Visual elements company Veer launches new ‘Marketplace’ microstock arm
Veer, the visual design elements company owned by Corbis Images, announced this week that it has launched its new royalty-free microstock service, the Veer Marketplace, which will offer images for between $1 and $20.
Veer has amassed 125,000 images from SnapVillage, which was Corbis’ previous microstock photography venture. According to a Feb. 5 SnapVillage blog post, once the Veer Marketplace is “launched and fully operational, it will become Corbis’ only microstock brand and SnapVillage will be phased out by the end of the year.”
Veer has built its business selling high-end photos, illustrations, and specialized fonts for use in professional creative projects. Now, the budget images from the microstock collection will compete with Veer’s extensive rights-managed photo collection, in which images can sell for more than $400. The company also sells merchandise such as t-shirts, bags, cases and office decor.
Veer, based in Calgary, Canada, states on its site that a much larger selection of microstock photos will be added in mid 2009, “along with credit-based pricing, subscription purchase programs, and advanced upload capabilities for image contributors.”
“Veer customers appreciate our filtered approach to photography, illustration, and type, and our clean, simple interface,” said Issa Breibish, Director of Worldwide Community for Veer, in a statement posted on the company’s site. “Veer Marketplace gives our customers the low-priced images they’ve been asking for, with the same quality-oriented philosophy, and through the same easy-to-use web site. We’re thrilled that Veer can now help designers succeed on projects for even their most budget-conscious clients.”
Corbis representatives have said that microstock photography could grow to 25 percent of the overall stock photography business within the next few years. One harbinger of that transition could be the snowballing profitability of microstock giant iStockPhoto, which claims to be selling one photo every second and anticipates paying out photographer royalties at a pace of more than $1 million a week in 2009.
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