Stocksy

The company operates a digital stock media marketplace structured as a multi-stakeholder co-operative. Member artists supply exclusive photos, videos and illustrations, which are curated and made available for royalty-free licensing. Buyers pay one-off fees per asset, typically determined by image size or video resolution, and obtain rights defined by the licence type.

Revenue from these licence sales funds platform operations, and a high proportion is paid to contributors as royalties, with additional surplus distributed to co-op members as patronage or dividends. Value is created for buyers through access to a curated, exclusive library of non-AI media content and for artists through comparatively high royalties and shared ownership of the platform.

Stocksy United is a Canadian, artist-owned stock media co-operative that licenses royalty-free photos, videos and illustrations to a global base of professional content buyers. Its catalogue is produced by member artists and is curated by humans, with an explicit policy of not using generative AI content.

The company generates revenue by selling licences for individual media assets, with tiered prices based on image size or video resolution. More than half of revenue is paid out as royalties to contributors, and surplus is distributed to co-op members. Customers are mainly creative, marketing, media and publishing teams that require premium, exclusive imagery and footage for commercial, editorial and digital use.