Extended Licenses
Posted by Lee TorrensContributors love getting extended license sales. One extended license sale can earn you the equivalent of 20 – 100 regular license sales. They’re the cherry on the microstock cake.
Let’s take a closer look at the extended license and what it means to contributors.
What Are You Selling?
- Increase seats – allow the image to be stored and/or used my multiple people within an organization.
- Increase reproduction limits – allow the image to be printed or produced in a larger quantity.
- Resale items – allow your image to be printed on objects for sale, including electronic items such as website templates.
Agencies have different categorizations for extended licenses, including different restrictions and limits.
How Much Do You Earn?
Earnings from an extended license varies from agency to agency:
| Agency | Commission US$ | Particulars | License |
| iStockphoto | 2.50 – 20 | Double commission for exclusive | Extended License |
| Shutterstock | 20 | Buyer requires separate subscription | Enhanced License |
| Dreamstime | 12.50 – 25 | A little more for exclusive | Extended License |
| Fotolia | 0.35 – 94 | Contributors can set prices within a range | Licenses and Uses |
| LuckyOliver | 25 | Covers objects for resale | User License |
| StockXpert | 50 | 5 different licenses | Image License |
| BigStockPhoto | 3 – 20 | 14 different licenses | Special Licensing |
| 123rf | 45.50 | Covers objects for resale | Extended License |
My Experience
Here’s my total Extended License income from all my agencies:
| Agency | Extended License Sales | Total Commission US$ |
| iStockphoto | 6 | 135.56 |
| Shutterstock | 8 | 160.00 |
| Fotolia | 5 | 50.00 |
| LuckyOliver | 2 | 50.00 |
Always Optional
All the microstock agencies that offer extended license sales have an opt-out facility. Some contributors prefer restricting extended license sales to agencies where they can earn a larger commission. Such an example is the Fotolia system which enables contributors to set their own price within a range determined by their sales level.
Top End of the Microstock Market
Extended licenses offer an additional tier of stock licensing. Those with the highest needs will still rely on macrostock. Those with the lowest requirements will stay with microstock. The middle ground is extended licenses and the still forming ‘midstock’ market.
It’s easy to see why buyers of royalty-free macrostock would turn to microstock’s extended licenses. One must wonder how many of the buyers of standard microstock licenses would ever have sourced images in the macrostock market.
Posted August 20th, 2007 by Lee Torrens
