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Bruce Livingstone

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Bruce Livingstone
NationalityCanadian
OccupationEntrepreneur, photographer
CompanyStocksy United
TitleCo-founder and Chair of the Board, Stocksy United
SpouseBrianna Wettlaufer

Bruce T. Livingstone is a Canadian entrepreneur who founded iStockphoto, the Calgary-based online stock photography marketplace that is credited with creating the low-cost "microstock" model of image licensing, and who later co-founded Stocksy United, a photographer-owned stock media co-operative based in Victoria, British Columbia.[1][2]

Livingstone started iStockphoto in 2000 as a free image-sharing site run out of a design firm, and began charging for downloads after a hosting bill of about $10,000 arrived in late 2000. The decision to return a share of each sale to the photographer became the basis of microstock.[1] In February 2006 he sold iStockphoto to Getty Images for US$50 million in cash and stayed on as its chief executive.[3] Getty made him a senior vice president and executive officer in May 2007, added responsibility for its technology organisation in August 2007, and moved him to its Seattle headquarters in December 2007. He left both iStockphoto and Getty in March 2009.[3][4]

After Getty, Livingstone directed the 2010 relaunch of Saatchi Online, the artists' marketplace started by London's Saatchi Gallery, from Los Angeles.[5] Once his non-compete agreement with Getty had run out, he returned to Canada and, with Brianna Wettlaufer, launched Stocksy United on March 25, 2013.[6][7] Livingstone was Stocksy's first chief executive. When Wettlaufer took over as CEO in March 2014 he became chairman of the board, and a July 2024 company announcement still described him as co-founder and chair.[8][2]

Livingstone has said publicly that Getty mishandled iStockphoto after buying it, and he designed Stocksy to pay contributors more than standard stock agencies do. Under Stocksy's structure, photographers receive at least half of each sale and share in the company's annual profits.[6][9]

Early life and education

The Globe and Mail described Livingstone as "originally a Montrealer".[10] According to the press release for Stocksy's launch, he "followed several divergent paths" before starting iStockphoto, including theology studies at the University of Calgary and playing drums in the punk rock band the Bittermen.[7] In a 2009 interview with The Globe and Mail he said he had always thought of himself as a musician first, and that he had spent six years in the Bittermen.[1] He has described himself as "a creative guy, a musician, designer and a photographer", adding: "I'm not really great at any one of those things. However, I did have a great idea."[11] The sources consulted do not give a degree or year of graduation.

Career

Early ventures and Evolvs Media

Livingstone was running businesses before iStockphoto existed. In 2009 he told The Globe and Mail he had "six dead companies under my belt" and put his record at "about a 60-40 failure ratio".[1] One of the companies that survived was Evolvs Media Inc., a technology business he owned outright through a holding company. According to Getty Images' 2007 annual report, Evolvs had about 20 employees, most of them software developers, and worked from a Calgary office building that Livingstone owned through another holding company.[3] He was also the controlling shareholder of Paper Thin Walls Inc., which Getty described as "an independent music community with reviews, news, and free music downloads", and which had one other shareholder.[12][3]

iStockphoto (2000 to 2006)

Livingstone said the idea for iStockphoto came while he was working at a design firm that shot a lot of its own photography. "We didn't have anything to do with the photography after we used it, so we decided to give it away," he said. Within a few months, photographers were contacting him to say they had images to share too, so he set up a credit system: when someone downloaded one of your photos, you earned a credit to download someone else's.[1] He described this as "a credit based system where I could trade images with other photographers and designers".[11]

The site's growth soon became expensive. Livingstone said that in late 2000 he received a web hosting bill of about $10,000: "I had to do something or shut it down." iStockphoto began selling download credits at 25 cents each and paid 20 percent of that, a nickel per download, to the photographer. "We didn't realize it at the time, but that was the birth of microstock," he said.[1] In a separate interview he said the company "only" started charging because of "the explosive IT costs that went along with our initial growth", and that paying contributors was what made the model new.[11]

