
As a stock photo agency, it is important to show that contributors, as well as the agency, make money in the stock photo industry. Shutterstock decided to release its contributions to stock photographers, stock designers, and stock musicians from the last 10 years. With the use of stock media increasing rapidly, contributors can make significant money if they work with companies like Shutterstock
Shutterstock awards contributors aproximately $15 million USD per year
In the last ten years, Shutterstock has paid out $150,000,000 in contributor payouts, making annual payouts approximately $15 million per year. With tens of thousands of contributors in over 100 countries, this annual sum is nothing to sneeze at. Contributors are paid per download of their stock photo or stock design. If their photos were popular, the contributor made more money. Each contributor makes a different amount of money, but Shutterstock definitely helped the welfare of contributing photographers, musicians, and designers.
Shutterstock contributes these high payouts to the quality of submissions, the increased use of stock media, the increased awareness of stock photo agencies, and the need for media in the ever-expanding digital world. As a stock photo agency, Shutterstock is in the top 6 with over 24 million images, 900,000 video clips. They successfully connect over 40,000 artists with image buyers around the globe.
Want to join the people making money from their photos? Check our guide to selling photos online!
Join Shutterstock now as a Artist and start earning
If you are an artist that produces photos, images, vectors, or audio and has not yet signed up at Shutterstock or other stock photo agencies, consider this an option to extend your business. Sign-up now at Shutterstock and be a part of the next $15 Million per year payouts.
Stock photo agencies make uploading, personal branding, and profit-sharing easier in 2013. With a growing need for media contributions, Shutterstock or any stock agency continues to look for new contributors. Who would not want to share in an annual payout of $15 million? With the rate media, images and photos are being sold these days, that annual payout just may increase.
Check out information about how you can contribute and what stock photo agencies offer.

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Your calculation of $15M payouts to contributors is totally incorrect by a wide margin.
Hello, not sure exactly what you mean. This is a news article from 2013, which reported on Shutterstock’s official announcement of surpassing $150M in contributor payouts (you can see the press release right here).
At the time of this announcement, Shutterstock had been in business for 10 years. What Amos did was a simple breakdown of those numbers that meant an average of $15M in contributor payouts per year.
Shutterstock’s latest announcement in terms of contributor earnings milestones is from 2019 when they reported having reached $1 Billion in contributor earnings.
Hope this clears it up for you!