The ground rules:
 
1) We have included only those companies we know about that offer on-line storage and web-site services to facilitate managing and licensing stock images.  We welcome additions to our list who fit this criteria that we may have missed.  Please submit details to for our consideration.
2) The companies we review here provide their services in such different ways that they defy a simple spreadsheet comparison.  We include, therefore, a text description of each company’s services.  We have created a spreadsheet check-list for quick viewing, but we stress that the spreadsheet only offers part of the story.  Photographers seriously considering working with any of these companies should check out each service provider’s web-site, contact them directly, and check out the web-sites of the photographers and small agencies who use their services before making any decisions regarding where and how to set up their web-sites.
 
We have included the following companies (in alphabetical order) in this overview:
 
20/20 Software
Digital Railroad
IPN
NancyScans
PhotoShelter
Spitfire Photo
 
 
20/20 Software:  20/20 was one of the first (if not the first) to offer web-site solutions for stock photo archives.  Until recently, the company only offered web-sites for stock photo libraries, museums, and publishers, but will be launching it’s new Photographer’s Web Package in February, 2005, with customizable branding, and full-ecommerce.  20/20 also offers image management and business management software for individual photographers, as well as agencies. The company does not provide marketing services.
 
Digital Railroad: Digital Railroad offers a simple web-site solution with search engine for photographers.  The current roster of photographers and agencies that use DigitalRailroad heavily favors editorial shooters who provide imagery to magazines and newspapers.  Presently, DigitalRailroad does not provide e-commerce capability, though managers say e-commerce will be available this year.  The search engine allows for searching within each photographers individual archive, but the company plans to set up a network-wide search capability soon.  The company does not provide marketing services for its photographers.  With no e-commerce, the company takes no percentage of the photographer’s revenue.
 
IPN:  The “IPN” stands for Independent Photography Network.  VNU, the parent company of  publications such as Photo District News and Adweek, owns this service which offers photographers and small agencies fully branded web-sites, full e-commerce capability, and the opportunity to collaborate with other image suppliers on the network by representing each other’s images.  Image providers can also allow their images to appear on IPN’s own site – http://www.ipnstock.com – which the company promotes to art-buyers.  IPN’s editors retain editorial control over images placed on IPNStock.  IPN retains 20% of all revenue either from the photographer’s branded site or on the IPNStock site. It may interest RF photographers to know that IPN has an “on-ramp” agreement with Adobe which allows photographers to post their RF images for sale on Adobe Stock Photos.  Photographers receive a smaller percentage on the RF sales through Adobe Stock Photo, however, as Adobe takes a significant portion of the revenue.
 
NancyScans:  NancyScans provides a customizable web-site service for photographers selling prints and licensing stock.  First five GB of storage space is free of charge (more storage available for a monthly fee.) The company offers no marketing services and takes 25% of revenue.
 
PhotoShelter: PhotoShelter offers on-line archiving and fully customized web-sites with an e-commerce shopping cart feature for print sales and RF image licensing and an email system for negotiating RM licenses directly with clients.  The company employs an a-la-carte monthly fee structure for image storage (according to amount of space required,) customized web-site maintenance, a “virtual agency” marketing feature, bandwidth access for clients to download high-res. images via FTP, and e-commerce for prints and RF. The company takes no percentage of revenue but charges a fixed flat fee of $1.00 per transaction.
 
Spitfire Photo Pro: Spitfire offers a branded web-site solution for individual photographers.  The service includes 5GB of free storage and e-commerce with no revenue sharing.  
 
 
Special Mention – StockPhotoFinder.com:  Photographers seeking additional marketing avenues for their imagery should check out StockPhotoFinder.com, which aggregates images collections from numerous suppliers and heavily promotes its search engine to the art-buyer market.  The company charges an annual fee based on the number of images supplied:
 
$299              for up to 1,000 images
$1,000            for 1,001 to 5,000 images
$1,500            for 5,001 to 25,000 images
$2,000            for 25,001 to 50,000 images
$2,500            for 50,001 to 100,000 images
 
Image suppliers must have their images available on a web-site and must handle all negotiating and sales. For more information go to www.stockphotofinder.com.
 
[Click here to view comparison spreadsheet]