratch, and by working long and hard we’ll catch up, and pass, most of our competition.

We try to be an easy to use-site, with a high level of customer support and friendliness. We aim to reach customers looking for an “easy to use”-site, as we see our competitors making it more and more “crowded” at their sites. In addition, we plan to locally adapt the YAY-site to different under-served markets around the world. First of is China, and more will follow in 2010.

It’s important to remember that the stock image market is growing, both from new image users, with converted users from traditional stock agencies and new image markets.  Therefore we don’t have to solely rely on competing for the same customers.

Todd: Why should someone buy from Yay, over another major microstock site that they might already be comfortable with?  What makes Yay Micro stand out from the rest?

Yay Micro: We’re easier to use – and you’ll quickly get comfortable using the site. We have a low price, both for small images €1( = $1.5) and high-res files €10 (= $15.). With our subscription deals you can get a high-res images for as low as €1 (=$1.5).

You’ll also experience a high level of customer support and feedback on your inquiries. And – we pay a fair commission to our photographers and illustrators, with 50% on single image sales and €1 for each image subscription download.

Todd: Are there any current buying trends that perhaps have surprised you?

Yay Micro: Not any in particular. We don’t sell as many vector graphics as we’d thought we would. Given the great quality and variety we’re a bit surprised by this.

Todd: Is the YAY Micro team working on targeting selective world markets at the moment, for example just North America or Europe and Asia?  Or are you trying to expand sales worldwide?

Yay Micro: We began with mainly targeting Norway to gain some experience in a familiar market and with familiar customers. Then we began targeting “the world” in general. In the future we plan to target China, followed by other Asian countries such as India.

Todd: Microstock contributors whether hobbyists or even full-timers are extremely busy people.  The average microstocker probably submits to at least 5-10 different agencies, so their workload is already pretty full.  What would you say to convince a microstock contributor to market their work through Yay?

Yay Micro: The main reasons to join YAY would be the easy of upload, the high commission – and being with a growing company from the start. We also have a forum with some nice photographers, and we try to be an overall good, friendly company. When your business model is based on user generated content it’s important to want, and to have a good relationship with your users. We might not be the biggest or the highest earner, but we’ll do our very best to be a great company to do business with!

Todd: Who is currently the top selling contributor at Yay Micro?

Yay Micro: I don’t have the numbers here with me, but I would guess it would be one of the professional contributors with many files and who has been with us from the start.

Todd: I’d like to thank you for agreeing to do an interview.  I wish Yay Micro all the best and lots of future growth for years to come.

Yay Micro: Thank you for showing an interest in YAY.  If anyone reading this has  a comment or a question, feel free to contact us at post@yaymicro.com, or e-mail one of us directly on: Linda@yaymicro.com, Bjorn@yaymicro.com and Jan@yaymicro.com. If there are any questions in the comments we’ll try our best to answer!

Follow YAY Micro on twitter @Yaymicro or become a fan on facebook

I just feel like ranting this fine morning.

Has microstock devalued the industry? Sure it has. What once was a $500 photo sale has now turned into a $5 or even 50 cent photo sale.  But in general, the internet as well as digital photography have devalued the industry.  There are even websites being set up where people are posting links to our images, to download for free. One idiot buys them, and then shares them with the rest of the dishonest people that actually take part in the plundering and looting.  There’s really no stopping it, either.  There are contributors that can live comfortably off of a microstock income in many countries around the world.  Do you think these ones give a crap about devaluing the stock industry? Definitely not; they’re probably making a better living than they ever could before.

Traditional and old school photographers can sit around and whine about how much it sucks, or they can adapt to market trends.  Or, stay out of stock altogether.  Sure there’s still a market for macro stock, mid-stock, and rights managed. I personally dabble in a little of each.  Yes it’s nice when I make a photo sale for $400, but honestly if I relied just on those types of sales I wouldn’t be making enough to pay the bills.  Those sales for myself are few and far in between, compared to microstock sales, which are steady and in general, pretty reliable. Overall, the numbers for the rights managed and macro stocks are on the decline.  Getty was smart to acquire istockphoto (and they even recently bought stockxpert from Jupiter) so obviously they are trying to gain back their market share whatever ways possible.

Stock is only just one tiny corner of this incredible industry.  I started as a graphic designer, and even in that field it’s the same way.  You can focus on all sorts of corners of the creative industry…just pick one you enjoy doing the most, and obviously one you can pay the bills with.  If you can juggle a variety of things without trying to heat 6 pans on 4 burners, then go for it.  There are a lot of ways to make money in this business.  We can’t change how the market is, but we can fortunately pick and choose which areas we want to try and compete in.

It never ceases to amaze me…lately whenever I’m traveling every soccer mom, teenager, and senior citizen is rocking a DSLR of some sort.  If not a DSLR, then a state of the art point and shoot.  The technology is here, and it’s getting cheaper.  It’s so available, there is going to be a lot of competition in the future.  Thankfully for us there is a heck of a lot more to know in this business than just buying a camera and pressing the shutter.  BUT then comes the internet and google…where you can learn anything you want in a matter of minutes.  Maybe we’re all screwed

How long do you personally feel this microstock wave will last? A lot changes have happened in this business.  Agencies have come and gone, and there have been some buyouts and mergers.  I’ve been selling microstock for just 4 years now, and there have been changes galore.  The question is…how long will this microstock wave last? Will it continue the way it is for years to come, or will it eventually get to the point where it’s not even worth the time?  What do you guys think?  If anyone is reading this – I’d love to hear your predictions.

