Shutterstock Has Paid $1 Billion in Photographer Earnings!

shutterstock logo new p > Shutterstock Has Paid $1 Billion in Photographer Earnings!You read that right: Shutterstock has just released their Contributor Earnings Report, disclosing that they have paid a total of over $1 Billion in royalties to contributors. Impressive to say the least! For more details on the agency, go to our full Shutterstock review.

The milestone is another sign of their more than healthy sales record, and they're celebrating it by sharing insights on said record with us, as well as raising royalties for new customer referrals.

If you ever wondered how much of Shutterstock's ginormous pool of images sell, or how much artists actually earn from their work through this platform, it's your lucky day, as we have the answers! Read along!

Graph > Shutterstock Has Paid $1 Billion in Photographer Earnings!

Shutterstock Photographers Earnings Over the World

The report shows an interesting regional breakdown, that tells how this billion bucks in royalties is split amongst continents and countries.

According to it, Europe is the titan earner, surpassing the other four regions by a long shot. Asia comes in second. What's interesting is that the all-time dominant North American market is in third place. Here's a detailed breakdown with numbers:

  • Europe: $105.3M
  • Asia: $26.6M
  • North America: $23.7M
  • South America: $1.5M
  • Oceania: $1.2M
  • Africa: $700K

europe 1024 > Shutterstock Has Paid $1 Billion in Photographer Earnings!

1 Billion Dollars, 1 Million Artists, 300+ Million Images, 1.9 Million Buyers, 6+ Sales per Second

Those are the key numbers in the report.

Shutterstock offers a stock media catalogue of epic proportions, with over 300 million images, 16 million videos and 24 million music tracks across all their platforms –including Shutterstock, Editorial, Custom, Bigstock, Offset and PremiumBeat.

Said gigantic pool of stock media content is sourced from 1 million active contributors around the globe, searched and bought by a base of 1.9 million registered customers, that average over 6 downloads per second.

That's how they have reached $1 Billion in artist payouts this year.

Impressive numbers for an impressively large company!

Contributor Earning Boost: Limited-Time 50% Royalty Rate for Referring New Customers

As part of the celebration for reaching such an important milestone, Shutterstock is giving its contributing artists a chance to make more money.

For a 30-day period, photographers will earn a 50% commission from every new customer they refer to the site.

So if you know or discover an artist whose work you love on Shutterstock, think about it, it's the perfect chance to give back and help them earn a little more!

See the full Shutterstock Contributor Earnings Report here if you wish to know more! 

Amos Struck
Amos Struck

Amos Struck, a renowned expert with over two decades in the stock photography industry, is known for his profound expertise in both stock imagery and artificial intelligence (AI). He is the founder of StockPhotoSecrets.com and a driving force behind the innovative AI-driven platform, Stockphotos.com. His pioneering work in visual AI is marked by co-founding Ximilar AI. Amos also established the Microstock Expo Conference, a key event in the stock photography sector. As a regular speaker at major industry conferences like DMLA and a prominent member of CEPIC, he consistently contributes to the industry's growth and evolution through a blend of technological innovation and market insight.

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