Crestock increases royalties for authors

Since the photo bank Crestock was acquired by Masterfile in July 2010, many changes have occurred. The new owner has brought consistency to this business and the photo site, provided stability to payments, and brought in responsive people to support authors and address all inquiries without delays.

However, many issues remain that require improvement. The most pressing of these is the question of increasing image sales volumes and return on investment. Work in these areas is still ongoing.

So, what new features have been implemented at Crestock? Let’s start with two important innovations necessary for all authors. More details about these changes are described in the updated Crestock Agreement with Authors of Uploaded Images.

Increased Royalties for Image Sales

New photo bank rates will be calculated using a progressive method based on the total number of an author’s sales on Crestock since they started working with the photo bank:

• Until these changes, royalties were capped at 30% and $0.25.
• Now the calculation of the total number of sales has changed to include subscription sales, so you can reach a new tier faster. Initially, the possibility of moving to a new level was calculated solely from the number of image sales under a single license, excluding subscription image sales from the calculation.

Crestock Collection Added to Masterfile.com

Starting November 9, the Crestock image collection will live independently on Masterfile.com. This is a trial step to determine whether Crestock images can increase image sales on Masterfile while simultaneously raising the royalty amounts for authors.

Meanwhile, a development and promotion system for Crestock.com is also being developed. By offering authors of the photo bank the ability to sell images under two licensing systems, the new owners expect an increase in image sales for Crestock authors.

What is Masterfile?

Founded in 1981, Masterfile is now an established stock image seller with offices in Toronto, Düsseldorf, London, Milan, and Paris, and independent representatives in over 100 countries.

Searching on the Masterfile website is available in six languages: English, German, Italian, French, Spanish, and Portuguese, and financial transactions are conducted in multiple currencies. Masterfile’s business is based solely on direct work with advertising agencies, designers, corporate marketing departments of large companies, and editorial publications.

Masterfile is not a microstock, as most of its income comes from direct contact between clients and sellers, using contracts and invoices rather than interactive credit card transactions.

This is a business that involves a higher level of personal service. Nevertheless, the popularity of microstocks cannot be denied, even among its largest clients, and Masterfile wants to meet the needs of all its customers.

During the trial period, images from the Crestock collection will be offered on Masterfile.com only in low quality for websites and mobile versions. Larger files will be provided to Masterfile clients upon request.

Images from all Crestock authors will be included in the Crestock collection on Masterfile. The Crestock collection on Masterfile.com will be presented in a separate tab titled “$10 RF” (or the equivalent in other currencies) – and it looks quite appealing!

Currently, over 1 million images from Crestock have already been added to Masterfile.com, and the remaining images will be added by the beginning of December. After that, Masterfile.com will update the Crestock image collection approximately once a month, as well as uploads on the photo bank’s site.

Masterfile does not add images to its site in real-time; this is done to optimize quick searches for needed results and to introduce powerful services like SimSearch, Image Upload, Visual Pairing, and Colour Search. Updates on Masterfile occur offline, about every two weeks. For now, Crestock images will not be sold under the Masterfile subscription.

Please note! Currently, the Masterfile website does not display the author’s name next to the image, as it was on Crestock. This will be corrected in the next collection update on Masterfile, which will take about a month.

Your royalties from sales on Masterfile will be calculated based on client prices, although Masterfile’s rates are higher than those on Crestock. Any revenue distribution between Masterfile, its affiliates, distributors, and Crestock will not affect the royalty amounts for Crestock authors.

For example, if you have a 30% commission rate and:

a) Masterfile sells one of your images for $10.00, then you will receive $3.00 from Crestock;

b) If a buyer on Masterfile pays €7 for your image, then the sale price will be converted into US dollars and you will receive 30% of the amount received on Crestock.

And the best part about these changes is that you don’t need to do anything beyond what you are already doing – the changes are automatic. Just keep uploading images to Crestock, and the photo bank administration will take care of everything else for you!

If you have any questions or comments regarding these innovations, please use the email help@crestock.com, and you will receive a response to your question within one business day.

Based on a communication from Steve Pidgeon, CEO of Crestock Corporation