So, you wonder if you can make any money selling your images online.  I wondered the same thing, back when I was a full time graphic designer.  I was purchasing hundreds of stock photos for use in my designs. Then I thought, “Hey – why can’t I sell my own photos?”. Professional stock photo collections can cost anywhere from $200-$500 per disc, with single shots costing anywhere from $80-$200 themselves. It’s thrilling to find places online where you can purchase high-res, professional quality images at a fraction of that price. In the past 5 or 6 years there has been a boom in the microstock photography and royalty free stock footage business.

Which stock photo agencies are worthwhile?
Trying to see which site sells more images than the next is tricky.  There are a lot of elements involved, and it seems like sales figures fluctuate from month to month amongst the micro sites.  Factors like portfolio size, photo types, site search engines, and even categorization all play a part.  All I can do is give you my best sites – the ones that I personally think are worth my time to upload to. Below are the links to my top-selling sites – sign up, and try them out. Then you can make your own conclusions.

Shutterstock

iStockPhoto

BigStockPhoto

Dreamstime

StockXpert

Fotolia

123 Royalty Free

CanStockPhoto

Featurepics

Crestock

PantherMedia

MostPhotos

Veer Marketplace

Alamy

YAYmicro

ScanStockPhoto

Cutcaster

GraphicLeftovers.com

Everyone creates different types of art, and some of it is very marketable.  Some has high commercial value, while a lot does not.  It might look great, and you might want to make a print of it for your grandmother, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to be able to make enough money to make a living.  How do you know how well you’ll do?  You have to try it for yourself.  Then make your own conclusions. This is definitely not a get rich quick scheme.  You will “get back” out of stock photography, what you “put into it”.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the blog at the upper right of this page. If you are interested in one-on-one consulting regarding your microstock efforts, contact me for further info. 

If you’ve just read the Learn the Trade post and are thirsting for more juicy goodness on this stock game, here is something I threw together really quick for someone that just contacted me on another forum.

Is it Difficult to Get Started?

It’s not hard to get started, but it’s a lot to learn when it comes to quality. You basically have to stick to shooting at ISO 100/200 to avoid too much noise, and still have to noise filter all of your images most of the time with NeatImage or other noise filtering software.  If you’re fortunate enough to own a full frame sensor, you can sometimes get away with shooting ISO 800 and up.  Stock standards are way higher than print or wedding/event photography standards.  At this point in the game, it’s getting pretty competitive.  Shutterstock alone adds 10,000+ new images each week to their collection.  Even if 100 of those are yours, you’re doing pretty well if you’re selling any of those in that first week when it comes to the odds you’re up against.

What Kind of Camera Do I Really Need?
I’d recommend definitely using a DSLR at least 6-8mp despite what I’ve stated earlier about only needing a 3mp point and shoot.  Microstock is becoming highly competitive, and as point and shoots have come a long way, they are nothing in comparison to a DSLR with a larger sensor (I’m not talking megapixels, I’m talking the actual sensor size.)  The larger the sensor is, the better the quality of the image is going to be.  Don’t be fooled by the “15 megpixels is better than 10″ line of reasoning that the Best Buy sales kid is going to feed you.  IQ (image quality) all depends on the camera.

How Much Money Will You Make Right Off the Bat?

Some of the more successful photogs make about $1 per approved image per month on average.  Others make much less…it all depends on whether or not what you have is of any value to a designer or ad agency.  Shooting stock is an entirely different mindset than most of standard portrait or glamory stuff, if you know what I mean.  Don’t feel bad if you make peanuts your first month.  We all shoot differently, and all of us are on different skill levels.  Don’t try and compare yourself to others.

What About Shooting Models?
I don’t mess around with charging people for prints or shoot, as everything I do is just TFCD (Time for CD) shoots and the images pay for it in the long run. That’s the cool thing about stock.  You do the work and then you continue to make money off your past work.  It just builds and builds and then later on snowballs into a nice income.  Don’t forget that you need signed model release of all recognizable people in your images in order to legally sell them.  The agencies won’t even look twice at them without this.  Yuri Arcurs has an awesome blog site with some universal model releases that are accepted on every agency.

What Sells the Best?

You really never know what will sell – you just have to experiment.  There are all sorts of subjects, theme, styles that sell like crazy.  Just about anything and everything will eventually sell.  I have a shot of a chicken isolated over white that sells like crazy.  Just get ideas from other people, and then do your own thing – try searching some of the sites and sort by most popular.  Look at magazine ads, even TV commercials or the menus on your video games.  You can get ideas about what a buyer is looking for everywhere you look.  Media is all around us.  Don’t forget to try and research what hasn’t been over-done to death.  Find some nice niches that other contributors haven’t capitalized on yet.

Want to Thank Me?

People thank me a lot in emails and comments for all of the helpful information in a simple and easy to follow format.  I really appreciate that, and I’m glad to help.  I was once in your same shoes!  I don’t ask for donations, and I don’t sell ad space on this site.  I do believe in sharing helpful information like this with fellow artists, just as many have shared tips and tricks with myself.  If you want to show your appreciation for the time that went into this site, make sure you sign up to the micros through the links on the Learn the Trade page.  That way I might be able to make a few cents off of your referral when you sell an image (: