Sold to America...

[Mr Standfast]

 

 

Forum contributor Bill Brooks has pointed out that the Alamy USA office is doing well and that USA licence fees seem to be healthy. In his words " I have noticed on this forum that photographers shooting USA subjects are getting higher prices on Alamy, and are not complaining as much about lower prices. This has also been my experience with my North American portfolio. Maybe these North American images are sold to higher paying USA clients through the Alamy USA office. "

 

I don't know about other forum contributors think but I feel it would be silly to not make ourselves aware of what would appeal to the USA market.  I don't have many sales to the USA but I would like to think about the subjects that are available to me that might be more appealing to an American buyer. Global issues like climat, but what else? To that end I'm starting this; what I have sold to america thread. So please share and we can learn from each other.

 

Here's my most recent, for upper $$.

 

(Hope its OK to quote you Bill, but hell you're a Canadian you can cope!)

 

(and London Bridge...don't go there)

 

 

Edit- By America I mean :- Country: United States

[John Mitchell]

Don't forget that "America" is a big place -- it stretches all the way from Ellesmere Island to the tip of Tierra del Fuego. However, you obviously mean the USA, which is a huge market where just about anything can license. Probably the best Alamy contributors to answer your question are UK-based photographers who do manage to sell a lot of images in the US. Speaking personally, I have many images from my travels in Latin America that do well in the US. Not sure I would recommend spending a fortune on going there on photo shoots, though.

 

 

[geogphotos]

The commission cut before last was about funding the US office. For those of us in UK without images of obvious appeal to the US it meant we took the commission cut and quite likely have not seen any commensurate benefit.

 

Apparently US now supplies over 50% of Alamy revenue. A shame that the benefits are not being shared by all contributors.

 

Then there came another commission cut. 😖

 

Looking at the last three months I have had only one sale where the territory given is 'USA'. There may be others under 'Worldwide'. That was a travel picture of Nijmegen, Netherlands so nothing to glean from that in terms of what appeals to the the US market. 

[John Mitchell]

16 minutes ago, geogphotos said:

The commission cut before last was about funding the US office. For those of us in UK without images of obvious appeal to the US it meant we took the commission cut and quite likely have not seen any commensurate benefit.

 

Apparently US now supplied over 50% of Alamy revenue. A shame that the benefits are not being shared by all contributors.

 

Then there came another commission cut. 😖

 

Looking at the last three months I have had only one sale where the territory given is 'USA'. There may be other under 'Worldwide'. That was a travel picture of Nijmegen, Netherlands so nothing to glean from that in terms of what appeals to the the US market. 

 

I wouldn't say that I've had more sales to the USA since the US office opened. In fact, the pattern hasn't changed much for me over the years.

 

As far as appeal to the US market goes, I would imagine that contributors with a lot of images shot in UK villages and in the countryside realize that they aren't going to do well abroad. Same goes for local UK news and weather shots. No?

[spacecadet]

I only have about 2% identifiable to US by volume, but the prices are a lot better than average. About half were taken in the UK, but they're all either of my best-selling subject (the one I don't publicise) or of a UK-registered Rolls-Royce. None for 2 years though.

[Gina Kelly]

Only one sale in the past 3 months to the US - almost all others are "worldwide"

[geogphotos]

16 minutes ago, John Mitchell said:

As far as appeal to the US market goes, I would imagine that contributors with a lot of images shot in UK villages and in the countryside realize that they aren't going to do well abroad. Same goes for local UK news and weather shots. No?

 

 

Given the way fees are and the way the £ is I can't imagine that me travelling to the US to take stock photos is going to happen anytime soon. 

 

 

[Michael Ventura]

11 minutes ago, Gina Kelly said:

Only one sale in the past 3 months to the US - almost all others are "worldwide"

 

But those “worldwide” sales may have come from USA based clients.

[Mr Standfast]

Thank you!

Mmm well so far we have : -

1. A climate change activist
2. A Rolls Royce (maybe any other export goods, can't be may of them)

There may be lots under Worldwide, but lets just focus on " Country: United States "

[geogphotos]

2 minutes ago, Michael Ventura said:

 

But those “worldwide” sales may have come from USA based clients.

 

That's true and more information is on offer through the Download option and then checking the Region column for these worldwide sales. Several recent Worldwide sales of mine show US as the region, the fees do tend to be less ridiculous than for many similar UK ones.

[geogphotos]

2 minutes ago, Mr Standfast said:

Thank you!

Mmm well so far we have : -

1. A climate change activist
2. A Rolls Royce (maybe any other export goods, can't be may of them)

There may be lots under Worldwide, but lets just focus on " Country: United States "

 

 

3)  a travel picture of Nijmegen, Netherlands

[John Mitchell]

8 minutes ago, geogphotos said:

 

 

Given the way fees are and the way the £ is I can't imagine that me travelling to the US to take stock photos is going to happen anytime soon. 

