Part 2 of Interview with John Griffin on Cutcaster

5. Have you found that photographers raise the prices above those the algorithm recommends when they think they're too low?

They have that option if they wanted to but have not noticed data that points to that as of now. We have seen people default to the algorithm and watch how it prices the content and are intrigued to see where it will price a RF license. I’d say, generally they will price it higher but if it is priced too high a buyer can go in and submit a lower bid so the seller can still capture that sale if they do happen to price their content too high and agree to the bid.


6. And what about the bids? Are buyers quoting prices in line with your algorithm as well or are they low-balling in the hope of getting lucky?
See number 7

7. Have you found that some photographers are prepared to accept low prices in order to make a sale?

The bidding process is just being rolled out as we speak to the live site so we don’t have hard data for the live site but it’s going to be great to see it in action and how buyers use it. I’m very excited. From the research we did over the last two years and speaking with creators/sellers we believe that sellers wanted to be notified if there is an interest from potential buyers but only at a lower price. It’s a really simple and easy process for someone to submit a lower price (i.e. bid for content) with a message and then so simple for a seller to accept the deal, submit a new price back, or decline the lower price. The prices are accompanied with a message so the two parties can speak back and forth if they wanted to. If they can capture a sale that isn’t too far off their initial offering price the research points to evidence that they want the option to accept, reject or make a counter-offer. They just never had the tools to do this.

In your blog article you said, “It might be accurate to say that there isn’t a market rate but rather different rates for different markets.” We want to make sure the seller can capture that by helping him price his content but then be able to sell it to different buyers with different budgets while having the power to choose whether they accept or decline the chance to have a sale.


8. What might cause an image to be rejected from Cutcaster?
We are very open and want to create an environment that teaches people how to create amazing content that is also commercially viable so we are concerned and want to help creators get as good as they can. I put my cell phone number on the site and my personal email so people are always free to reach out to me or anyone on the team with any questions. We have a contributor policy that states what we will and wont accept and a list of desired content as well. We wanted to create an open marketplace to all and get away from the Getty exclusiveness, which works well for them but excluded a large part of the market. A great example for why an image would be rejected is if the image didn’t belong to you. Our idea was to create the most transparent, secure and open marketplace, which would be the first real consumer-licensing vehicle.


9. And finally what advice would you have for sellers hoping to upload and sell lots of images through your site?

Anyone can be a photographer. Its not up to me to decide. Anyone can convey his or her visual art to the world. There are no preconceptions. There are no “gatekeepers” saying you are not good enough. We want to be a part of the future and represent it with anyone who wants to be a part of it as well. This means breaking new boundaries and speaking to a new audience along with parts of the older audience that wants to be a part of the new industry and our current audience who gets both.