Anyone have any experience licensing their photos through the partnership Flickr has with Getty Images?

I remember back in ‘08 when this started (doesn’t even seem like 4 years ago), and never really gave it much thought. So, recently I got one of those “Getty noticed your work and is pleased to offer an invitation to enroll with them” form emails and now brought this thing back up to the front of my mind, and I’ve been thinking is this at all worth doing?

The contributor agreement has a few things I’m not exactly wild about:

Exclusivity:
All Content submitted to Getty Images is on a Content exclusive basis. This means that Content submitted to Getty Images and any other content that is substantially the same (a “Similar”) may not be licensed to any third party unless Getty Images has notified you that it has been rejected. However, on a non-exclusive basis, You may use Content and any Similars for your personal or self promotional, non-commercial use, including sharing Content on photo sharing websites, blogs or social networking websites for personal or self-promotional/non-commercial use, provided that you do not compete with or limit the rights granted to Getty Images under the Agreement. Also on a co-exclusive basis with Getty Images, you may use Accepted Content that is available for license through a royalty-free license model in connection with the sale by you of prints, t-shirts and other retail merchandise where the Accepted Content is the focus of the product, so long as you are not licensing or giving away rights to the Accepted Content for anything other than such merchandising. On an exclusive basis you may use Content and any Similars for limited edition, signed and/or numbered fine art prints (though Getty Images retains the exclusive right to sell and license prints not signed or numbered).

Meaning I’m free to post photos they accept to things like my blog, or for self-promotional use, as long as I’m not making money from the photo by doing so.  I am not allowed to contribute that photo to any other stock photo site. Also, I cannot license any submitted photo to any individual on my own. I can still sell fine art prints though. If I want to terminate the contract and get away from the exclusivity crap it would take 90 days written notice.

And:

Aggregated Licensing:
Getty Images may offer license models and price agreements that will make Content available for use by Clients on a high-volume basis. Accordingly, where appropriate, the amount due to you will be determined according to: (a) the ratio of the number of individual items of your Accepted Content to the total number of individual items of Content licensed together; or (b) in Getty Images’ discretion, the relative value of the Accepted Content compared to all other Content licensed together with it. In addition, the frequency and methodology for reporting and paying Royalties may also vary in order to facilitate such high-volume licensing. In all cases, the Royalty rate applied shall be as set out in the Commercial Summary, except as may be varied according to the Rate Card.

Meaning my photo(s) may be included in some sort of high-volume collection of stock and I would get payed:

((C / N) * X) * R

Where C is the cost of the collection, N is the number of photos in the collection, X is the number of my photos in that collection, and R is the royalty rate.

Which means maybe enough to buy a stamp?

They royalty rate I’m also not thrilled about, RM 30%, RF 20%. I understand Getty is a big organization to support cost wise, they have huge market exposure, and handle all the marketing and payment processing, but damn. Apple only takes 30% off the top on app sales leaving 70% for the developer, and most font selling sites I’ve seen take a 50% cut from designers. An 80% cut seems like a lot.

Of course, these rules only apply to photos I willingly submit to Getty.

Now, on the other hand, I’m not currently selling/licensing my photos through any stock sites. My current visibility is next to nil; I can’t remember the last time I sold a photo to anyone for anything. I basically just take pictures for fun; I’m not making any money with my photos at current. I don’t/didn’t have any plans on hooking up with any stock photo companies or make any effort to license my photos.

The thought of a few extra bucks on the side for doing nothing more than I currently am sounds nice.

Any thoughts or experiences to share?