As iStockphoto grew, it settled on a tiered commission structure. Livingstone said in 2009 that contributors started at 20 percent commission and earned an extra five percentage points each time they reached 250, 2,500, 10,000 and 25,000 sales, up to a maximum payout of 40 percent for photographers who sold exclusively through iStock. Each upload was checked for copyright, trademark and model-release problems and then reviewed for quality before going on sale, after which the site's community commented on, rated and categorised it.[11] Getty later described the company as selling single images for $1 to $20 and video clips for $10 to $50, depending on file size.[3] Livingstone said keyword optimisation and paid search advertising had done the most for iStock's marketing.[11]

He said iStockphoto had $12 million in revenue in 2005. The company was "at the edge of this tremendous growth curve", he said, but needed to rebuild its systems and rewrite its site. He estimated the hardware investment at about $10 million and expected software to need a similar amount, "so we needed about $20-million to stay No. 1."[1]

Sale to Getty Images (2006)

Getty Images announced on February 9, 2006 that it had bought iStockphoto, with Livingstone named in the announcement as founder, CEO and president. "We took a look at where we wanted to go and found Getty Images singularly capable of helping us get there," he said. The release said iStockphoto would keep operating as a separate brand and that Livingstone "will remain at the helm".[13] Getty's annual report gave the price as $50.0 million in cash for all the shares of iStockphoto, Inc., most of which it booked as goodwill ($40.9 million) and identifiable intangible assets ($13.5 million).[3]

Livingstone said he met Getty chief executive Jonathan Klein in Seattle and "we hit it off", and that the $50 million in cash "also helped". He also said he had agreed with Klein that he would keep running iStockphoto without interference. "That happened for three years before it seemed like things were going to start changing," he said in 2009.[1] Canadian Business reported that he stayed with Getty "well after the iStock sale" and was bound by a non-compete agreement until 2012.[6]

Senior vice president at Getty Images (2007 to 2009)

On May 4, 2007, Getty's board approved Livingstone's promotion to executive officer, effective May 7, 2007, while he remained CEO of iStockphoto.[14] Getty's annual report said he became a senior vice president of Getty Images in May 2007. In August 2007 he was given responsibility for Getty's technology organisation and took the additional title of Senior Vice President, Technology. He moved to Getty's headquarters in Seattle in December 2007.[3] The Globe and Mail likewise reported that he took on two additional roles a year after the sale, which meant moving to Seattle.[1]

Livingstone's new roles brought two related-party transactions. On May 4, 2007, Getty bought substantially all of the assets of Evolvs Media for C$395,000 (about US$348,000) and took over Evolvs's lease on its Calgary offices in a building Livingstone owned, at about C$60,000 a year.[14] The May 2007 filing gave the lease as six years and the later annual report as five.[3] On June 27, 2007, Getty bought substantially all of the assets of Paper Thin Walls for C$965,000.[12] Getty's board waived the conflict-of-interest provisions of its Code of Ethics and Code of Business Conduct for these deals. In its words, it concluded that they were "in the best interests of the Company, will help support and accelerate the Company's strategy, and involves a relatively small amount of money."[14]

Getty's 2007 annual report said Livingstone was on a different incentive plan in 2007 from the other executive officers and received a bonus under "a hybrid iStockphoto/Getty Images bonus plan". He was due to join the standard non-sales bonus plan in 2008. He had lived in Canada for part of 2007 and then moved to the United States.[3] In 2008 Getty agreed to be taken private by a company formed by funds of Hellman & Friedman, at $34.00 per share. The merger proxy statement listed Livingstone, then 37, among Getty's executive officers. It showed him holding 23,558 unvested restricted stock units valued at $800,972 and gave his potential cash severance as $650,000. His employment agreement, like those of two other executives, contained a "double-trigger" change-of-control provision.[15] In a filing of November 2008, after the buyout, Getty listed him as Senior Vice President, Consumer Market, and as a citizen of Canada.[16]

Departure from Getty (2009)

