Getty to sell images from Flickr

I just did a post at my microstock photography blog (here) on the new relationship between Getty and Flickr.  Most of that posts was targeted to microstock but my conclusion was that the photographer at Flickr wont see much change but:

The real benefit in this scheme is for Getty.  If they have buyers for a type of photo, but don't have that type of photo, they will search Flickr on the buyers behalf and then take a 60%-80% commission for selling it where as currently, the buyer doesn’t find it on Getty so goes to Flickr and buys it direct from the photographer.

I don't know why Flickr didn’t try to monetise their photos on their own site.  Why didn’t they go down the line of Zooomr’s aborted “marketplace” or new entrant Photrade who plan on being a hybrid community site like Flickr but have the built in ability to sell and monetise your photos.

For more commentary from difference perspectives see:

Lee Torens (microstock photographer) here

Thomas Hawk (Flickr power users) here and here

PDN Pulse (photography news) here

Techcrunch (Tech news) here