# Shutterstock data licensing: what "eligible for data licensing" means and how the Contributor Fund pays

> What "eligible for data licensing" means on Shutterstock, how the Contributor Fund pays (20% average), how to opt out, and what AI data deals bring in.

Canonical: https://origindatapartners.com/guides/shutterstock-data-licensing
By: Origin Data Partners
Status: Published
Published: 2026-11-07
Updated: 2026-11-07
Sources checked: 2026-11-07

## Quick answer

"Eligible for data licensing" means Shutterstock accepted your photo or video for its AI training datasets but not for its creative marketplace, so customers cannot find or download it on shutterstock.com. Since June 2023, content that passes Shutterstock's legal and IP review lands in the marketplace, data licensing or both, depending on technical quality. Data-only assets earn nothing per download. They earn only if Shutterstock puts them in a dataset it sells to an AI company, through the Contributor Fund: a pooled 20% average royalty on data licence revenue, shared in proportion to how much of your content is in the datasets sold and paid periodically in the "Contributor Fund" column of your Earnings Summary. You can switch data licensing off for images and video separately in Account settings; that keeps your content out of future datasets.

## Key points

- "Eligible for data licensing" (or "only") is a partial acceptance: the asset sits in your Data Catalog, not your Marketplace Catalog, and has no download sales.
- Contributors share a 20% average royalty on what Shutterstock receives for data licences, split by how much of their content is in the datasets sold.
- Shutterstock does not show which assets were used or publish a per-asset rate. Payments arrive as a lump sum in the "Contributor Fund" column.
- Opting out is a toggle in Account settings, separate for images and video, and applies to future datasets.
- Shutterstock's data offering brought in $120.3 million in 2024, but its data revenue swings sharply from quarter to quarter.

## What does "eligible for data licensing" mean on Shutterstock?

Since June 26, 2023, Shutterstock reviews every submission for legal, intellectual property and technical requirements, but it "will only be rejected if it does not meet our Legal and IP standards". Content that passes is accepted into the creative marketplace, data licensing or both, depending on whether it meets the marketplace's technical standards ([Shutterstock](https://submit.shutterstock.com/help/en/articles/10594681-content-publishing-standards-and-policy-updates)). Shutterstock describes the data licensing category as "Content intended for customers who are training computer vision models" ([Shutterstock](https://submit.shutterstock.com/help/en/articles/12277318-what-are-the-photo-and-video-quality-requirements-on-shutterstock)).

So "eligible for data licensing", sometimes shown as eligible for data licensing only, is a partial acceptance. The asset did not meet the creative marketplace's quality bar, or was not taken for it, but it is usable as training data. It goes into your Data Catalog, which shows "what content has been accepted specifically for data licensing" ([Shutterstock](https://submit.shutterstock.com/help/en/articles/10594694-shutterstock-data-licensing-and-the-contributor-fund)). It is not in your Marketplace Catalog, so customers cannot search for it or license it on shutterstock.com. It earns money only if Shutterstock includes it in a dataset that a customer buys. Since mid-2024 the same applies to video: clips that "would have been otherwise rejected for technical quality can be used for data deals" ([Shutterstock](https://submit.shutterstock.com/help/en/articles/10594681-content-publishing-standards-and-policy-updates)).

Contributor explainers put it more bluntly. One stock photographer writes that the status "means your image is not accepted into the regular collection of shutterstock, but can be used to train AI software" ([Edwin Muller Photography](https://www.edwinmullerphotography.com/en/what-does-shutterstock-data-license-mean/)). That is a contributor's reading, but it matches Shutterstock's own description of the review.

| Review result | Where the asset appears | Downloads on shutterstock.com | Can it earn from datasets? |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Approved (creative marketplace) | Marketplace Catalog | Yes, at your 15% to 40% royalty level | Yes, if you are opted in to data licensing: approved content is also made available for datasets |
| Eligible for data licensing (only) | Data Catalog | No | Yes, through the Contributor Fund, if it is included in a dataset that is sold |
| Eligible for data licensing, but you are opted out | Marked in the Review tab; Data Catalog hidden | No | Not while opted out. Shutterstock keeps the result and can publish it for data licensing if you opt in later |
| Rejected | Nowhere | No | No. Since June 2023 this means the asset failed the legal or IP review |