On March 23, 2009, CNET reported that Livingstone was leaving iStockphoto. His farewell post on the iStock forum said: "This is my last communication as CEO of iStockphoto and SVP Consumer at Getty Images. It's been a difficult decision, but it's the right moment to move on." He added: "I need more time with my family, and time to figure out what I'm going to do next. Anybody who knows me, knows I'm a bit of a workaholic."[4] iStock's chief operating officer, Kelly Thompson, took over his duties, reporting directly to Klein. Getty said the departure had nothing to do with 110 layoffs at the company reported the week before. Thompson said it had been "planned for some time, with a potential April 1 announcement date, which is within the wry character of Bruce", but had been brought forward because it was hard to keep quiet. Livingstone said he would stay somewhat involved with iStockphoto: "I'm still a photographer after all, and I'll finally have time to take pictures now."[4]

In June 2009 Livingstone gave a different emphasis. "It was time for me to go," he told The Globe and Mail. "IStock was maturing into a large business and needed a change in senior management. They wanted to go in a different direction." He said he was "already doing a few things, but nothing full-time yet".[1] He was more critical in 2013. "I was there long enough to see the dismantling," he told Canadian Business. "They took a really good business and ruined it."[6]

Saatchi Online (2010 to 2012)

The Saatchi Gallery in London launched Saatchi Online in 2006 so that artists without gallery representation could show their work to a global audience. In 2011 the site's own "About Us" page said it had "re-launched in 2010 in LA under the direction of entrepreneur Bruce Livingstone".[5] The relaunched site sold original work directly from artists to collectors. The Los Angeles Business Journal later reported that it became an e-commerce business in 2011 after receiving $5 million from the London venture capital firm Balderton Capital.[17] The Globe and Mail noted that Livingstone moved to Los Angeles after building iStockphoto in Calgary.[10] By July 18, 2012, a Saatchi Online press release referred to Margo Spiritus as the company's "new CEO".[18] The sources retrieved do not give the exact date or circumstances of Livingstone's departure.

Stocksy United (2013 to present)

Stocksy launched on March 25, 2013 as a "digital licensing co-op". Its launch release described it as "an online marketplace owned collectively by its photographer-members". Photographers received a 50 percent royalty on each transaction and 100 percent on extended licences, and 90 percent of profits were to be divided among members at the end of each year.[7] According to The New York Times, Livingstone and Wettlaufer, who had been iStockphoto's vice president of development and its fourth employee, used money from the Getty sale to start the company. They considered making it a non-profit before choosing a co-operative structure.[19] Stocksy was incorporated as a co-operative under Alberta law. Because that only required living in Canada, Livingstone chose Victoria, which he said was close to family.[10]

Livingstone presented Stocksy as a response to what microstock had become. "We wanted to create a marketplace for photographers that was not only democratic, but fair and sustainable," he said at launch. "There's no reason these artists shouldn't be able to earn a living from what they produce."[9] He accepted that its images would cost more than most microstock: "If you want a picture of an apple on a white background, we probably don't have the shot you're looking for, and I would say go ahead and buy it from someone else. That's not the market we're after."[9] At launch Stocksy charged $10, $25, $50 and $100 for small, medium, large and extra-large files, plus $300 for unlimited print use, $500 for a product for resale and $700 for an electronic product for resale. It had more than 100 contributors at the start, listed under their real names.[9]

In a May 2013 interview with the industry newsletter Selling Stock, Livingstone said Stocksy had 320 photographers who had contributed about 25,000 images. Images had to be exclusive to Stocksy, including near-duplicates ("sister images"), but photographers were free to sell other work elsewhere. He said the company had "curators", not inspectors, and that it had cut the waiting period for rejected applicants to reapply from a year to three months. He criticised rivals' premium collections, including iStock's Vetta and Agency lines, Fotolia's Infinity and Shutterstock's planned Offset. In his view they were moving older, cheaper content into expensive tiers, while Stocksy charged one price structure for everything with "no subscriptions or credits or discounts on volume". "Over supply is killing the market," he said.[20]

By October 2013 Stocksy had about 400 photographers and roughly 50,000 photos. It had committed to admitting no more than 500 photographers a year, by invitation, and had a team of 12, half in Victoria. Of the 10 percent of profits not paid to members, half went to advisers and half to the founders.[10] That month, Canadian Business described Stocksy and Dissolve, a Calgary video marketplace co-founded by Livingstone's former iStock partner Patrick Lor, as a renewed challenge to Getty from "the very people it made rich".[6]

