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October, 2004

OnRequest Images "Custom Stock"

Photo Trade Associations Speak Out on "Custom Stock" & its Future Impact on Assignment Photography - PDF

Recently, a new business model for acquiring professional photography has sprung up. It's based on asking multiple photographers to shoot on spec for the same assignment, without any obligation for the client to buy. This takes the already dubious business practice of "spec" shooting and turns it into something even more dubious - "competitive spec."

A company called OnRequest Images has coined the term "custom stock" to describe this business model, which it is promoting to clients as a better alternative to both assignment and stock.

"OnRequest Images Custom Stock service combines the creativity and quality typically associated with custom photo shoots with the speed, usability and accessible pricing of stock photography." - OnRequest Web site

By acting as the middleman, OnRequest makes it easier for clients to ask for something from photographers that they would never dare ask directly. OnRequest tells clients that "the selected photographers (up to 5) compete for your business by shooting the same assignment simultaneously." What client would ask, not just one, but multiple photographers to shoot for them "on spec" for a project?

While OnRequest acknowledges to clients that photographers are competing for the same assignment, it positions itself to photographers as an enhanced stock opportunity. It appeals to photographers by asserting that it creates stock, that it tells photographers "exactly what stock the clients need" and helps them "create stock that sells." By always positioning its deal to photographers as a stock opportunity, OnRequest seeks to make the idea of "competitive spec" shooting palatable to photographers who want to get into stock, or stock photographers looking for new opportunities.

By calling itself a stock company, OnRequest tries to make its 50/50 split with photographers sound generous by today's stock standards. But look closely at the terms of its deal with photographers. OnRequest is not acting as a stock distributor in these transactions, but rather as an artist's representative between its clients and contributors. That makes it the only artist's rep making a 50 percent commission -- more than twice the compensation that an artists' rep generally receives.

There is, we agree, one basis upon which the OnRequest can legitimately call itself a stock company: Those spec images will eventually go into the OnRequest stock library. Therefore, we must consider what kind of opportunity this company presents for stock distribution. In particular, we must ask:

Will clients perceive a company that is positioned as producing images "on request" as a source for stock images?  How marketable is a stock collection based on many similar images, all created for very specific client assignments?

Moreover, OnRequest faces a stiff challenge as yet another startup that must compete against a crowded field of established stock distributors with developed collections and clients. So photographers evaluating this business model need to assess the potential profitability of stock representation by OnRequest relative to these other alternatives.

OnRequest has every right to promote its business model to clients and to try to persuade photographers that "competitive spec" is a great business proposition. But we have little doubt that, if this business model thrives, the long-term impact on assignment photography will be negative.

We urge every assignment and stock photographer to carefully evaluate the terms of this and any business proposition to determine if it is in their best interests now and in the future.

The analysis and positions contained in this statement were independently reached, and are supported by:

• StockArtistsAlliance - SAA
• American Society of Media Photographers - ASMP
• Advertising Photographers of America - APA
• Professional Photographers of America - PPA
• Editorial Photographers - EP
  
  

This debate is reprinted courtesy of PDN Online.

November, 2004 Point-Counterpoint: The Two Sides Debate The "Custom" Stock Photography Model

Of all the new business models being tried in the stock photography business (see "Hard Sell: Stock Sellers Try New Licensing Options," PDN, December '04), the most controversial is OnRequest Images, the relatively new agency which provides "custom" stock, shot on spec by photographers to fulfill client requests.

Now both sides square off. David Norris, CEO of OnRequest, presents what he sees as the pros for both photographers and creatives. The counterpoint comes from Eugene Mopsik of the American Society of Media Photographers and Betsy Reid of Stock Artists' Alliance. We gave them extra space for rebuttals.

Point: Custom Stock Benefits Photographers
By David Norris, OnRequest Images

In the creative world of professional photography, business dynamics have changed dramatically over the past 20 years. With the advent of stock photography, creative professionals had a great new tool, but photographer's lives were changed forever. Clients began selecting stock images for certain projects, rather than hiring photographers, and stock has now grown to a $2 billion industry.

Some photographers embraced stock, others rejected it, many simply ignored it and continued to do assignment work as always. Many of the early stock photographers are now receiving royalty checks each quarter and are "in the money," while many assignment photographers are struggling to keep their businesses alive. For professional photographers, ignoring new business trends has proven to be a dangerous practice and the lessons have been learned hard and deep.

