When you look at the stock photography collections available on the Internet you see a wide range of aesthetic quality in the photos. The better RM collections have the highest aesthetic quality. That usually stems from tight editing of the collection to keep its quality high. Rights managed collections usually provide better service than other options because the pricing allows better customer service, like setting up light boxes for the prospective buyer’s review. In most, if not all, non-RM collections the prospective buyer is compelled to search the collections and wade through a lot of images that just don’t fit because of the inadequacies of search engines and overly aggressive keywording.  That eats up buyer time, which we all recognize as money. There is a third strength that lies in the fact that in the case where the RM provider knows the rights history of the images, some of the images can be licensed with limited exclusivity which is what has become known as Rights Protected (RP). Those three things are about the only strengths that RM has in comparison to the other options.

RM has its weaknesses. The most pressing is that many collections are highly populated with images that have similar images easily obtainable in one or more of the other stock options, so the RM prices for those images are higher than in other options. Unless service is the most compelling factor, in such cases the sale is going to non-RM options. Its other weakness is price. RM is unaffordable for many small businesses and organizations. It is too high priced for many Website uses. Because the rights history of many images is not known from before and often after images went into an RM collection offering exclusive rights is not an option.

Looking outward, the opportunities for RM rest in the fact that there always have been and will be prospective clients that want highly aesthetic images especially when conceptual, and who want some level of exclusivity of use. RM collections can exploit those opportunities while the other options either cannot (exclusivity) or do not (high aesthetic quality).  And the threat that RM faces from the other option is that they will get those highly aesthetic images from photographers because the highly aesthetic and exclusivity factors are not being exploited properly by the RM collections.

So what’s an RM operator to do?  Here is what I think.

1. Cull files to eliminate those images that look those in the other options’ collections.  This will make the collection look unique and special and make searching them faster.
2. Convince photographers that the new strategy will work for them, if they send in their best new images and provide image exclusivity for them.
3. Find the exceptional images in the file or in photographers’ files for which there is a rights history. Get image exclusivity for the representation of those images so exclusive licenses can be granted. Let’s call this Rights Exclusive Stock not Rights Protected. Indicate on each online image that it is RE when it is. It will help sell exclusivity.
4. Reduce the prices for Web use to be very competitive with other options. Web use is a big market, and it demands low prices. Increased volume ought to make up for the lowered price. When someone wants a special image, refer them to the RE file. That way the image will stay special. Price RE Web use accordingly much higher than RM.
5. Promote the collection to buyers on the basis that customer service is money saved, and that exclusivity is promotional power gained. Money and power talk.

Couple all that with hard work and enthusiasm and the RM/RE model has a fighting chance.

(c) 2006 Richard Weisgrau [contact] [bio]