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Articles from March 2011
In the past two years Corey Rich has directed and shot more than 15 video profiles for Apple. The stories have generally centered around small business and enterprise companies that have integrated iPhone and iPad for greater efficiency and, in many cases, a positive effect on their bottom line. His two minute
iPad in Business profile of Eric Jackson and Jackson Kayaks may give you an idea of new business opportunities that are opening up for still photographers turned videographers and producers.
Cutcaster recently conducted a survey using their own database and Adbase’s email list of creatives in multiple industries in North America. The professional backgrounds of the recipients cover most industries. They received 344 responses almost all of which came from North America with the next largest groups being South America and the UK. See the preliminary results at
http://blog.cutcaster.com/2011/02/10/picture-buyer-stats-released-market-information-for-online-image-users/
Masterfile has launched a free new app for the iPad and iPhone that is
specifically designed to save time for art directors, designers and
media professionals. The Masterfile app lets them find the images they
need quickly and easily while on the move. Masterfile’s new app can be downloaded from the iTunes store. To find out more, visit
http://www.masterfile.com/app.
About two years after publishing on Flickr photos of himself screaming, Noam Galai discovered that his face was ‘for sale’ in several stores around the world, as well as on the Web. The image was spotted in Spain, Iran, Mexico, England and many other places. When he realized that it was not a one-time-thing he decided to start collecting images/videos of all his ‘appearances’. Check out his
Scream Blog where he posts all the different photos and products he can find with his face.
Educational publishers regularly set up “preferred provider” agreements
with image suppliers who represent large collections. Publishers outline
certain standard terms and uses. The image provider is then asked to
stipulate a fee that will be charged for each use. Based on the fees
providers agree to charge the publisher decides which supplier to use. McGraw
Hill School Education Group has recently requested quotes from
potential preferred providers and they have introduced a new concept for
determining circulation of the product. Instead of talking about the
number of copies printed McGraw Hill now refers to the number of “unique
users.”
PhotoShelter, has released a 44-page e-book entitled 'How to Sell Prints'. This is the latest in a long-running series of free and comprehensive e-books designed to equip photographers with the tools needed for success in today's marketplace. The guide outlines basic and intermediate business strategies designed to help photographers get started selling prints. This free book includes a variety of insightful case studies and action plans, as well as expert recommendations and can be requested here:
http://www.photoshelter.com/mkt/how-to-sell-prints
Federal appeals court judge Denny Chin has rejected Google’s proposed
settlement of copyright claims arising from the company’s digitization
of books. Since the case is a class action, the court, and not the
parties, must determine whether the settlement is fair, adequate and
reasonable.
One of the themes that emerged at the “
La Fotografia In Italia” photojournalism conference in Milan last weekend was that the majority of feature stories photojournalists produce deal with tragedies. Some of the editors expressed the opinion that they were tired of seeing so much tragedy and were looking for something more positive and uplifting. A few photographers responded that they are just producing what the market asks for. Someone said that photojournalism is there to reveal the ugliness of our world and documenting various aspects of tragedies is right and proper. Read the whole story by
Enzo dal Verme on his blog and my comments here.
Veer (
www.veer.com) has announced the introduction of an Extended Customer Protection Plan, providing customers with up to $250,000(USD) coverage for 100 Veer Credits. Veer credit prices range from $0.78 to $1.41 depending on the size of the credit package purchased.
Science Photo Library, has signed a licensing agreement with
Global Grid for Learning, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cambridge University Press and one of the most comprehensive digital educational content collections in the world.
The Stock Artists Alliance (SAA), a photographer trade association, has
announced that it is discontinuing operations. Founded in 2001, this
organization came into being after Getty Images announced that it
planned to make significant changes in its photographer contracts. At
that time relations between Getty Images and its contract photographers
had become steadily “more strained” over a period of 18 months.
