The Story of Stocksy United: How a progressive stock media agency plans to change the world 

Stocksy United is an artist-owned stock media company that licenses premium stock photos, videos, and illustrations to a global clientele serving more than 50% of fortune 500 companies to date. It’s also a cooperative of passionate people on a mission to change the face of the media and enable the creative class to do meaningful work. 

But what can a stock media company do to incur change? What even is a platform co-op, and what place does it have in media and advertising? The answers lie in an entrepreneurial dream to disrupt the status quo and set an example for the future of progressive business. 

The new ethical business model

In most traditional stock media business models, artists profit from licensing their digital assets. The percentage they take is often minimized over time to increase investor margins and company profits. After watching their livelihoods diminish with no control to change the narrative, the community of stock creators became disenfranchised and disillusioned. This trend ultimately ignited a flame in Stocksy co-founders Bruce Livingstone and Brianna Wettlaufer to develop a for-profit business model that offered a high-quality product while fostering artist accountability. Thus, in 2013, the first stock media platform co-op was born.

A platform co-op is a worker-owned business based on a sharing economy vs. an access economy.  Think Uber and Airbnb — but owned by its members. At its inception, Stocksy was “an online community business designed to put power back into the hands of its co-owners through collaboration, fair distribution of profits, and ethical business practices.” 

Fair pay for artists 

Ownership and fair pay play a considerable part in Stcoksy’s co-op model. Artists receive 50-75% of every license sold, a much higher average than the industry benchmark of 20%, and they also have a voice. Stocksy’s artists can influence major company decisions by submitting and voting on ideas for company improvements via a resolution process. 

Stocksy also pays out its annual surplus profits in the form of Patronage — similar to dividends. Since our inception, Stocksy United has paid $50.1 million in royalties to artists. 

The absence of investor dependency and inability to sell the company without consensus is built into the co-op model to encourage a people-over-profits mentality and prioritize longevity and sustainability. But a cool, progressive business model does not necessarily make for a successful business. The product has to match the integrity of the process. 

Non-cliché stock media

If you have ever worked in advertising, you may remember how the words stock photo incited a cringe factor a decade ago. Remember the catalogs of plastic-looking white people in starchy shirts shaking hands and eating “happy” iceberg lettuce salads? We all do. Stocky sought to disrupt the stale, overstated, and often clichéd stock industry by offering photography, video, and illustrations that were useful and as beautiful as custom editorial shoots. And in 2013, that’s just what they did, building a collection with 1000 artists to service a growing roster of clients with quality work and an easy-to-use platform. 

Representation in media matters 

Fast forward a decade, and the world has changed a lot. Through political upheavals, pandemics, and civil rights movements, Stocksy has been watching, responding, and anticipating shifts along the way. 

Stock media serves to reflect the world as it is. Marketers and media makers shape the narratives that show up in our digital ads, our billboards, subway posters, magazines, major motion pictures even. The amount of stock media the average person sees in a day is pretty surprising once you know how to look for it. With this knowledge, Stocksy sees the opportunity to influence global visual media as a great privilege and ignition for progressing the company forward. 

Let’s talk about the media and how stock media contributes to it. Beyond the aesthetic value of imagery, the stock industry has struggled with providing accurate representations of a global and intersectional population. We see more diversity in the media these days as compared to the past, there’s no doubt about that. And that, we call all agree, is a good thing. But, the stock assets themselves only represent diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) on the surface level. The issue remains that most stock imagery still comes from a predominantly white anglo Saxon lens. Building a library of representative stock media requires varied perspectives with licensable assets created by people in underrepresented communities — who is behind the lens is just as important as in front of the lens. That’s how to provide authentic depictions of lived experiences. Stocksy is aware of this systemic equity issue and they’re working on it with an in-depth content policy, outreach programs, and call to artist campaigns that recruit underserved talent from global locations.

Stocksy’s model approaches the issue of an unbalanced industry in its imagery and contributor base, but its business model also addresses the need for a progressive platform. Consideration and collaboration with Contributors is just as essential as empathy for clients. The artists create the product, but it is up to the media makers, marketers, and stock media client base to showcase that work and change the media itself. 

Technology & humans that empowers representation

By designing an intuitive platform with innovative technology like Visually-Similar and Conceptually-Similar, Stocksy’s clients can find the assets they need faster. And with a stringent vetting process and dedicated editing team, the Stocksy collection is curated to provide only those assets that meet the guidelines of its content policy — which means that there is no fluff. Every stock photo, video, and illustration is considered by real humans before being inducted into Stocksy’s library. 

A cooperative with a mission to change the world sounds like a lofty goal, but Stocksy is the real thing. Since its inception, Stocksy has grown to 1800+ artists and over 60 staff from 80 countries worldwide. They have also managed to add over 2 million assets to their collection, all while maintaining profitability and a commitment to their vision. Initially founded to disrupt an industry, Stocksy’s purpose has evolved in just under a decade to a more significant arena — affecting social change and empowering the creative class to do meaningful work. 

Stocksy’s story illustrates how building a business with equity and meaning at its core is both possible and profitable. And can look damn good while doing it.

See our story continue, follow us on:

Blog: https://www.stocksy.com/ideas
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@stocksyunited
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stocksy-united
Twitter: https://twitter.com/StocksyUnited
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