Their stated goal of rewarding contributors now looks more like squeezing pennies from contributors. But Shutterstock wouldn’t be Shutterstock if they didn’t put another spin on this: they will reset all contributors to level 1 every year on January 1st. But there is still a catch: the final price depends on the image pack sold by Shutterstock. A level 1 contributor who has less than 100 image sales will earn 15% per image, while a level 6 contributor who has more than 25,000 image sales will earn up to 40% per image. Based on the sale numbers the contributors will be divided into six levels.

Meaning the more you sell, the more you get paid. In this new system they will calculate the pay rate based on total sales. Out of the blue on May 26th, Shutterstock told contributors that a new earning structure has been set and will come into effect on June 1st. It was the last straw for users who had grievances with Shutterstock even before that. In 17 years of existence it has served as a bread winning platform for many content creators with some reaching mind boggling numbers of uploaded content going well over 100.000 uploaded images. One of their more positive features is the AI keywording tool which helps creators write keywords faster and better. ShutterStock also started its own premium brand Offset, where you could buy authentic and exclusive content rarely found on other microstock websites. Since its start in 2003, Shutterstock has steadily grown and acquired (bought) other companies: BigStock, PremiumBeat, and Flashstock. It has been publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange since 2012. Originally a subscription site only, Shutterstock expanded beyond subscriptions into a pricing based model in 2008. Founded in 2003 by programmer and photographer Jon Oringer, Shutterstock is headquartered in New York City and has a library of around 200 million royalty-free stock photos, vector graphics, and illustrations, with around 10 million video clips and music tracks available for licensing. Shutterstock is an American provider of stock photography, footage, music and illustrations.

Shutterstock prices