Source: [Shutterstock: Content Publishing Standards and Policy Updates](https://submit.shutterstock.com/help/en/articles/10594681-content-publishing-standards-and-policy-updates)

## How Shutterstock data licensing works

Shutterstock launched its computer vision products, "also known as “datasets”", in July 2021. A dataset is a set of visual content "organized by a specific theme or topic" that can include photos, illustrations, vectors, videos and 3D models, and current datasets also include music. Every asset ships with its metadata: description, keywords, categories, sometimes geolocation, and labels added by Shutterstock's own models. Metadata can include broad demographic information about the people in a photo, such as age, gender and race or ethnicity, taken from model releases ([Shutterstock](https://submit.shutterstock.com/help/en/articles/10594694-shutterstock-data-licensing-and-the-contributor-fund)).

Buyers get a limited licence. Companies purchasing datasets "may only use them to train machine learning and computer vision models", may not use the content for marketing or advertising, and must protect it against unauthorized distribution. Shutterstock says "full model releases are never shared, and the identity of models and contributors is never shared with computer vision partners" ([Shutterstock](https://submit.shutterstock.com/help/en/articles/10594694-shutterstock-data-licensing-and-the-contributor-fund)).

Datasets are curated by hand for each customer and are "not a product that can be purchased directly on our website" ([Shutterstock](https://submit.shutterstock.com/help/en/articles/10594694-shutterstock-data-licensing-and-the-contributor-fund)). Shutterstock relies on Section 1a of its Contributor Terms of Service, which licenses accepted content for any reasonable business purpose, including "to develop new features and products". The licence is non-exclusive ([Shutterstock terms](https://submit.shutterstock.com/legal/terms?language=en)).

Source: [Shutterstock: Data Licensing and the Contributor Fund (updated Sep 2026)](https://submit.shutterstock.com/help/en/articles/10594694-shutterstock-data-licensing-and-the-contributor-fund)

## The Contributor Fund: how much Shutterstock pays for data licensing

Shutterstock pays dataset earnings through the Contributor Fund, a revenue share rather than a price per asset. In its words, "Contributors will receive a share of the entire contract value paid by customers licensing datasets". Each contributor's share is "proportionate to the volume of their content and metadata that is included in the purchased datasets", and contributors "will earn a 20% average corporate royalty rate of revenue received by Shutterstock for data licenses" ([Shutterstock](https://submit.shutterstock.com/help/en/articles/10594694-shutterstock-data-licensing-and-the-contributor-fund)). For comparison, creative marketplace downloads pay 15% to 40% depending on your earnings level ([Shutterstock](https://submit.shutterstock.com/help/en/articles/10594604-how-much-will-i-be-paid-as-a-contributor-to-shutterstock)).

Shutterstock publishes no per-image or per-clip rate and does not disclose the size of the fund. A rough illustration: if the 20% average applied to all $120.3 million of 2024 data offering revenue, the pool would have been about $24 million for that year. That is our arithmetic, not a figure Shutterstock has published. By July 2023 the fund had "compensated hundreds of thousands of artists" ([PR Newswire](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/shutterstock-expands-partnership-with-openai-signs-new-six-year-agreement-to-provide-high-quality-training-data-301873298.html)), so for most contributors each payment is small.

Contributor reports agree. The stock photographer quoted above calls it "only small amounts for data licensing for sure" and says the question of how much one photo earns "is impossible to answer" because Shutterstock gives no breakdown ([Edwin Muller Photography](https://www.edwinmullerphotography.com/en/what-does-shutterstock-data-license-mean/)). Treat any per-image figure you see on forums as one person's experience.

Source: [Shutterstock: Data Licensing and the Contributor Fund (updated Sep 2026)](https://submit.shutterstock.com/help/en/articles/10594694-shutterstock-data-licensing-and-the-contributor-fund)

## When and how Shutterstock pays data licensing earnings

Dataset earnings "are pooled in a collective fund and will be distributed periodically as the fund accumulates significant revenue for distribution". When you have earnings from the fund, they appear in your Earnings Summary, in the "Contributor Fund" column ([Shutterstock](https://submit.shutterstock.com/help/en/articles/10594694-shutterstock-data-licensing-and-the-contributor-fund)). The first payments, from the OpenAI datasets, went out in Q4 2022 ([Shutterstock](https://submit.shutterstock.com/help/en/articles/10594676-ai-generated-content-on-shutterstock-contributor-faq)).

