A much needed revolution in the photography industry

For most professional photographers, the road to success is not simple. They know how much they have to sacrifice in order to pursue their ambitions. But sometimes it can feel like the industry is not helping them.

When it comes to generating income, selling photos online is probably the most likely route for most photographers. And this almost inevitably starts with going to a photostock.

Photostocks are as old as digital photography itself, and as the photography industry has evolved, they haven’t really progressed much themselves. Especially in terms of rewarding the photographers who drive business into these companies.

Initially, some photostocks, such as iStocks offered low fees, giving photographers higher percentages of the sales proceeds, but as they were either bought out by the competition, or simply just faded away due to lack of traction, they had no choice but to raise their fees. This meant that photographers have suffered as they receive less returns on their work.

As you could imagine, this industrial approach has only alienated photographers, especially those who need to make a living selling their art. Many have even had to give up their passion in search of more lucrative careers.

On top of that, photostocks often put a lot of requirements on their photographers; such as entrance exams to be permitted (especially the top ones where photos are potentially sold for more money), exclusivity, and legal restrictions depending on things such as location.

In order to support all the photographers who put in so much work, it is very apparent there is a need for a market that is fair to the sellers as well as to the buyers.

Up until now, this may not have been possible due to the photostock industry being so competitive. Potentially new, disruptive photostocks are either too small scale or are simply swallowed up by the larger companies.

In this sense, photography has become a business before an art. And the ones who benefit the most from producing photography are the platforms selling the work.

To return photography to its roots and place the power in the hands of the people who actually do the work, a complete rethink of the photostock marketplace is required. And this is where cutting edge blockchain technology comes in.

Blockchain is a technology that allows transactions (such as the purchase of photography) to happen without the need for middlemen (such as photostocks). Having a blockchain based photostock has all kinds of benefits for all parties. For the photographer, as trust is inherently built into the blockchain system through the network effect, there is no need for middlemen to sit between buyers and sellers. This creates a directly peer-to-peer marketplace, where buyers can set their own prices. They’d also receive much more of their proceeds. Photographers would be fully credited for their work as it is their name that will appear alongside any of their images.

This is no longer a fantasy scenario. The rapidly developing Photochain project is building this. The project aims to revolutionise the way digital photography is sold, and the way the marketplace is structured. The long term aim of the project is to become a Decentralized Autonomous Organization — with the community of users setting the rules and managing the upkeep of the marketplace. It will be run for the benefit of all members.

With a service that is more fair to both the content producer and the content purchaser, it sets the scene for the photography profession to proliferate in an a whole new way. More earnings and more better quality photos. Who can’t appreciate a marketplace that allows that.