Photolibrary To Pay Index Stock Debts

Posted on 2/4/2008 by Jim Pickerell | Printable Version | Comments (0)

According to the Stock Artists Alliance (SAA) Photolibrary has begun moving to contact, and pay contributors the outstanding debts the company assumed when it purchased Index Stock in October 2006. Contributors tell the SAA the amounts being paid match those itemized on statements they received in November from Photolibrary's former controller, Carlos Santos.

Previously, Photolibrary's Chairman, Tim Moore had told Stock Asylum that the documents Santos relied on in making the claims were "stolen and manipulated." He also told the SAA that the Santos letter was "an unauthorized correspondence from a "disgruntled employee, making inaccurate and false statements." Santos was fired for these actions. Now, Photolibrary seems to be validating Santos by paying contributors the exact amounts detailed by him.

It is still not clear whether these are all the monies owed. KPMG was hired to do an audit, but never completed it, given the state of the books. It appears the information Santos provided to photographers was available to Photolibrary at the moment they took over Index Stock and is not the result of an exhaustive audit. It is not clear why Photolibrary did not being making payments to photographers earlier as promised.

Shortly after Santos sent emails to approximately 1,500 Index photographers on Nov. 11, photographers and industry trade associations began contacting Photolibrary and filing grievances with the Picture Archive Council of America (PACA) Ethics and Grievance Committee. In such cases, the committee's role is to act as an intermediary between the member agency and the complaining parties, but the committee has no rights to audit or review any agency's books. Normally, the committee does not make its findings public or submit any type of report. The committee does have power to recommend expulsion of an agency from PACA if it finds the agency was not acting in accordance with PACA ethics and rules.

In December, Moore told Selling Stock, "The PACA Ethic's and Grievance Committee has not as yet completed their appraisal of the facts. We feel that any comment or announcement from us prior to them completing their due process would not be helpful." No official announcement from Photolibrary has been forthcoming.



It is not clear whether PACA or the SAA influenced Moore's decision to begin paying contributors, but SAA has been persistent in urging Photolibrary to provide every Index Stock contributor with a full and accurate accounting of all outstanding debt and to promptly pay all outstanding commissions in full.

Explains SAA President Zave Smith, problems began when SAA learned of the allegations by the company'' controller. "We immediately contacted Photolibrary and sought to help, working discreetly in our ombudsman role. Our Board and ombudsman urged the company to conduct a limited accounting review with a group of contributors willing to share records."

At first Photolibrary responded by "dismissing both Santos's allegations and SAA's suggestions," added Smith. "It became clear the company had repeatedly misinformed SAA about the status of their KPMG audit and their pledges that all past Index debts to contributors had been paid many months ago. Other troubling questions about Photolibrary's accounting procedures and policies were also raised and deserve explanation."

Finding Artists

In a December press release, Photolibrary said that it lacked current email addresses or contact information for about 40% (approximately 700) of the artists who were sent statements by Santos. Anyone who has ever submitted images to Index Stock or one of the companies it acquired should immediately send current address information to Photolibrary, 23 West 18th St., 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10011. Phone: 212-929-4644 and ask for an accounting and payment of any monies owed.


Copyright © 2008 Jim Pickerell. The above article may not be copied, reproduced, excerpted or distributed in any manner without written permission from the author. All requests should be submitted to Selling Stock at 10319 Westlake Drive, Suite 162, Bethesda, MD 20817, phone 301-461-7627, e-mail: wvz@fpcubgbf.pbz

Jim Pickerell is founder of www.selling-stock.com, an online newsletter that publishes daily. He is also available for personal telephone consultations on pricing and other matters related to stock photography. He occasionally acts as an expert witness on matters related to stock photography. For his current curriculum vitae go to: http://www.jimpickerell.com/Curriculum-Vitae.aspx.  

Comments

Be the first to comment below.

Post Comment

Please log in or create an account to post comments.

Stay Connected

Sign up to receive email notification when new stories are posted.

Follow Us

Free Stuff

Stock Photo Pricing: The Future
In the last two years I have written a lot about stock photo pricing and its downward slide. If you have time over the holidays you may want to review some of these stories as you plan your strategy ...
Read More
Future Of Stock Photography
If you’re a photographer that counts on the licensing of stock images to provide a portion of your annual income the following are a few stories you should read. In the past decade stock photography ...
Read More
Blockchain Stories
The opening session at this year’s CEPIC Congress in Berlin on May 30, 2018 is entitled “Can Blockchain be applied to the Photo Industry?” For those who would like to know more about the existing blo...
Read More
2017 Stories Worth Reviewing
The following are links to some 2017 and early 2018 stories that might be worth reviewing as we move into the new year.
Read More
Stories Related To Stock Photo Pricing
The following are links to stories that deal with stock photo pricing trends. Probably the biggest problem the industry has faced in recent years has been the steady decline in prices for the use of ...
Read More
Stock Photo Prices: The Future
This story is FREE. Feel free to pass it along to anyone interested in licensing their work as stock photography. On October 23rd at the DMLA 2017 Conference in New York there will be a panel discuss...
Read More
Important Stock Photo Industry Issues
Here are links to recent stories that deal with three major issues for the stock photo industry – Revenue Growth Potential, Setting Bottom Line On Pricing and Future Production Sources.
Read More
Recent Stories – Summer 2016
If you’ve been shooting all summer and haven’t had time to keep up with your reading here are links to a few stories you might want to check out as we move into the fall. To begin, be sure to complet...
Read More
Corbis Acquisition by VCG/Getty Images
This story provides links to several stories that relate to the Visual China Group (VCG) acquisition of Corbis and the role Getty Images has been assigned in the transfer of Corbis assets to the Gett...
Read More
Finding The Right Image
Many think search will be solved with better Metadata. While metadata is important, there are limits to how far it can take the customer toward finding the right piece of content. This story provides...
Read More

More from Free Stuff