You cannot see which assets earned the money. Shutterstock keeps an internal record of every asset used in every dataset, but the individual assets "are not reflected in your contributor account download history and Earnings Summary" ([Shutterstock](https://submit.shutterstock.com/help/en/articles/10594694-shutterstock-data-licensing-and-the-contributor-fund)). Shutterstock does not publish a payment schedule. One contributor thinks the payments come "twice a year" ([Edwin Muller Photography](https://www.edwinmullerphotography.com/en/what-does-shutterstock-data-license-mean/)); that is a contributor's estimate, not a stated policy.

Source: [Shutterstock: Data Licensing and the Contributor Fund (updated Sep 2026)](https://submit.shutterstock.com/help/en/articles/10594694-shutterstock-data-licensing-and-the-contributor-fund)

## Is "eligible for data licensing" good or bad?

For a single asset, it is a weaker outcome than marketplace approval: no downloads, no customer visibility and only a pooled, unpredictable share of dataset sales. It is better than a rejection, because the asset can still earn something and Shutterstock keeps the result if you opt out and later opt back in.

The wider question is whether to allow AI training at all. Shutterstock says datasets are used for visual search, autonomous vehicles, content moderation, product categorization and AI content generation ([Shutterstock](https://submit.shutterstock.com/help/en/articles/10594694-shutterstock-data-licensing-and-the-contributor-fund)). Some contributors argue that allowing it means "helping the competition", because better image generators reduce demand for stock photos ([Edwin Muller Photography](https://www.edwinmullerphotography.com/en/what-does-shutterstock-data-license-mean/)). Few opt out: in December 2024 a Shutterstock executive said only about 1% of contributors had opted out ([VentureBeat](https://venturebeat.com/ai/shutterstock-pioneers-research-license-model-with-lightricks-lowering-barriers-to-ai-training-data)).

If many of your submissions come back as data-only, check them against the photo and video quality requirements before you resubmit similar work. If you plan to keep shooting a subject, data-only results are a signal about what the marketplace already has enough of or what fell short on quality.

Source: [Shutterstock: photo and video quality requirements](https://submit.shutterstock.com/help/en/articles/12277318-what-are-the-photo-and-video-quality-requirements-on-shutterstock)

## How to opt out of data licensing on Shutterstock

The Data licensing setting sits with your other licensing options in the contributor account. Shutterstock's steps:

- Sign in to your contributor account and open Account settings.
- Choose Edit at the top of the page and verify your account when asked.
- Scroll to the licensing options and "toggle “yes” or “no”". Images and video have separate data licensing toggles, so you can keep one and switch off the other ([Shutterstock](https://submit.shutterstock.com/help/en/articles/10594687-can-i-control-how-my-content-is-licensed)).
- Allow up to 72 hours for the change to take effect. The 30-day wait before you can reinstate content applies to removing it from the creative marketplace, not to the data licensing toggle.
- What it changes: the opt-out "allows artists to exclude their content from any future datasets" ([Shutterstock](https://submit.shutterstock.com/help/en/articles/10594694-shutterstock-data-licensing-and-the-contributor-fund)). Shutterstock does not say it withdraws content from datasets already delivered. Your Data Catalog is hidden, and data-only review results are kept in case you opt back in. You also stop receiving a share of future dataset sales.
- One contributor who opted out reports that small Contributor Fund amounts still arrive from time to time and that it is impossible to tell what they are for ([Edwin Muller Photography](https://www.edwinmullerphotography.com/en/what-does-shutterstock-data-license-mean/)). Payments for datasets sold before the opt-out would explain that, but Shutterstock does not say so.

Source: [Shutterstock: Can I control how my content is licensed?](https://submit.shutterstock.com/help/en/articles/10594687-can-i-control-how-my-content-is-licensed)

## What Shutterstock has disclosed about data licensing revenue and deals

Shutterstock reports data licensing inside a wider line called Data, Distribution, and Services, which also includes distribution and other services. Only for 2024 did it give the data figure on its own.

