What does Shutterstock data license mean?
Shutterstock data license
Shutterstock has introduced a new way of earning income from your photos: data license. But what does data licensing mean? Is data licensing really an extra way to earn more passive income? In this article I will explain what will happen if you allow your photos to be used with a data license. You will learn all you need to know in order to make a choice whether to opt in or out of earning data license commissions.
What is a data license?
A data license is a license that allows the data of your image to be used for machine learning. It differs from an image license in that the image is not directly used for publication. The image and it’s meta data are used by companies to teach their Artificial Intelligence (AI) software. This means that when the AI software generates a new image, it can use information they learned from your image. So your image itself is not directly used, but elements of it can come back in a newly generated AI image.
Shutterstock now offers Data deals to these AI software companies. This means Shutterstock delivers packages of data to these companies to train their AI software. One of the companies Shutterstock works with is OpenAI, which is well know for creating the ChatGPT and Dall-E software. Every time one of your images is used in one of these data sets, you will receive a compensation from the Shutterstock contributor fund.
What is machine learning?
Machine learning is the training of AI systems. In relation to images, this can mean that AI software needs to know how to recognize or create certain elements of an image. Let’s use a bicycle as an example. On the one hand there is software that needs to recognize what a bicycle is. For example software that is used in autonomous vehicles. By showing this software many photos of different bicycles from all angles, the software will learn what a bicycle looks like. Then in traffic it will be able to distinguish a bicycle from a motorcycle and a pedestrian.
Then there is also software that generates images using AI. This is the software most stock contributors are skeptical of. Imagine a user asking an AI image generator to generate an image of a person riding a bicycle. The software then first needs to know what a bicycle looks like, to be able to generate a realistic picture. It can be trained again by inserting lots of different photos of bicycles.
Eligible for data licensing
When your images have been reviewed by Shutterstock, they can now be awarded the status Eligible for data licensing. This means your image is not accepted into the regular collection of shutterstock, but can be used to train AI software. Your image will not appear in your regular portfolio, so regular buyers can not find or license it. However it can still earn some money from the contributor fund, if it is used in a data set for machine learning. This status basically means your photo was rejected for the normal collection, but was found to be useful for training AI software.
Is data licensing good or bad?
Above all, this is something you have to decide for yourself. On the one hand, income is income. If you choose to opt out of data licensing, you will consequently earn nothing for that particular photo on Shutterstock. On the other hand, if you do choose to accept data licensing, you may earn some money from the contributor fund. Then again, you can argue that you are helping the competition if you allow your images to be used for machine learning. In recent times AI generated images are rapidly taking the place of stock images. Buyers that previously used stock photos for their publications, start using AI images more and more. So by helping the AI software getting better, you are essentially lowering your potential future income from stock photography.
How to opt out of data licensing
If you don’t want Shutterstock to use your images for the training of AI software, you can also opt out. Then your photos that are in your portfolio, or those that are eligible for data licensing, will not be added to the data deals and you will not earn anything from the contributor fund. In order to opt out of data licensing on Shutterstock, you need to go to the contributor website on a web browser. In the bottom left corner select the Account icon and then choose Account settings. Scroll down to the section that says Licensing options and switch off Data licensing. Then save your settings and your images will no be used for the training of AI software.
If you want to allow data licensing in a later stage, you can just turn it on again in the same way.
I have one important question. If I opt in, are only those photos rejected for regular portfolio and accepted only for data licensing used for AI training or do I agree to use also all my regular portfolio for AI training?
Good question. The difference between photos that are accepted and photos that are eligible for data license, is that the accepted photos can be used for all purposes (depending on commercial or editorial license) but the ones that are eligible for data license can only be used for data license. So if you opt in, all your photos that have been accepted into your portfolio *can* also be used for data license, together with the ones that have been marked eligible for data license.
Also, opting out does not mean you will not get any more photos that are eligible for data licensing. It will just mean those photos will not be used any more.
Hi, thanks for this useful article. I have got quite a few photos approved as ‘ data licensing’, which was a surprise. I have three questions: first, how much can you earn from those licensed photos compared to the ‘normal’ ones? Second, I guess, unlike the ‘normal’ photos, you can only sell such licensed photos once. lastly, am I right that if I opt ‘out’ now, such photos will not go back to my portfolio and become useless? And one more…would my photos only be given the ‘data licensing’ status when it’s submitted as ‘commercial’ as opposed to ‘editorial’? Many thanks
Thanks, that’s a couple of good questions! For your first question, even though it’s difficult to say exactly, generally you earn a lot less from data license then from regular editorial of commercial licenses. Your second point is a misconception, you can license a photo multiple times as data license. There is multiple buyers that train their AI with images from Shutterstock. You are right that if you opt out, the photos will not revert back to your regular portfolio. If they are only eligible for data licensing they with not earn you anything when you opt out. And to answer your last question; all photos can get the status eligible for data license, regardless if they are commercial or editorial. It is mostly a quality issue, or maybe there are already to many images in the database for the subject you are uploading. I hope all of your questions are answered to your satisfaction.
Thank you very much Mr. Muller for this magnificent article. Also thanks to the rest of the participants for their interesting questions.
Thank you for your kind words!
In any of the cases you need to remember it’s a slave market, You invest in very expensive equipment, time and learning and effort to bring your best photos, and in the end you get 10 cents for each download, competing in a world that is clearly going in the direction of AI and other free sites of all kinds. In short, if you were thinking of making some money, this is really not the place, Shutterstock, in order not to harm the profits of the owners, hit the contributors as hard as possible.
