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VideoBlocks will now sell stock photography, with an artist-friendly twist

The marketplace operates off subscriptions and will give photographers 100 percent of their sales.

We're talking high quality stock photography. (Courtesy photo)

VideoBlocks, the Reston-based purveyor of stock video, announced Monday that it has expanded to launch a new stock photography marketplace.

Similarly to the video marketplace, the new Photo Marketplace will grant photographers who sell their work on the platform 100 percent of the commission. This is a contrast to other popular stock photography sites, which generally take a commission of around 50 percent on each photo sold. VideoBlocks makes it work by earning money off subscriptions (it currently has around 200,000 members) instead of sales.

It’s something founder Joel Holland is excited about — the opportunity to do right by the artists. Low prices on stock imagery is great for buyers, he said, but its squeezing photographers. “Someone has to step in and make it more fair,” he said.

And that someone, now, is VideoBlocks. Holland told Technical.ly that the idea has been in the works for the past year. As a company, VideoBlocks is devoted to polling its customers on things they could be doing better, Holland said. And over the years the company found users saying, again and again, that they were using other services for stock photography but would be up to use VideoBlocks should it offer still photos as well as video clips.

And really, Holland said, the VideoBlocks model for stock photography sales is a win-win for buyers and sellers. Because the photographer gets 100 percent of the commission, they are able to offer the photos for lower prices and still make sure the photographers are earning more on each photo sold.

Again, VideoBlocks surveyed users to determine the ideal price point — $3.99 per image. Holland is also hoping the new marketplace will bring in photographers with high-quality stock photos they’ve been withholding from competitors because of the cost of traditional commission.

The Photo Marketplace will join VideoBlocks’ existing video marketplace, graphics marketplace (called GraphicStock) and music marketplace (called AudioBlocks) and Holland hinted that there could be more to come.

“This is kind of a continued progression,” he said. “Our goal is to be the one-stop shop for every artist’s need.”

Companies: StoryBlocks
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