Getty looks to pay Flickr photographers in commercial licensing deal

by Stevie Smith - Jul 9 2008, 11:02

If you’re a budding amateur photographer with a Flickr account who, until now, has garnered little more than personal pride from posting captured creations for the online world to see, then news of possible payment for those ongoing efforts is likely to draw your lens toward Getty Images.

Specifically, Seattle-based Getty Images Inc., a leading supplier of stock images for the business and consumer markets, has struck a licensing deal with Yahoo-owned photo-sharing Web site Flickr that will see account holders given the opportunity to have their pictures assessed for commercial use.

According to a report by the Seattle Post Intelligencer (SPI), Flickr users looking to submit their imagery for commercial assessment and potential use by Getty’s clients will be paid in much the same way as if they were professional photographers -- should their creations be selected for purchase.

SPI outlines that Getty clients pay as little as $29 USD for a use of an image, but can also pay upwards of $200,000 based on the image and how much freedom they are given regarding its commercial usage.

Talking about the licensing deal earlier this week, Getty co-founder and CEO Jonathan Klein explained that submitted Flickr images will be appraised based on their technical, legal, and subject-matter suitability for commercial use by the company’s clients. The process is expected to be launched within the next few months.

The commercial licensing deal comes hot on the heels of Getty Images being wholly acquired last week for approx. $2.1 billion USD by private equity firm Hellman & Friedman LLC.

While noting that the Flickr deal “financially for us is not significant, but it’s strategically extremely important,” insofar as it provides access to the world’s largest online community of photographers, Klein also insisted that the company’s acquisition had no bearing or effect on its future plans with Flickr.

Currently, the Flickr service boasts some 27 million members worldwide and provides online storage for around 2 billion photographs. In terms of audience popularity, Flickr attracts a massive 54 million visitors per month.

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