The owner of Flickr, SmugMug, has recently written an open letter to Flickr users, asking them to upgrade to a Pro subscription in order to save the floundering service.
SmugMug, which purchased the photo-hosting service in 2018 from Yahoo, said that going Pro is the only way to “keep the Flickr dream alive.”
The letter, which was penned by CEO Don MacAskill, stated that Flickr is one of the world’s most beloved and “money-losing business” on the internet.
Instead of asking for handouts or donations, MacAskill makes the case that upgrading to Flickr Pro can keep this service alive. He also stated that all of the money Flickr brings in from Pro subscriptions goes directly to keeping the site alive and hopefully creating a better experience for photographers.
During the letter, MacAskill said that Flickr cannot continue to operate with the losses that it has been enduring.
In fact, Flickr has already cut some features that it offered to standard users for years. For example, it no longer provides 1 terabyte of free storage space and restricts photo uploads to 1,000 pictures.
The idea behind these changes was to place more focus on the Pro subscription.
By limiting the experience of the standard membership, the company intended for users to see the value of going Pro. However, Flickr has been facing stiff competition from cloud storage options, such as Dropbox and Google.
Even Amazon is hurting Flickr by offering unlimited picture storage to Prime members.
MacAskill clarified in his letter that he and his company didn’t buy Flickr because they believed it to be a “cash cow.” Then, he took a stab at Facebook by saying that they also didn’t buy Flickr to “invade your privacy and sell your data.” He insists that they purchased the service because they love photography and photographers. Also, he strongly believes that Flickr deserves the right to continue to grow and thrive. However, it can’t grow if its members don’t start upgrading to Pro accounts.
In order to encourage people to make the jump to Flickr Pro, SmugMug is running a promotion that starts Dec. 26.
During this promotion, existing Flickr members can get an annual plan for $3.12 a month. The regular price for the service is $4.17 a month.
With Flickr Pro, members enjoy unlimited storage, ad-free browsing, in-depth statistics and more.
The SmugMug CEO finished up by saying that they’ve already gone to great lengths in order to optimize Flickr and cut costs where they can. Despite these efforts, it hasn’t been enough to stem growing operating costs while still investing in the future of the site.
Thus, MacAskill asks that existing Flickr members consider upgrading to a Pro account in order to aid the site during its time of need.