- OpenAI, July 2023: a six-year agreement giving OpenAI a licence to "Shutterstock's image, video and music libraries and associated metadata" ([PR Newswire](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/shutterstock-expands-partnership-with-openai-signs-new-six-year-agreement-to-provide-high-quality-training-data-301873298.html)).
- Apple, Meta, Google and Amazon, 2024: Shutterstock's finance chief told Reuters the initial agreements "ranged from $25-50 million each, with most later being expanded" ([VentureBeat](https://venturebeat.com/infrastructure/apples-25-50-million-shutterstock-deal-highlights-fierce-competition-for-ai-training-data)).
- Lightricks, December 2024: a smaller "research license" to train the LTXV open-source video model on Shutterstock's HD and 4K video ([VentureBeat](https://venturebeat.com/ai/shutterstock-pioneers-research-license-model-with-lightricks-lowering-barriers-to-ai-training-data)).
- Shutterstock says data revenue "may vary from quarter-to-quarter based on the delivery timing of metadata licensed assets" ([Q3 2026 release](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1549346/000114036126042037/ef20084945_ex99-1.htm)). Shutterstock remains independent: its second-quarter 2026 release refers to "the termination of our proposed merger" with Getty Images ([Q2 2026 release](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1549346/000114036126031306/ef20079466_ex99-1.htm)).
- More public deals: [AI data licensing deals tracker](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/ai-data-licensing-deals).

| Period | What Shutterstock reported | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2023 | Data, Distribution, and Services revenue up 256% to $137.3M, 16% of total revenue, driven mainly by the data offering and Giphy | [FY2023 release](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1549346/000154934624000004/a2023-q4_exx991xpressrelea.htm) |
| 2024 | Data offering revenue $120.3M, up 15%; Data, Distribution, and Services revenue $175.3M | [FY2024 release](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1549346/000154934625000009/a2024-q4_exx991xpressrelea.htm) |
| 2025 | Data, Distribution, and Services revenue up 16% to $203.3M, 21% of total revenue, mainly from sales and delivery of metadata | [FY2025 release](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1549346/000154934626000007/a2025-q4_exx991xpressrelea.htm) |
| Q2 2026 | Data, Distribution, and Services revenue $56.1M, down 16% year on year | [Q2 2026 release](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1549346/000114036126031306/ef20079466_ex99-1.htm) |
| Q3 2026 | Data, Distribution, and Services revenue down 76% to $15.8M; Shutterstock cites "deal timing volatility in Data Licensing" | [Q3 2026 release](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1549346/000114036126042037/ef20084945_ex99-1.htm) |

Source: [SEC EDGAR: Shutterstock full-year 2024 results (Feb 2025)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1549346/000154934625000009/a2024-q4_exx991xpressrelea.htm)

## Other ways to license photos and footage to AI companies

Shutterstock is one route. Others pay differently, and the right one depends on how much you own and whether you can show clean rights.

- Wirestock: [TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/14/wirestock-raises-23m-to-supply-multi-modal-data-to-ai-labs/) reported in May 2026 that it has "paid out $15 million to its contributors"; its [terms of use](https://wirestock.io/docs/terms-of-use) say "there is no option to opt out of the Dataset Deals Program".
- What footage sells for, by type and per hour: [AI video data prices tracker](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/video-data-prices-tracker).
- Company footage from vehicles, sites and workstations: [selling video footage to AI and robotics companies](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/sell-video-footage-physical-ai) and [selling dashcam footage](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/sell-dashcam-footage-ai-training).

| Route | How you are paid | Control | Best fit |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Shutterstock Contributor Fund | 20% average royalty on data licence revenue, pooled and split by content volume | Opt in or out for images and video; no say over buyers or price | Contributors already on Shutterstock |
| Wirestock Dataset Deals Program | Pro-rata share of 50% of what Wirestock receives from a dataset buyer ([terms](https://wirestock.io/docs/terms-of-use)) | No opt-out under its current terms: all new submissions join | Individual creators; Wirestock reports $15M paid to contributors |
| Video licensing platforms | Royalty or revenue share per licence; see [video data buyers compared](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/video-data-buyers-compared) | You approve deals on most platforms | Finished libraries of owned footage |
| Direct licence to an AI developer | Negotiated fee per dataset, per hour or per item | You set scope, term, exclusivity and price | Companies with large owned libraries or operational footage |

Source: [Wirestock: terms of use](https://wirestock.io/docs/terms-of-use)

## When a company with a large library should license directly

A pooled fund suits an individual with a few hundred stock images. It suits a company that owns a large library much less. Through Shutterstock, the library is one small part of a dataset whose price someone else sets, and the contributor share is a 20% average split across everyone in it. A direct licence is negotiated for your library alone. Reported 2024 market rates were "$1-2 per image, $2-4 per short-form video, and $100-300 per hour of longer films" ([VentureBeat](https://venturebeat.com/infrastructure/apples-25-50-million-shutterstock-deal-highlights-fierce-competition-for-ai-training-data)), and big buyers have paid tens of millions for a single library.

