Revenue share: contributors earn a 20% average corporate royalty rate of revenue Shutterstock receives for data licenses; each contributor's share is proportionate to the volume of their content and metadata in purchased datasets[1]
Payment timing
Earnings pooled in a collective fund and distributed periodically as the fund accumulates significant revenue for distribution[1]
How to start
Be a Shutterstock contributor opted into data licensing; accepted marketplace content is then made available for data licensing[1]Contributor account settings have an opt-out from future datasets (added January 2023); the article said separate image and video toggles were being introduced in August 2024[1]
Training machine learning and computer vision models, AI content generation[1]
Price and payment
Price and payment: Shutterstock
Price
Not published
Pricing basis
Revenue share: contributors earn a 20% average corporate royalty rate of revenue Shutterstock receives for data licenses; each contributor's share is proportionate to the volume of their content and metadata in purchased datasets[1]
Payment timing
Earnings pooled in a collective fund and distributed periodically as the fund accumulates significant revenue for distribution[1]
Training ML and computer vision models only; commercial or public use of the content prohibited[1]
Onward transfer
Not published
Seller keeps ownership
Not published
Privacy and data handling
Privacy and data handling: Shutterstock
De-identification
Not published
Raw data deletion
Not published
Certifications
Not published
Personal data handling
Full model releases and the identities of models and contributors are never shared with computer vision partners[1]
Process
Process: Shutterstock
Steps
Not published
Timeline
Not published
Sample before offer
Not published
How to start
Be a Shutterstock contributor opted into data licensing; accepted marketplace content is then made available for data licensing[1]Contributor account settings have an opt-out from future datasets (added January 2023); the article said separate image and video toggles were being introduced in August 2024[1]
Who they sell to
Who they sell to: Shutterstock
Sells to
OpenAI, LG[4]OpenAI, Black Forest Labs, Runway, ElevenLabs[5]
Track record
Named deals
OpenAI datasets (data deals); contributor earnings first issued Q4 2022[4]
March 2026: announced a major expansion of its training datasets[5]
Watch for
FTC matter settled: Shutterstock to pay $35 million to the FTC and change its subscription enrollment and cancellation practices (8-K, May 14, 2026)[3]