an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . august 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message this article needs to be updated . please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information . october 2013 istock by getty images type subsidiary genre microstock photography founded may 2000 2000 05 founder bruce livingstone headquarters calgary alberta canada key people bruce livingstone founder parent getty images website istockphoto.com istock is an online royalty free international micro stock photography provider . the firm offers millions of photos illustrations clip art videos and audio tracks . images cost between 1 and 3 credits with the price of credits ranging from 10.00 to 0.22 depending on volume purchased and subscription plan . 1 . artists designers and photographers worldwide contribute their work to istock collections in return for royalties . nearly half a million new photos illustrations videos and audio files are added each month . contents 1 history 2 contributors 3 purchasing and use 4 controversies 4.1 pricing 4.2 ownership of material 5 istockvideo 6 istockalypse event 7 references 8 external links history edit the company was founded by bruce livingstone in may 2000 as istockphoto a free stock imagery website supported by livingstone s web development firm evolvs media it began charging money in 2001 and has been profitable since then . 2 on february 9 2006 the firm was acquired by getty images for 50 million usd . livingstone promised that the site would continue functioning independently with the benefits of getty images yet very importantly for them and us autonomy . 3 on september 18 2006 the site experienced the first benefits of the new ownership 4 a controlled vocabulary keyword taxonomy borrowed from getty images . as of march 31 2007 istockpro closed . istockpro was a more expensive version of istockphoto that was never as popular as istockphoto and became redundant after the acquisition by getty images . on april 1 2008 getty images disclosed as part of its agreement to be sold to a private equity firm that istockphoto s revenue in 2007 was 71.9 million usd of which 20.9 million 29 % was paid to contributors . 5 citation needed contributors edit contributing photographers apply via a short quiz regarding policies requirements basic photographic knowledge and legal issues before they are eligible to upload their images . the applicant s sample images are screened for quality and suitability before being approved . contributors receive a commission of between 15 % and 40 % of each sale depending on whether or not they are exclusive and various other factors . in an address to its community entitled 2008 a year in review and a look ahead 6 the firm s ceo mentioned that the company was paying out almost 1.1 million per week in royalty payments to contributors . purchasing and use edit each approved image is added to the searchable online database where it can be found by purchasers . files can be downloaded immediately and used in almost anything . the basic license agreement prohibits some uses such as web templates print on demand adult materials etc. print runs over 500 000 must pay additional royalties . extended licenses are available for purchase to cover needs not met by the basic license agreement . 7 controversies edit this background of a movie poster for the 2011 film the roommate was provided by istockphoto . the image is that of the christy administration building at southwestern college . the college believes this image was used without their permission . pricing edit since istockphoto s launch in 2000 purchase prices have slowly increased from initially bartered based on accumulated contributions 8 to .25 and then .50 9 and more recently tiered at 1 2 and 3 10 to a higher cost tiered pricing of 1 3 5 and 10 or more for extra high resolution 11 to today s current pricing scheme where images cost between 1 and 250 credits and credits sell for 9 each or from 8 to 5.81 each in bundles of 3 to 3000 . 12 best rates for photos vectors and illustrations are available through monthly or annual subscriptions . ownership of material edit the 2011 film the roommate obtained photos from istockphoto for its promotional material . one of the photos used as its backdrop was the christy administration building from southwestern college in winfield kansas . the college administration voiced concern that permission to use the photograph of the building was not properly obtained and is investigating the legality of its use . 13 as of february 8 2011 no lawsuits have been filed but discussions continue to take place . 14 istockvideo edit on july 31 2006 istockphoto announced the development of a new branch istockvideo to sell stock video clips in a variety of formats from web size through ntsc and pal up to hdv and hd sizes . the collection is slated to open on september 5 2006 and clips between 5 and 30 seconds will range in cost from 5 usd to 50 usd based on resolution.as of february 9 2010 the video collection contains over 250 000 videos . 15 videos are not available as part of the images pricing or subscription arrangements . this new branch of istockphoto competes with motion stock collections already available from companies such as getty images artbeats and veer . istockalypse event edit the istockalypse was founded in 2005 as an official multi day istock photography event held several times a year for contributing artists and photographers . 16 since the first event in las vegas istock has visited seattle boston ljubljana prague austin barcelona marseilles buenos aires malta berlin calgary istanbul cannes tokyo london milan singapore sao paulo los angeles and paris . in march 2015 the event 17 was organized in dubai to get authentic local shots of the city and its people . references edit http www.istockphoto.com plans and pricing company pricing page kim peterson microstock photography represents a new business model seattle times may 28 2007 istockphoto joins getty images . marketwire . retrieved 18 april 2013 . istockphoto.com language features announcement istock contributors make 21 million in 2007 . istockphoto forums . 2008 04 01 . retrieved 2008 04 01 . 2008 a year in review and a look ahead executive forum post extended license options web.archive.org web.archive.org february 7 2003 web.archive.org may 10 2005 web.archive.org february 3 2006 1 twitchell allen december 3 2010 . image of sc building on movie poster . the winfield daily courier . retrieved january 17 2011 . twitchell allen february 8 2011 . movie poster image remains a concern for sc administration . the winfield daily courier . retrieved february 10 2011 . http www.istockphoto.com forum messages.php threadid 175161 http www.istockalypse.com what.aspx http www.istockalypse.com currentlypse.aspx lypse id 11 external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title istock & oldid 741216704 categories stock photographycrowdsourcinggetty imagesprivately held companies of canadacompanies established in 20002000 establishments in canadacompanies based in calgarycommerce websiteshidden categories articles with a promotional tone from august 2016all articles with a promotional tonewikipedia articles in need of updating from october 2013all wikipedia articles in need of updatingall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from february 2011 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutschfran aisitaliano edit links this page was last modified on 26 september 2016 at 03 18 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view