Shutterstock Photographer Forum :: View topic

shutterstock · Joined: 22 Oct 2004 Posts: 1881 Location: New York, NY

Dear Shutterstock Contributors,

This morning I have the pleasure of announcing the acquisition of BigStockPhoto by Shutterstock Images. We are excited to add a credit-based product to our line up of best-in-industry subscription options. Though we studied the possibility of building a credit site from scratch, in the end we decided that acquiring and building upon the momentum of a solid brand like BigStockPhoto is the best way to deliver this new product to our customers. As you all know, Shutterstock has pioneered many products that have been duplicated in the industry: we offered the first and by far the most successful crowdsourced subscription stock photo product, we built the first footage microstock product, and we were the first commercial stock photo site to crowdsource editorial content. We still feel strongly that subscription solutions offer the best value, but we also recognize that some customers prefer to buy content through credits. We want to work with those customers to better understand and meet their content needs. Acquiring BigStock is the first step.

More than anything, we're excited to bring the things Shutterstock is known for - our high quality content, great site design, precision search tools, and saavy marketing - to the BigStock brand, the website, and the product line. Be prepared to see a huge marketing push, a redesigned website, and the type of sales volume that you are used to seeing at Shutterstock. This won't happen overnight, but we expect the trajectory will be the same as Shutterstock. What we did with subscriptions - we plan to do with credits.

I hope all of you are as excited as we are that BigStockPhoto is now part of the Shutterstock family. Tim and Dawn Donahue and their team have built a great product, and we plan to make it better than ever for image buyers and sellers around the world. For now, we plan to keep the two sites operating on their own. Nothing will change for contributors of both sites at this time - continue to submit as usual to both. We hope you will continue to allow us to represent your great content on both Shutterstock and BigStockPhoto and we look forward to working with you in the months and years ahead.

Jon Oringer, Founder/CEO
Shutterstock Images

Joe Gough · Joined: 16 Nov 2004 Posts: 228 Location: Poole, Dorset, UK

Well done Jon! I'm delighted to hear the news and look forward with great interest to see how BSP develops.

kaycee · Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 7:29 am

Pretty cool idea.
Hope for the best on both sides.

Congratsssssss

luissantos84 · Joined: 29 Jan 2009 Posts: 1264 Location: UK

wow, I think it will be very good, let's wait to see what can happens to BIG with more and more marketing..!

cheers
http://ministocking.blogspot.com

krystof · Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 7:35 am

wow!!! best news of the year and makes me glad I didn't give up on BS due to slow sales there, nice one SS!

mreco · Joined: 12 Mar 2009 Posts: 1146 Location: Hampshire, UK

Sounds good, does anyone have any thoughts on any possible negative effects?

hang on.... all my sales have stopped since this message, weve all had it!! were doomed.

(least i got that in before anyone else :-)

misslina · Joined: 01 Aug 2009 Posts: 13 Location: Manchester, UK

Well done! I'm happy to hear great news :-)

bagwold · Joined: 11 Dec 2005 Posts: 347 Location: Wiltshire, England

Great News BS was always good but sale were slow - this should be better now!! Good Luck

ibird · Joined: 11 Sep 2009 Posts: 72

Wow!!

I am very pleased to hear this news..
Congrats!!

soctober · Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 7:58 am

interesting, looking to see the how this progresses

mahnken · Joined: 19 May 2005 Posts: 575 Location: Birmingham, AL

So now we can talk about BigStock without calling it BS anymore :p

makalu · Joined: 15 Dec 2005 Posts: 231 Location: Poland

Congratulations. Although sales on Bigstockphoto are quite slow right now, it has always been one of the fastest and submitter-friendly stocks. Also the design is pleasant for the eye, and I'd say it's generally customer friendly.

coffee999 · Joined: 27 Feb 2009 Posts: 28

This is great news. I know as stated that they will run independently right now, and since lots of us use both sites the question have to be asked:

Are there plans in the future to merge the two, and if so will the portfolios from both sites be accepted merged as well?

Exciting news thanks.

trotalo · Joined: 13 Sep 2009 Posts: 1

Great new!! It sounds good. I am new photographer in the shutterstock community and I am Happy to know new way to have downloads!!!

Trot

mschmeling · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 107 Location: Kassel, Germany

Congratulations!

For those of us who are not on BSP - would it make sense to start uploading our images there, or will you eventually copy them there?