On Stocksy's first anniversary in March 2014, Wettlaufer was appointed chief executive and Livingstone became chairman of the board. Richard Brown was named chief technology officer. Stocksy then had almost 1,000 members. Livingstone said Wettlaufer had "invented the authentic category" and called her "a gifted creative director, exceptional curator, tech savvy, with strong leadership skills".[8] By 2016 The New York Times reported that Stocksy had 900 photographer-members, chosen from more than 10,000 applications, along with 20 full-time employees in Victoria and five remote contractors. Photographers were paid 50 to 75 percent of sales, against a typical industry range of 15 to 45 percent. The co-operative had three classes of shares, for executives, staff and photographers, and members paid $1 for their share.[19]

On July 22, 2024, Stocksy announced that it had hired Trace Cohen as chief executive. The release described Livingstone as "Co-founder and Chair of the Board" and quoted him: "Creatives have never been so pressed as they are today to get the best and most culturally relevant visuals into their work. Trace brings an eye for creative brand building and the heart to lead our cooperative." Stocksy then reported a collection of more than two million images and videos and 1,800 member-artists.[2][21]

Leadership and management style

Livingstone has described himself as a workaholic. He said that in iStockphoto's early years he worked at least 12 hours a day and often 16, and that by 2009 most of his time went on management and executive meetings.[11][4] His advice to other entrepreneurs focused on openness and taking risks. "Communicate openly, honestly and quickly with key stakeholders, media and with internal staff," he said in 2009. "Find your audience and make it meaningful. Constant innovation and progress is crucial. Find an evangelist." He said the best advice he had been given was to "be more strategic", and that entrepreneurship "is born out of necessity".[11] He told The Globe and Mail that "failing is just as important as succeeding", adding: "you'll probably fail more than half the time, but don't be scared to take risks."[1]

Contributor pay and community ownership run through both of his main companies. At iStockphoto he described his motivation as "communal subsistence, organizing and working for a common purpose".[11] At Stocksy he put the co-operative model ahead of size. "It's not important for us to get big," he said in 2013. "It's important for people to look at this model and maybe start a co-op of their own. It's about changing the way that photographers see this business, and see that they can take control of it, and not accept tiny royalties."[10] He gave Stocksy an "authentic" visual style meant to avoid staged stock imagery. He gave the example of the usual image of a man in a lab coat holding a syringe: "The more authentic one is actually shooting a guy in a lab doing actual stuff."[10] The company paired that with hands-on curation, video chats and creative direction sessions with members.[20]

Major deals and strategic decisions

  • Introducing paid downloads (2000): Faced with a hosting bill of about $10,000 in late 2000, Livingstone began charging 25 cents per download credit and paying photographers 20 percent. He later called this decision "the birth of microstock".[1]
  • Sale of iStockphoto (2006): He sold iStockphoto to Getty Images for $50.0 million in cash on February 9, 2006. He said the company needed about $20 million of investment in hardware and software to keep its lead.[3][1]
  • Sale of Evolvs Media and Paper Thin Walls (2007): Getty bought the assets of his companies Evolvs Media, for C$395,000, and Paper Thin Walls, for C$965,000, in May and June 2007.[14][12]
  • Founding Stocksy as a co-operative (2013): He chose a multi-stakeholder co-operative under Alberta law over a conventional company or a non-profit, with profit-sharing for photographer-members.[10][19]
  • Leadership handovers at Stocksy (2014 and 2024): He handed the chief executive role to Wettlaufer in 2014 and, as chair, announced Trace Cohen's appointment as CEO in 2024.[8][2]

Financial and market performance

Livingstone said iStockphoto had $12 million in revenue in 2005, the year before the sale.[1] Getty paid $50.0 million in cash for it in February 2006.[3] At Stocksy, the number of contributors went from about 100 at launch in March 2013 to about 400 in October 2013, almost 1,000 members in March 2014, 900 photographer-members in 2016 and 1,800 member-artists in July 2024.[9][10][8][19][2] Its collection went from about 25,000 images in May 2013 to more than two million images and videos by July 2024.[20][2] Stocksy is a privately held co-operative, and the sources consulted do not give its revenue.

