Index Stock Imagery, www.indexstock.com, launched its high resolution subscription service, Index Open (www.indexopen.com) last fall with 25,000 top quality images for $599 every six months. Index Open is still only $599, despite recently passing the 80,000-image mark.
So far, Index has kept the price of Index Open stable, despite a huge increase in the number of images offered. It has been able to do this, because the strong customer response for this subscription product has created an ever-growing pool of royalties to split with its artists. (Index is an artist-oriented agency-all of its images come from independent sources. Index owns no images. Therefore, Index has to balance providing value to its customers against earning a fair return for its artists.) Index Open product manager Brent Phelps says he has considered raising the price for Index Open several times, but has been reluctant to make changes in something that seems to work so well. He feels, “Our artists are happy, since their images are generating good revenue, and our customers seem to appreciate our constant additions to the collection.”
Mr. Phelps has conducted surveys with Index Open customers that indicate their two most important needs from a subscription are: to get regular infusions of fresh images and to have a simple license arrangement. The new images have satisfied this first need and Index Open has no limit on image use or other license hooks, that could trip up its users.
Index Open remains the only integrated approach to image licensing. A subscriber who searches Index Open will see a link to Index Stock’s regular stock image site, where he or she can choose from over 900,000 Rights Managed and Royalty Free images, on the same subject. Index now also offers a similar subscription for lower-end users called Photos To Go Unlimited (www.photostogounlimited.com). For just $99, users who only need 2 MB file sizes can get access for six months to the same 80,000 images that are available on Index Open.
Index Stock Imagery has a broad, deep library, composed solely of images contributed by independent artists and agents. Index does not own or create its own images. The company is a major International player in the stock photo industry, with a 900,000+ image library and more than 100 distributors. Its library includes more than 200,000 royalty free images and more than 20,000 illustrations. Mac users can enjoy a Mac interface, and all of Index’s loyal U.S. customers receive gifts through the Image Points Program, which is featured on the Index Web site.
This article was last modified on March 24, 2022
This article was first published on October 6, 2005
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