Licensing directly makes sense when most of these are true:

- You own the rights outright: in-house productions, commissioned work with a buyout, archives you acquired, or footage your own operations captured.
- You have releases for identifiable people and property, or footage where no one can be identified.
- The library is large or unusual: thousands of hours of video, a niche subject, raw unpublished footage, or footage with useful metadata such as location, equipment or labels.
- You can say what you have: hours, resolution, years covered and subjects, even roughly.
- What to check before you sign: whether a stock agreement already gives someone else rights to the same files (Shutterstock's contributor licence is non-exclusive, per its [terms](https://submit.shutterstock.com/legal/terms?language=en)), whether the buyer wants exclusivity, and how the price is set. See [exclusive vs non-exclusive licenses](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/exclusive-vs-non-exclusive-data-license) and [data licensing pricing models](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/data-licensing-pricing-models).

Source: [VentureBeat: Apple's $25-50 million Shutterstock deal (Apr 2024)](https://venturebeat.com/infrastructure/apples-25-50-million-shutterstock-deal-highlights-fierce-competition-for-ai-training-data)

## If you own a large image or video library

Write down what you own: the number of images or hours of video, where it came from, who holds the rights and whether releases exist. That list decides whether a pooled program or a direct licence fits, and it is enough to start a conversation with a buyer.

Origin Data Partners is an independent data partner that helps companies get their data bought. We compare direct licences with platform programs on price, exclusivity and payment terms, and we do not promise any amount.

Origin Data Partners works with companies that own data and helps get it bought. We are independent of the services on this page, and a buyer may pay us when a deal closes ([how Origin is paid](https://origindatapartners.com/referral-disclosure)). [See what your data is worth](https://origindatapartners.com/check-fit).


## Questions and answers

### What does "eligible for data licensing" mean on Shutterstock?

Shutterstock accepted the asset for its AI training datasets but not for its creative marketplace. It sits in your Data Catalog, customers cannot download it on shutterstock.com, and it earns only if Shutterstock includes it in a dataset it sells, through the Contributor Fund.

### What does "eligible for data licensing only" mean?

The same thing: the asset passed Shutterstock's legal and IP review but did not meet the creative marketplace's technical standards, so it was accepted only for data licensing. It has no download sales and can earn only through the Contributor Fund.

### What is data licensing on Shutterstock?

Shutterstock groups contributor images, videos, 3D models and music, with their metadata, into themed datasets and licenses them to companies that train machine learning and computer vision models. Buyers may use them only for training. Contributors share the revenue through the Contributor Fund.

### How much does Shutterstock pay for data licensing?

Contributors share a 20% average royalty on the revenue Shutterstock receives for data licences, split in proportion to how much of their content is in the datasets sold. Shutterstock publishes no per-image rate, and one contributor describes the payments as small amounts.

### How are Shutterstock data licensing earnings paid?

Dataset earnings go into a pooled Contributor Fund that Shutterstock distributes periodically once it has accumulated significant revenue. Payments appear in the "Contributor Fund" column of your Earnings Summary, without a list of which assets were used. The first payments went out in Q4 2022.

### What is the Shutterstock Contributor Fund?

It is the pool Shutterstock uses to pay contributors when their content is licensed in datasets for AI and computer vision training. It pays a 20% average royalty on data licence revenue, shared by content volume, and Shutterstock says it had paid hundreds of thousands of artists by July 2023.

### How do I opt out of data licensing on Shutterstock?

Sign in, open Account settings, choose Edit, verify your account, and switch the Data licensing toggle to no. Images and video have separate toggles. Changes can take up to 72 hours, and the opt-out keeps your content out of future datasets.

### Is eligible for data licensing good or bad?

It is weaker than marketplace approval because the asset gets no downloads and only a small, pooled share of dataset sales. It is better than a rejection, because it can still earn. Whether to allow AI training at all is a personal choice; about 1% of contributors had opted out by December 2024.