Shooting Stock - the Past...

Traditionally, stock agency art directors would give direction to hundreds of photographers about trends and anticipated needs of customers for future purchases. Based on this information, photographers would spend their time and money, shooting stock on spec, with the hope that a stock agency would accept their images and that someday, a customer would do a search for just the right keyword and would find their image and possibly license it. This traditional method for creating and marketing stock has been in practice for over 30 years and puts all of the cost and risk for creating stock images on the photographer side, with no guarantee that any customer will ever actually need the images that the art director is specifying.

Custom Stock - The New Model

Custom Stock, a new business model for photography, is customer-focused and allows customers to directly request the stock images that they need and provides photographers with both a detailed description as well as usage and pricing information, before the shooting ever begins. Using the request information provided by customers who have immediate needs for the specific images, OnRequest Images works closely with photographers to produce stock images that are presented to customers within 48 to 72 hours. Photographers enjoy the benefits of getting stock specifications directly from a customer and then having their images presented to the customer with that specific need within 48 to 72 hours.

The Custom Stock model provides value to both experienced stock photographers as well as to photographers that are interested in getting into the stock business. While shooting stock on spec is a foreign concept for many assignment photographers, stock shooters know that building stock as a product has many long-term benefits including quarterly royalty checks and name recognition.

In the past, pro shooters who wanted to shoot stock were faced with a complex and difficult set of issues that have prevented many photographers from entering the world of stock photography. These issues have included: not knowing what to shoot or what will sell; having to shoot on spec and absorb expenses for models, equipment, stylists, props, etc; shooting with little or no art direction; time and money required for post-shoot processing; editing, keywording, and filing copyright registrations; and finding and negotiating appropriate distribution channels.

This situation has caused many photographers to become frustrated with stock photography, mostly because they have spent their time "guessing and praying"--guessing what to shoot and praying it will sell. Many photographers never market their valuable images because the process takes too much time and results in too little money.

Custom Stock - A Better Way to Shoot Stock

OnRequest Images has solved this problem, by providing photographers with its Custom Stock Solution--a complete, end-to-end solution for photographers that want to shoot stock more efficiently and cost effectively. With the Custom Stock Solution, photographers receive requests directly from advertising agencies and corporations, with detailed descriptions of the images they need to buy now.

OnRequest Images' Custom Stock Solution provides a complete suite of resources to assist its network of photographers in creating great stock images, including:

• Detailed customer requirements
  
  
• Recommendations for valuable stock variations
  
  
• Easy access to models, equipment rental, and props
  
  
• Assistance from OnRequest's staff with locating models, props, locations, casting calls, and many of the time consuming tasks that eat up a photographer's time and profits
  
  
• Post processing including editing and retouching
  
  
• Keywording
  
  
• Filing (including all fees) of registered copyrights in photographer's name
  
  
• Distribution of accepted stock images to stock agencies
  

The Custom Stock Solution has made it much easier for photographers to shoot and make money from their images. OnRequest Images invests in shooting stock with our photographers, we both have skin in the game and we are both eager to make sure the images sell.

Counterpoint: Custom Stock Harms Photographers
By Euguene Mopsik, Executive Director ASMP, with Betsy Reid, Executive Director, the Stock Artists' Alliance.

There's no doubt that as OnRequest Images states, "in the creative world of professional photography, business dynamics have changed dramatically over the past 20 years." Much of that change has been experienced in the market and business of stock photography--consolidation of agencies, manner of image sale and distribution, emergence of Royalty Free versus Rights Managed imagery, and the erosion of the client/agent relationship. What has not changed is that stock photography is about licensing pre-shot images, not about hiring photographers. Stock photography is not custom anything! It is about fulfilling a client need from existing files.

OnRequest describes its model by saying it is "customer-focused," allowing customers to directly request the images they need, and it "provides photographers with both a detailed description as well as usage and pricing information" before the shoot ever begins. If this sounds familiar, it's because this is the definition of an assignment shoot, not a stock shoot. What is unique about the OnRequest model is that it offers clients up to FIVE photographers to compete for the same job, all shooting on spec and delivering the job within 48 to 72 hours with no guarantee of fees or reimbursement for expenses. This goes well beyond being "customer focused" to completely ignoring the interests of the image creators.

