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 a statement Wednesday.

The sites will be operated separately for now at least, though, so customers and photographers shouldn't notice any immediate difference. Shutterstock plans to expand BigStockPhoto's global presence.

Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

The microstock market has been consolidating. Getty Images, a longtime player in the stock photography market, acquired iStockphoto years ago and in February bought rival Jupiter Images, too, which operated a microstock site called StockXpert.

For an enlightening chart of the relative portfolio size of various microstock companies, check this Microstock Diaries post on the BigStockPhoto acquisition.

[shycelticwitch]

Used to use all of those stock sites, now belong to a local co-op of photographers and designers who feel like they got the shaft when Getty took over iStock and raised prices by 300%. Do a little research, and I'll bet you can find a co-op like ours in your area too. We share our own photos and artwork, and much of it is far better than what you get on the stock sites. I am all for everyone making a decent living off what they do, but too many of these smaller sites are letting capitalist jerks like Getty take over and make them unsuitable for the average small business budget.