Stills

What Stills does

Stills is a curated, rights-managed photo licensing platform that licenses authentic, pre-cleared photography to creative agencies, global brands, designers, and publishers for use in campaigns and editorial content. The platform differentiates from generic stock photo services by offering imagery captured by a curated roster of photographers "not shot for stock," combined with a Rights Managed licensing model that preserves content value and provides pre-cleared rights for immediate campaign use. Core platform features include a streamlined search engine with composition, ratio, and color-based filters, a Boards collaboration tool for team-based creative curation, expert assistance for image sourcing, customized preferred rates for enterprise teams, and a Figma plugin enabling in-workflow image search and insertion.

The business operates on a transaction-based pricing model with one-time image licenses, supplemented by extended/distribution licensing fees and multi-year enterprise contracts with customized preferred rates, market freeze exclusivity options, and dedicated customer success teams. Distribution is hybrid: a self-serve platform at stills.com targets individual designers and SMBs, while an enterprise field sales motion targets top advertising agencies (Publicis, TBWA, McCann, Ogilvy) and global brands (Google, Samsung, Netflix, Verizon, BMW, Uber, L'Oréal, Condé Nast, Aesop, Citizens Financial Group, Goop). Stills is part of FM (FM LLC), a family of creative content licensing brands that includes Musicbed for music licensing and Filmsupply for footage licensing; FM has paid out $125 million to artists and secured 860,000 licenses across the platform family, with a market of nearly 2 million creatives spanning freelancers to top agencies and brands. The company is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, operates with 13 employees, and serves a global market across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Asia, and Africa.

Name

Stills

Legal name

Stills, LLC

Website

https://stills.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Stills is a curated, rights-managed photo licensing platform serving creative agencies, global brands, designers, and publishers with authentic, pre-cleared imagery. It operates within the FM family of brands (alongside Musicbed and Filmsupply) under a transaction-based pricing model with enterprise sales and self-serve distribution.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Stock Photo Licensing

NAICS

Commercial Photography (541922), Photographic Services (54192)

SIC

Services-Mailing, Reproduction, Commercial Art & Photography (7330)

akta.pro primary industry

Photography & Photo Production (BPAFAIAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Photography & Still Production (Stills, Product, Lifestyle) (MPAAAMAI)

Keywords

• Stock photo licensing
• Rights-managed imagery
• Curated photo platform
• Image licensing services
• Creative content licensing

Headquarters

HQ city

Fort Worth

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Image Licensing: Revenue generated from licensing rights-managed photographs to creative professionals, agencies, and brands. Licensing fees vary based on usage scope, media format, territory, and duration. Standard onsite licenses cover limited uses while non-standard opportunities scale according to scope and client need.
2. Extended/Distribution Licensing: Additional fees for extended distribution or additional coverage beyond standard licensing terms, as referenced in license agreements.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Stills is a curated photo licensing platform that licenses rights-managed photographs from a roster of passionate photographers to creative professionals, agencies, and brands. All imagery is pre-cleared and immediately ready to license for campaigns. The platform offers agency-friendly pricing options, customized team rates, and workflow tools such as collaboration Boards, advanced search filters, and a Figma plugin for direct design-tool integration.

Product overview

Stills is a curated photo licensing platform offering authentic, pre-cleared imagery for campaigns and creative projects. The core platform provides Rights Managed licensing with agency-friendly pricing options. The product portfolio includes the main licensing platform, collaboration tools (Boards), expert assistance services, streamlined search with composition/ratio/color filters, customized enterprise rates, and the Stills Figma Plugin for direct design tool integration. Additional offerings include a blog with design resources and trend reports, browsable image categories, and an artist contributor program. Stills is part of the FM family of creative brands alongside Musicbed (music licensing) and Filmsupply (footage licensing).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Stills Photo Licensing Platform A curated photo licensing platform offering rights-managed, pre-cleared imagery from a roster of passionate photographers for use in campaigns and creative projects. Serves creative agencies, global brands, and individual designers with agency-friendly pricing options, customized team rates, and workflow tools.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 30 million views from Samsung campaign featuring Stills images in Galaxy S25 Edge launch video on YouTube alone
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• FM (Film Music)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerStills is a part of FM, a global leader in curated content licensing. FM operates a family of brands including Musicbed (music licensing), Filmsupply (footage licensing), and Stills (image licensing). FM provides Stills with access to nearly 2M creatives, established clientele, and cross-platform promotional opportunities for photographers.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Getty Images: Getty Images is the dominant premium stock photography platform, offering both editorial and creative licensing with a strong Rights-Managed heritage. It is the closest direct peer to Stills in terms of premium positioning, agency/brand customer base, and RM licensing model.
• Pexels: Pexels is a free stock photo and video platform with strong SEO and a large contributor community. Like Unsplash, it targets the same designer/SMB segment as Stills' self-serve motion but operates at the opposite end of the price spectrum.
• Shutterstock: Shutterstock is a publicly-traded global stock content marketplace offering photos, footage, and music under subscription and on-demand licensing. It directly competes with Stills for agency and brand creative budgets across both royalty-free and editorial tiers.
• Pond5: Pond5, owned by Shutterstock, is a stock footage and media marketplace with strong enterprise and broadcast clientele. While footage-led, its editorial licensing model and customer base overlap significantly with Stills' brand-and-agency focus.
• Adobe Stock: Adobe Stock is Adobe's stock image and asset marketplace, deeply integrated into Creative Cloud apps like Photoshop and Illustrator. Its native workflow integration makes it a direct substitute for Stills' Figma plugin story and an entrenched competitor for designer-led image licensing.
• Unsplash: Unsplash is a leading free-to-use stock photography platform (owned by Getty Images) popular with designers and content creators. It competes for the same individual-designer segment that Stills targets via self-serve, though with a fundamentally different (free, RF) business model.
• Stocksy: Stocksy is a curated, artist-owned stock photography cooperative known for authentic, high-quality imagery licensed primarily royalty-free. Its curated-from-independent-artists positioning and premium pricing closely mirror Stills' differentiation against generic stock.

Others

• Musicbed: Musicbed is Stills' sister brand within the FM family, providing licensed music for films and brands. While not a direct competitor, it shares FM's parent ecosystem, customer base (agencies, brands), and premium-curated licensing philosophy, making it the most strategically comparable peer for FM-portfolio dynamics.
• Filmsupply: Filmsupply is Stills' sister brand within FM, offering curated footage licensing to filmmakers and brands. Like Musicbed, it shares FM's parent ecosystem and premium curation model, providing a comparable template for how Stills is positioned within the family.

Emerging players

• 500px: 500px is a photography community and licensing platform with curated galleries and a global photographer base. It overlaps with Stills in the photographer-discovery and curated-licensing niche, though its commercial reach is smaller.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/withstills

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Stills