Thank you so much for explaining this! I tried to find this info on Shutterstock support pages but I did not understand what I was reading, Altogether I did not even understand, why some photos had the “Eligible for data licensing”, and not in my public portfolio.
Now, when read your explanation, I also find it very difficult to understand, why the tram&street photos I just recently sent, were not approved for my collections.
They were in my Data catalog folder only. One of my street photos was approved, and all similar ones went to the Data catalog, even if you cannot find any trademarks or recognized people, which would explain the “rejection”, but were “good enough” for data licensing. 😀
I was a bit furious about this, and I tried to send a Contact Us Support request via the form for a better explanation.
I got five times: Something went wrong with Contact Us request processing.
Hmmmm.
So, I was really happy to find finally at least one article, that explained so well what data licensing means.
I am not sure if I no longer even want to continue the collaboration with Shutterstock 😛
I just started a couple of weeks ago.
Wish you a Happy and Peaceful 2024.
Glad I could help! 😀
And please don’t get discouraged. All beginnings are tough, you will learn what is needed and what doesn’t get accepted soon enough.
How much I will earn every week from my picture “is Eligible for data licensing”
Thanks for your question. I’m sorry, but it is impossible for me to say how much you will earn. There is a lot of factors involved, like how big is your portfolio, what is the quality of the images in it and what are the subjects. But certainly don’t expect a great weekly return from data licensing.
If I opt out of Data Licensing, can I RESUBMIT those images for STOCK PHOTO licensing or will they automatically become part of the managed catalog
As far as I know: no, you can not resubmit those photos. If you opt out, the photos that are selected as eligible for data licensing are still added to your data licensing portfolio. They just will not be licensed, so they just sit there. If you resubmit they will be duplicates in your portfolio, which is against Shutterstock policy.
Hi, thank you for your article, it’s clarified a few things for me and very useful. I was wondering if you knew if there was a time limit to the images being in the data catalog as a whole pile of images have disappeared from it. Does that mean they have been used? I can’t seem to find anything on shutterstock explaining that. Thanks
Hi, thanks. No, they should not disappear from your data catalog wen they have been used. They can always be used again in another set. Strange to hear that photos have vanished, although I have seen other reports of this happening. I’m afraid I don’t know what the cause or reason for this is too.
Hi, thanks for the article which has clarified some things. A question I still have is: Some of my photos are being given the “Eligible for data licensing only” but there isn’t an explanation given for why they aren’t eligible for normal use? One of my pictures for example is definitely not generic.
Thank you Morgan, glad I could clear some stuff up for you. The issue you report is actually one of the drawbacks of the “eligible for data licensing” qualification Shutterstock gives. It is basically a rejection for the regular portfolio, but you can’t see why it is rejected. Shutterstock’s philosophy behind this, is that the image is not rejected (it is eligible for data licensing after all). However most contributors don’t care for the data licensing and want to know why it is not selected for portfolio. This is just a side effect of the phenomenon I’m afraid…
Hi, thanks for this article, it was more helpful than Shutterstock’s answering service which ironically is AI driven.
One area I’m still confused about: I submit my images to many other stocksites eg Adobe Stock, iStock and Dreamstime. If Shutterstock has zoned my images for Data Licensing, will I be in contravention of my Shutterstock contract if these other sites approve the same images for standard Royalty-Free distribution?
No, you will not be breaching the terms of service when uploading to multiple platforms as long as you don’t sign an agreement for exclusivity.
When, how and where do you see any “sales” from data license sales?
Data license sales will not show up per image. You will periodically find an amount in the “contributor fund” column in the earnings summary, i think twice a year. Unfortunately you won’t be able to see which pictures were licensed.
How much 1 photo for data licesing.
Since ShutterStock doesn’t give any specifications, this question is impossible to answer I’m afraid. But is only small amounts for data licensing for sure.
Thank you Edwin, and to those who asked questions. Just what I needed to understand this confusing option.
Thanks for reaching out!
Hi! I recently uploaded two photos that were elegible for data licensing and after the first one was approved I opted out because I didn’t knew what it meant. Would my photo still be used but I won’t get any income?
When you opted out you’re images should no longer be used for data licensing. I have however opted out myself and I still sometimes receive small amounts from the contributor fund. It is impossible to figure out what this money is for, since ShutterStock doesn’t specify the earnings…
Does Shutterstock would accept images for only “data licensing” even if the photos are not of high quality?
It seems that pictures that have low sales potential, but are reasonable quality are selected as eligible for data licensing.
I don’t know if images are still “old style rejected” if the quality is outright bad, as I only upload quality photos. If anyone else reading this has experience with rejections, would they please respond to this?
I heard that the reason some photos are labeled for date licensing and not accepted is because the photos themselves have something wrong with them and that you can delete them and try to fix them and then resubmit. Is that true? Thank you.
No, I don’t think you can delete and resubmit those images that have been approved for data licensing. Best is to work on your photography skills and produce photos with sales potential. You can rea my article with tips for stock photography if you need inspiration.
Hi good day how can I make my photos appear in shutterstock? it says
This content has been approved for data licensing by our data partners. It will not surface in search results on Shutterstock
When a photo is approved for data licensing, that means they are not approved for the regular portfolio. This means that Shutterstock is in the opinion that the quality of the image not to their standards, but that it is good enough to be used for training AI. So the solution would be to take better photos. Check out my article with tips for stock photography if you need inspiration.
How will I know if my data-licensed photos are being used by AI companies?
Since there is no detailed report from Shutterstock on the images they use, there is no way to know that I know of. The only thing you will see is the occasional earnings, but there is no link to specific images.