### What do contributors on Reddit and forums say about Shutterstock data licensing?

Reddit and stock forums are where most contributors ask what the status means and what it pays. The answers they need are on Shutterstock's help pages: a 20% average pooled royalty, no per-asset rate, no list of which assets were used, and an opt-out in Account settings. Treat any per-image figure posted online as one person's experience, not a rate.

### How much does Shutterstock make from AI data licensing?

Its data offering generated $120.3 million in 2024. Shutterstock reports the rest inside Data, Distribution, and Services, which reached $203.3 million in 2025 but fell 76% to $15.8 million in the third quarter of 2026, which Shutterstock put down to deal timing.

## Sources

- [Shutterstock: Data Licensing and the Contributor Fund (updated Sep 2026)](https://submit.shutterstock.com/help/en/articles/10594694-shutterstock-data-licensing-and-the-contributor-fund)
- [Shutterstock: Content Publishing Standards and Policy Updates](https://submit.shutterstock.com/help/en/articles/10594681-content-publishing-standards-and-policy-updates)
- [Shutterstock: photo and video quality requirements](https://submit.shutterstock.com/help/en/articles/12277318-what-are-the-photo-and-video-quality-requirements-on-shutterstock)
- [Shutterstock: Can I control how my content is licensed?](https://submit.shutterstock.com/help/en/articles/10594687-can-i-control-how-my-content-is-licensed)
- [Shutterstock: AI-generated content contributor FAQ](https://submit.shutterstock.com/help/en/articles/10594676-ai-generated-content-on-shutterstock-contributor-faq)
- [Shutterstock: How much will I be paid as a contributor?](https://submit.shutterstock.com/help/en/articles/10594604-how-much-will-i-be-paid-as-a-contributor-to-shutterstock)
- [Shutterstock: Contributor Terms of Service](https://submit.shutterstock.com/legal/terms?language=en)
- [SEC EDGAR: Shutterstock full-year 2023 results (Feb 2024)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1549346/000154934624000004/a2023-q4_exx991xpressrelea.htm)
- [SEC EDGAR: Shutterstock full-year 2024 results (Feb 2025)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1549346/000154934625000009/a2024-q4_exx991xpressrelea.htm)
- [SEC EDGAR: Shutterstock full-year 2025 results (Feb 2026)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1549346/000154934626000007/a2025-q4_exx991xpressrelea.htm)
- [SEC EDGAR: Shutterstock second-quarter 2026 results (Aug 2026)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1549346/000114036126031306/ef20079466_ex99-1.htm)
- [SEC EDGAR: Shutterstock third-quarter 2026 results (Nov 2026)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1549346/000114036126042037/ef20084945_ex99-1.htm)
- [PR Newswire: Shutterstock signs six-year training data agreement with OpenAI (Jul 2023)](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/shutterstock-expands-partnership-with-openai-signs-new-six-year-agreement-to-provide-high-quality-training-data-301873298.html)
- [VentureBeat: Apple's $25-50 million Shutterstock deal (Apr 2024)](https://venturebeat.com/infrastructure/apples-25-50-million-shutterstock-deal-highlights-fierce-competition-for-ai-training-data)
- [VentureBeat: Shutterstock research licence with Lightricks (Dec 2024)](https://venturebeat.com/ai/shutterstock-pioneers-research-license-model-with-lightricks-lowering-barriers-to-ai-training-data)
- [Edwin Muller Photography: What does Shutterstock data license mean? (contributor explainer)](https://www.edwinmullerphotography.com/en/what-does-shutterstock-data-license-mean/)
- [TechCrunch: Wirestock raises $23M (May 2026)](https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/14/wirestock-raises-23m-to-supply-multi-modal-data-to-ai-labs/)
- [Wirestock: terms of use](https://wirestock.io/docs/terms-of-use)

## Related reading

- [Where to sell video footage for AI training: Troveo, Protege, Defined.ai, Shutterstock and Wirestock compared](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/video-data-buyers-compared)
- [AI video training data prices and deals tracker: per minute, per hour and per deal (2024 to 2026)](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/video-data-prices-tracker)
- [Can a company sell its video footage to AI and robotics companies?](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/sell-video-footage-physical-ai)
- [AI data licensing deals tracker: who paid what, 2023 to 2026](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/ai-data-licensing-deals)
- [Exclusive vs non-exclusive data licenses: what sellers should know](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/exclusive-vs-non-exclusive-data-license)