22 Sep 2015 Dissolve’s Photo Collection Out Early

Despite the press release stating the launch of Dissolve’s stills collection would be October 1st, the new collection is already live and available for purchase on the website.

The stock footage specialist is serving their premium buyers with a selection of premium priced, high quality images from traditional agencies and producers.

Images From Top Industry Contributors

Just as disclosed on September 14th, their initial photo collection is small, featuring only around 200,000 commercial RF (and a few editorial) images.

They’ve sourced the images from the traditional channel, with search results dominated by Blend Images (46,941 files), Cultura (acquired by ImageSource in 2012) (75,228) and Hero Images (22, 494), among others.

Hero Images is a great inclusion.  They’re a premium lifestyle brand founded by ex-Veer/Corbis producers, art directors and photographers, including Heather McNeill and Beau Lark. Aaron Booth, who is heading up the stills business at Dissolve is also ex-Veer/Corbis.

There’s currently no sign of direct, individual contributors, but the photographer application page says they’ll be reaching out to applicants in the coming months.

Premium Pricing

Just as with their exclusive footage files, Dissolve’s stock images are priced at premium levels.

Based on size, photos are at $49, $299 and $499 each, and they also enable Extended licenses for an extra $150.

There’s no word on royalty rates yet, but the obvious assumption is that they’ll mimic their footage rates of 30% – 35%, although in dealing with traditional agencies and collections, rates are always up for negotiation.  Not so much for individual photgraphers, but it can’t hurt to ask.