All of the images produced then become part of the OnRequest "stock" file. The likelihood of making many direct licenses from a stock library composed of groups of images from different photographers all shot to the same narrow concept and specification is very limited. Beyond this, why would a client license a "stock" image from this company when they can have a "custom" image for the same price?

OnRequest is apparently looking for other distribution channels to market these images and just this week announced in the press that Alamy has become their "distribution partner." Are OnRequest's contributors aware that any professional photographer can directly market their own stock images through Alamy? Photographers need to assess the value of sharing half of the licensing revenues with a middleman such as OnRequest when distribution channels such as Alamy and other portals are directly open to them.

OnRequest claims to take the guesswork out of stock photography by supplying photographers with "requests directly from advertising agencies and corporations, with detailed descriptions of the images they need to buy now."

This is not "market information," but rather, what until now, would be called an assignment description .

Furthermore, it is misleading to suggest that shooting to one client's specific layout would be a smart strategy for creating "stock" images. Experienced stock shooters know that these kinds of "needs lists," which have been provided to them for years by stock agencies, are rarely the basis for producing the most marketable and thus successful stock images. In fact, the opposite is more often true as these requests tend to be more specific to one client's need rather than applicable to a broad number of client needs - which is what stock is all about.

The fact of the matter is that OnRequest is acting primarily as a photographer's rep and not as stock agency. But this is not simply any rep! This rep gets 50 percent of the gross while you pay the expenses and they retain control over future licenses.

The OnRequest business model is very enticing to clients, offering the first time use of original photography for the price of stock. OnRequest is engaging in a very aggressive program of partnering with various stock agencies, other image consumers, and trade related suppliers in an effort to create value from their service. Make no mistake that this model is real and will be imitated.

The degree of success to be experienced by OnRequest and other purveyors of the custom stock model depends upon you, the working publication photographer. OnRequest has every right to promote its business model to clients and to try to persuade photographers that "competitive spec" is a great business proposition. But ASMP -- along with our fellow trade organizations -- has little doubt that, if this model thrives, the long-term impact on assignment photography will be negative. We urge all working publication photographers to carefully evaluate the terms of this and any other business proposition to determine if it is in their best interests now and in the future. The business models available to professional photographers today are fraught with challenges, but solutions are not found in devaluing assignment photography and promoting yet another overgenerous stock business proposition to clients.

Finally, let's make one thing clear: OnRequest - through good marketing, arguments based on logical fallacies, and pandering to the fears of independent creators - is contributing to the further erosion of the assignment market.

See it for what it is.

Rebuttal: Norris Responds

The nature of stock photography and assignment photography is changing. OnRequest Images is building a new model that combines the best processes and benefits of both stock and assignment photography. We all understand that change can be challenging for some, but it's important to recognize that change is fundamental to the evolution of the industry.

The photographers currently working with OnRequest Images have found shooting Custom Stock to be lucrative and professionally satisfying. We're providing a unique opportunity for creating stock imagery that is based on a new level of input from image buyers. Photographer feedback indicates that knowing what customers are looking for in advance, rather than guessing, is a tremendous benefit.

Categorizing stock and assignment as purely different entities is an old school way of thinking. Getting caught up in semantics misses the point that the Custom Stock model is emerging and is just one of many innovations that will continue to transform this industry.

Photographers embrace business models that allow them to focus on creating great work, while generating significant revenue. OnRequest Images treats its photographers very well and takes every effort to support their success. We remain dedicated to creating a new and practical business model.

Rebuttal: from ASMP and SAA

Associations such as ASMP and SAA are taking a leadership role in educating and re-orienting photographers in regard to the new and evolving opportunities with stock and assignment photography. We are the ones taking the bigger more objective view, looking at the short and long term consequences of various business models and trying to assist photographers with their evaluations. We do this without financial interest in any particular business model and as part of our objective mission to protect and promote the interests of working publication photographers.

Let's cut through all of the semantics and see this "custom stock" model for what it really is: competitive spec assignment photography. OnRequest acts as an assignment rep who takes 50 percent of the fees! We believe that this business model is not in the best long-term interests of publication photographers and that it will have a negative effect on both true stock and assignment photography.

ASMP would like to thank PDN and its editors for providing this forum to speak straightforwardly and candidly about this "custom stock" model; it is important that it be openly discussed and its terms clarified.

Read SAA's statement about "Custom Stock".