Here’s What Wemark’s Licensing Options Mean For Photographers
We recently announced Wemark Go and Wemark Impress — two groundbreaking options for buyers to license images on Wemark. But how does it work for photographers?
Just before the New Year, we announced our new licensing options that will give buyers maximum flexibility for all their image needs, whether they require multiple images on the go or a single standout photograph to drive big brand campaigns. The announcement generated excitement from buyers and photographers alike, and prompted many photographers to ask: “how does it work?” and “what’s in it for me?”
Here’s a breakdown of what it looks like and some comprehensive answers to common questions.
Two Licensing Options, Limitless Possibilities
Wemark Impress is our premium collection geared to singular images that will make a campaign stand out. It’s similar to premium collections you might be familiar with — gripping visuals that look like they were custom shot — but with 85% of each sale going back to the photographers.
Wemark Go solves buyers’ everyday stock photography needs. Photos are primed for broader client uses via affordable membership plans and the cost per image is considerably lower than Wemark Impress images. Wemark makes its revenue from a small monthly membership fee, which ensures that photographers get 100% royalties for every image downloaded. This “licensing evolution” allows buyers to pay less, and photographers to earn more.
OK: so how does it work for photographers?
As you might expect, given its selective quality and price point, our process of accepting photographers into Wemark Impress is slightly more stringent.
At first, only photographers who have experience licensing images through premium agencies will be able to submit images to Wemark Impress. These photographers are comfortable editing and keywording, adept at self-curating their collections for client needs, likely shoot regularly for commercial clients, and already have substantial collections of images available through premium stock agencies. If you match this description or are confident that your images are uniquely suited to commercial clients and are too good for us to pass up, please apply here.
Unless you have already been accepted as a Wemark Impress photographer, your images will default to Wemark Go. Until your Wemark Impress application is approved, we recommend that you only upload images that you feel comfortable licensing as part of Wemark Go, priced at $0.27-$0.95 per download, with 100% royalties.
While image prices are set in USD, the actual payment will be made in Wemark Tokens — our dedicated currency for the marketplace.
If you’ve already uploaded images for Wemark Impress — don’t worry!
Here’s how to get them properly routed:
First, apply to Wemark Impress with the same e-mail you used to create your Wemark contributor account. We’ll do our best to respond within a couple of days.
If your application gets rejected, you’ll be able to remove any premium images you’re uncomfortable to license as part of Wemark Go. If your application gets approved, we’ll provide you with the necessary instructions to assign your images to your desired price point.
How can I price my images on Wemark Impress?
Wemark Impress images range from $25 to $500 per download.
After applying to Wemark Impress, our review team will assess your portfolio and assign you with a maximum price per license, depending on the portfolio quality, uniqueness, and, if applicable, image pricing on other platforms. You will be able to submit any of your images to one of these price points.
Over time, image performance will influence pricing. If an image doesn’t perform well at its current tier, we may suggest assigning it to a lower pricing tier. If images perform particularly well and appear exceptionally valuable to buyers, we might suggest moving them to a higher price point.
We won’t make any pricing changes without your consent, but we might remove an image from search results if we believe it is priced too high.
Eventually, we’ll add pricing tools that’ll help photographers to find the best pricing for each for their photos.
Sounds great, but why can’t I just set my own prices?
Our mission is to give control back to creators while providing a game-changing customer experience to keep buyers focused on your images. This means providing clear and simple pricing tiers to match different kind of budgets and client needs.
Based on our team’s experience in the photo-licensing industry, it’s become clear that not all photographers are objective when setting their prices. Our guidance is set to price images based on how we anticipate them selling. This means avoiding overpricing images, or misrepresenting standard images as “premium”, which could give buyers a bad search experience.
While you can’t set your own prices, Wemark still gives you far more control over pricing your content. You’ll have the opportunity to approve your images’ pricing before they’re available to license and we won’t make any changes without first getting your approval.
And unlike many of our competitors, there will never be any secret deals on your images without prior consent. If you don’t authorize Wemark to license your images at any other price — it will never happen.
Do you expect to announce more pricing and licensing options in the future?
If you’ve read this far, you’re probably as jazzed as we are about Wemark Go and Wemark Impress, and its potential to change the future of stock photography.
We believe these new licensing options will revolutionize the industry and help photographers around the world reclaim power and get fair compensation for their talent and hard work. We’ll continue launching new licensing options and evolving them as we grow our platform, and will keep you in the loop on any changes and opportunities as they come up.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us directly or join the discussion on our Telegram community right here.
Thanks for your support!
Useful links:
- Wemark announces Wemark Go and Wemark Impress
- Wemark’s content review process explained
- Wemark Experienced Track application form
- Apply to submit images to Wemark Impress
