What is the Shutterstock API?
The Shutterstock API allows applications to serve Shutterstock assets directly within their user interface. For example, Google Ads uses the Shutterstock API to allow their advertisers to easily search, preview, and license royalty-free images to use in their display ads directly within the Google Ads Manager interface.
Customers can purchase the API from https://developers.shutterstock.com/ or through our Partner Team.
What impact does it have on contributors?
Making it easier for businesses to integrate our API means more chances for your content to be sold. Subscriptions offered on our developer platform are set up just like the subscriptions we make available on shutterstock.com Every time an end-user licenses through a self-serve API partner, you’ll be paid out just like you would for any regular Shutterstock subscription.
What are the royalties for contributors?
The self-serve API subscriptions offer our partners a “one-time use” license, meaning you’ll get paid out every time one of your images is licensed. And every time, you’ll earn just as much as if it were licensed through a subscription on shutterstock.com directly.
Rarely, an API partnership will offer a unique payout structure, but we’ll never pay less than your minimum level without making you aware in advance.
How is contributor content protected?
We want to make sure that we’re keeping you protected, even as we increase exposure to your content. Except in the case of small thumbnails, API partners will serve your content watermarked until it’s been licensed. Content downloaded via an API partnership can be used only in accordance with the specific license, which is more restricted compared to the Standard and Enhanced Shutterstock licenses. For example, images licensed and downloaded via the API can only be used within digital projects created within the application integrated with the API. You can learn more about this license here: What is the Shutterstock API Platform License?
For instance, marketers using Facebook Ads can only license and download images for use within ads created in Facebook Ads. The raw image files used in those ads are never exposed to the end-users (marketers using Facebook Ads in this case).
And, of course, the copyright always remains with you, the contributor.
What does reselling mean?
Reselling means that an application has the option to pass the cost of the license to their end user. Under the self-serve API plans, businesses will only be able to mark up the license cost up to 120% so that contributors will still get their regular and fair payout.
Like all other Shutterstock subscriptions, API subscriptions do not allow end-users who license content to sell the asset they downloaded. Reselling, in the context of API subscriptions, means that an application has the option to pass the cost of the license to their end users.
If you have any additional questions about licensing your artwork through Shutterstock, please contact us.