 

 

 

I have very few images taken in the US, and the ones I do have have don't do all that well. It might be that UK contributors have benefited more from the opening of the US office that those of us on this side of the pond. Just suggestin'...

[spacecadet]

12 minutes ago, Michael Ventura said:

 

But those “worldwide” sales may have come from USA based clients.

Crikey, you're right.

I just had another go on net revenue including "region". It's not 2%, it's 20%.😮

That's a surprise. Only 10% this year, though. Prices well down this year, probably below average.

 

[AlbertSnapper]

I find that USofA prices are more sensible too. Not just with Alamy, but another library I am with as well.

I also find that Germany is similar to the UK in pricing, both via Alamy and elsewhere. Poor !

 

 

[Bill Kuta]

Yeah, if I look at "Country" over the last year, my sales are 76% "Worldwide".

 

If I look at "Region" in the download version, I'm 74% "US".

 

All of the sales over $50 are Region=US.

[John Mitchell]

50 minutes ago, AlbertSnapper said:

I find that USofA prices are more sensible too. Not just with Alamy, but another library I am with as well.

I also find that Germany is similar to the UK in pricing, both via Alamy and elsewhere. Poor !

 

 

 

Yes, I'm surprised at how low German sales can be. Does anyone know why this is the case?

 

 

[Inchiquin]

In my 10 years with Alamy I've had a great many Worldwide sales, but only ever one specifically for the USA. And that was a photo of Canada.

 

Alan

[VbFolly]

Looking at my last year's sales, I have 7 sales where US is the region. Of these, 3 were of a yacht moored by a Puerto Rican island (50$ for a travel guide, $49 for a marketing package -travel client, and $22 for an editorial website).

The other 4 were taken in the UK. The subjects were quite varied, and not of obvious interest to a US market. They were a blue tit pecking at a window ($60 for a book), a row of JCB diggers (42$ for multiple editorial uses), a birdwatcher on a bicycle ($45 for editorial website, apps, social media, etc), and a world war 2 memorial in Hayling Island ($19.99 personal use). 

The average sale price is definitely higher in the US than in the UK, but I find it hard to draw any conclusions about what to shoot in the UK or Europe for the US market.

[John Mitchell]

34 minutes ago, Bill Kuta said:

Yeah, if I look at "Country" over the last year, my sales are 76% "Worldwide".

 

If I look at "Region" in the download version, I'm 74% "US".

 

All of the sales over $50 are Region=US.

 

Do you find that you've had a higher % of US sales since the US office opened?

[Mr Standfast]

1 hour ago, geogphotos said:

 

 

3)  a travel picture of Nijmegen, Netherlands

 

Ian, do you have any idea of the publication? If it's travel it's no help but if it's related to the battle of Nijmegen then that involved the U.S. 82nd Airborne in Operation Market Garden in WW2.

Which I'm going to call...

 

3) US armed forces in Europe.

 

Is this more fun than moaning about falling fees?

[John Mitchell]

Of my 110 sales so far this year, about 50% were specifically to the US, including the lowest ($0.99) and the highest ($250) -- and frankly everything in between.

 

 

[geogphotos]

7 minutes ago, Mr Standfast said:

 

Ian, do you have any idea of the publication? If it's travel it's no help but if it's related to the battle of Nijmegen then that involved the U.S. 82nd Airborne in Operation Market Garden in WW2.

Which I'm going to call...

 

3) US armed forces in Europe.

 

Is this more fun than moaning about falling fees?

 

 

It's F134D9 no obvious connection to WW2 battle but could be I guess.

 

I would describe commenting on low fees as reality rather than fun. 

[Bill Kuta]

22 minutes ago, John Mitchell said:

 

Do you find that you've had a higher % of US sales since the US office opened?

 

Sorry John, I haven't tracked it that way. But until the last couple of years, all of my subjects were within the US, so my sales have probably always been mostly US.

[Mr Standfast]

12 minutes ago, geogphotos said:

 

 

It's F134D9 no obvious connection to WW2 battle but could be I guess.

 

I would describe commenting on low fees as reality rather than fun. 

Yes fun was the wrong word.

[Bill Brooks]

3 hours ago, geogphotos said:

The commission cut before last was about funding the US office. For those of us in UK without images of obvious appeal to the US it meant we took the commission cut and quite likely have not seen any commensurate benefit.

 

Apparently US now supplies over 50% of Alamy revenue. A shame that the benefits are not being shared by all contributors.

 

 

No shame at all.

 

The US side of the business helps to keep the Alamy doors open, so that helps all contributors. Where would Alamy be, for all contributors, without the US sales amounting to 50% of revenue?

 

If the British pound drops in value because of Brexit, the US dollars will be even more help to all contributors.

 

You need some place to put your images of the UK.

 

One thing I noticed, was that back when Alamy opened the USA office, some astute UK based contributors took shooting trips in the USA, in preparation for the US business.