Features
Q&A with a Royalty Free producer gone micro
Maurice Van De Mosselaar of Eyecandy explains the thinking behind Rinky Dink
The recent announcement by the founders of Eyecandy Images, a relatively new arrival on the RF production scene, that they have created a new collection of images, called Rinky Dink Images ™ for distribution at micro- or mid-stock prices, makes it official: more and more pros are jumping onto the “economy” pricing band wagon. RF veteran Ron Chapple, who founded Thinkstock, a brand he later sold to Jupiter Images, has launched his own micro brand called iofoto. Mike Watson, a founder of DigitalVision, has taken similar steps with part of his moodboard collection. Other prominent names in the RF business, both producers and distributors, while remaining quiet about it for the time being, have made it clear they are headed in the same direction.
In the press-release about their new lower-priced collection, the Eyecandy founders touched upon their motivations: “Whilst our RF and RM collections are very much liked by our customers, and business is growing all over the world without seeing any foreseeable change, we feel that some customers are not reached. Our style is distinct and very popular with New Media clients, who choose Micro as their first preference for images, before opting for higher priced material elsewhere. Through Rinky Dink we will connect with customers across all platforms, ensuring that Eyecandy content is available to everyone at the right prices,” says Van De Mosselaar.
We thought we’d catch up with Maurice who is on his way to the CEPIC conference in Malta to arrange distribution for Rinky Dink as well as Eyecandy and his company’s RM collection, ecPro. He kindly agreed to shed more light on the company’s rationale for making what many see as a counter-intuitive move into the lower end of the stock image market.
abouttheimage (ATI): How did you come to the decision to create a special collection just for micro-stock?
Maurice Van De Mosselaar (MvdM): As a start up production company we felt that diversifying our product range would enable us to maximize our customer reach. Our RF and RM collections sell well and we see month on month growth worldwide, however from certain clients we received feedback that our style of images would be perfect for their segment yet not at prices you will find in the traditional model. These are clients based mainly in New Media - like company or individual blogs, on-line editorial publications like newspapers, magazines, merchandising, social networking etc..
ATI: Why do you believe it’s worth diving into the lower-priced part of the market and why now?
MvdM: We noticed opportunities arising where image sellers started to organically prepare for a possible shift in interest from some of their customers switching from traditional to mid/micro. This has been the talk of town for more than two years now and many industry leaders have followed suit to quickly establish themselves a percentage of the ‘micro’ market. The top 10 are all targeting customers in the micro segment and even local resellers are experimenting with easy to use websites selling ‘value’ photography without a tremor of decline.
ATI: Do you see micro-stock eclipsing regular old RF, eventually?
MvdM: Not for a long time. To create high end RF and RM you need a decent budget to be able to get the perfect models, locations, props and photographers. Producing the same material and then selling it at a quarter of the ‘traditional’ price will not work on a grand scale. Micro stock might well become more transparent with Royalty Free in the future, but that will automatically see a shift from semi-professional micro stock photographers into professional RF/RM photographers. You can’t tame creativity!
ATI: Will you offer it to as many distributors as possible and do you expect to work with regular RF channels or go mostly through micro-stock companies?
MvdM: We will only work with companies that feel our images are relevant for their businesses. There is a clear cross-over between our RF channels. We will not, however, sell mid/micro stock at RF prices.
ATI: What do you think are the greater ramifications for the micro-stock business if more and more professional producers start crowding in on the crowd of amateurs who have made it the force that it is today?
MvdM: Royalty Free and Rights Managed images will become very high in creativity and quality. Anything other will find a place at the right price. We think the terms micro, mid and traditional will fade and you could look at it like a price fix, where the best picture wins at the right price for any client. Also, everybody will be pushed for originality and to be innovative - the production companies and the professional as well as amateur photographers. I suppose you can speculate that further into the future companies will merge or get acquired into other businesses and you will see a form of exclusivity arise.
ATI: Are you concerned that the world-wide micro-stock database will get so large that it will become more and more difficult for any one photographer or production company to make acceptable revenue from it?
MvdM: My motto since I started working in the Photography industry has always been that ‘the best picture wins!’ I am sure by that time there will be newer and even more innovative and intelligent business models and web-sites around dwarfing anything this industry has done so far.
Currently, publishing sectors like daily newspapers or weekly magazines, off- and on-line, need a high volume of turnover in pictures. They want to be original at all times, this movement created the Editorial rates RF suppliers now agree to.
Web-sites: Eyecandyimages.com; RinkyDinkimages.com - Click here to view featured image.
Posted in: Features, Interviews, Micropayment Stock Photography, Photographers, Stock Photo Companies