Board memberships and outside roles

As of July 2024, Livingstone was co-founder and Chair of the Board of Stocksy United, a position he took in March 2014.[8][2]

Controversies

His 2007 business dealings with Getty were related-party transactions. Getty bought the assets of two companies he controlled, Evolvs Media and Paper Thin Walls, and took over a lease on a building he owned. Getty's board waived the conflict-of-interest provisions of its Code of Ethics and Code of Business Conduct for these deals, citing the company's best interests and "a relatively small amount of money".[14] The annual report noted that he was not yet an executive officer when the Evolvs Media purchase took place, but cited "the proximity of the transaction to his designation as an Executive Officer in May 2007 and the integrated nature of the two transactions".[3]

After leaving, Livingstone publicly criticised Getty's management of iStockphoto, telling Canadian Business in 2013 that Getty had "ruined" the business.[6] He also criticised rival agencies' premium collections, calling their product names "ridiculous" and saying the higher prices were for content that "used to cost a fraction of the price".[20]

Personal life

In a 2009 interview Livingstone said he was 38 and lived in Seattle with his fiancée and their 15-month-old son, Sozé, named after the character in the film The Usual Suspects.[11] After leaving Getty he said he was looking forward to a summer on his family's boat.[1] The New York Times reported in 2016 that Livingstone and Wettlaufer were married.[19] He moved to Victoria to start Stocksy, saying it was close to family and that "I couldn't ever move back to a place that has snow."[10] He has continued to describe himself as a photographer and musician; asked in 2009 what he would be doing without the internet, he said: "Playing in a band, making music and taking pictures."[11][4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 <ref>Rasbach, Noreen."Hot stock".June 3, 2009.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 <ref>"Stocksy welcomes new CEO Trace Cohen to lead visual media transformation".Stocksy United.July 22, 2024.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 <ref>"Getty Images, Inc. Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007".U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.February 29, 2008.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 <ref>Shankland, Stephen."iStockphoto founder, CEO leaves Getty".March 23, 2009.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 <ref>"About Us".Saatchi Online.August 19, 2011.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 <ref>Purvis, Mifi."Calgary's iStock founders are back in competition with Getty Images".October 11, 2013.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 <ref>"Stocksy Launches".Photography Blog.April 2, 2013.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 <ref>"Brianna Wettlaufer Named CEO Of Stocksy".Selling Stock.March 25, 2014.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 <ref>"Bruce Livingstone Launches Stocksy".Selling Stock.March 26, 2013.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 10.8 <ref>Tossell, Ivor."One man's quest to give stock photography a good name".October 14, 2013.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  11. ↑ 11.00 11.01 11.02 11.03 11.04 11.05 11.06 11.07 11.08 11.09 <ref>"Interview With Bruce Livingstone, Founder and CEO of iStockphoto".Retire at 21.February 2009.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 <ref>"Getty Images, Inc. Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2007".U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.August 8, 2007.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  13. ↑ <ref>"iStockphoto Joins Getty Images as Explosive Growth Continues (Exhibit 99.1 to Form 8-K)".Getty Images, Inc., via U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.February 9, 2006.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 <ref>"Getty Images, Inc. Form 8-K".U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.May 9, 2007.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  15. ↑ <ref>"Getty Images, Inc. Definitive Merger Proxy Statement".U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.May 22, 2008.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  16. ↑ <ref>"Schedule 13D, Jupitermedia Corporation, filed by Getty Images, Inc.".U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.November 3, 2008.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  17. ↑ <ref>"Saatchi Online Taps New Chief".December 10, 2013.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  18. ↑ <ref>"Saatchi Online Launches World's Largest Online Exhibition Created by Top Curators From Around the World".Saatchi Online.July 18, 2012.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 <ref>"A new wrinkle in the gig economy: Workers get most of the money".Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 <ref>"Bruce Livingstone Interview".Selling Stock.May 13, 2013.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
  21. ↑ <ref>"Stocksy welcomes new CEO Trace Cohen to lead visual media transformation".Cision Newswire.July 22, 2024.Retrieved October 29, 2026.</ref>
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