Those who license rights to use photos in textbooks should include
language in their invoices that requires publishers to provide the
licensor with a password to any web site where the licensors images are
used.This story explains why it is important and provides recommended language.
iStockphoto has been selected as the “Best Place to Buy Stock Images” in the
About.com 2011 Readers' Choice Award. Now in its fourth year, the About.com Readers' Choice Awards honor the best products, features and services across more than a dozen categories, ranging from technology to hobbies to parenting and more, as selected by its readers.
One of the great benefits of the Microstock marketing strategy is that
distributors have always offered customers a variety of ways to organize
search returns. In particular, sort-by-downloads has been a very
popular option. A “Redeemed Credits” option would get more of the best selling images of
the higher priced brands near the top of the search return order. This
method of searching would allow customers to see all the various brands
in a single search and still see more of the expensive images in the
early pages. See explanation.
The White House has proposed sweeping revisions to the U.S. copyright law, but the changes discussed in the 20-page white paper (
PDF) do very little, if anything, to help still photographers.
The
THP Photo & Video Services has announced that its members will distribute video with the same ease with which they have been distributing images for over 10 years. The THP now hosts close to 100,000 video clips along with its slightly over 13 million high resolution image files. The THP is a software platform developed and administered by age footstock.
Stock Footage Online (
www.stockfootageonline.com) has launched a new site with links to 80 leading stock footage specialist libraries. Currently, visitor figures for this site are headed toward 100,000 per month.
Despite declining photo budgets, and instability in the stock photo
industry due to the availability of microstock, automated digital subscription
services, and the increased accessibility of advanced digital
technology, Alaska’s premier photo collection, Alaska Stock Images, is
celebrating 20 years as Alaska’s largest agency providing unique
professional quality Alaskan Rights-Managed and Royalty-Free stock
photos.
Recently, I posted on the “Stock Photography: buy and sell photos” group
on LinkedIn.com some of the information about photography revenue
relative to printing revenue that is found in this
story. Peter
Dean came back with a related question that deserves some careful
examination. He asked, “Approximately how many more images are used
these days in print compared to 10 years ago?” He also wanted to know
whether print revenue is Static? going Up or going Down?
Two companies have announced new video offerings.
age fotostock is promoting its
THP Photo & Video Services (Technological Hosting Platform) that consolidates imagery from many suppliers and hosts it for distributors around the world. Stock Footage Online (
www.stockfootageonline.com) has launched a new site with links to 80 leading stock footage specialist libraries.
At ASMP’s recent Strictly Business 3 education weekend in Philadelphia
four photographers explained how they had reinvented their businesses in
the current challenging business environment. Here are their stories. There will be more success stories at the last Strictly Business 3 conference in 2011 which takes place in Chicago April 1st through 3rd.
According to
WhatTheyThink?, a leading research organization serving the printing and publishing industry, January 2011 commercial printing shipments were $6.7 billion, up $270 million (+4.1%) compared to 2010. Adjusting for inflation, shipments were up +2.5%. Shipments for 2010 were also revised to be $86.7 billion. “Despite a dreadful first quarter in 2010, the remaining months were up +3%, to finish the year slightly higher than 2009,” explained Dr. Joe Webb, director of WhatTheyThink's Economics and Research Center. “January's shipment rise benefited from an easy comparison to the first quarter of 2010, but it continued a string of 10 months of positive comparisons to the prior year. We hope it continues.”
WhatTheyThink?, a leading research organization serving the printing and publishing industry, has just estimated that the value of printed materials shipped in the U.S. in 2010 was $86.7 billion. Based on my analysis I estimate that the worldwide sale of still stock imagery in 2010, most of which is used in some type of printed publication, was about $1.45 billion. Previously, we have estimated that in the range of 43% of the total worldwide sales of stock photography are licensed for use in the U.S. market. Thus, the comparison would be something in the range of $625 million for photography compared with $86.7 billion for printing.
In an effort to recognize and support emerging photographers, the Editorial Photographers trade association [EP] has announced its Third Annual EP Education Grants student photo competition. For details go to:
http://www.editorialphoto.com/epedu/ The Grand Prize winner will be chosen from among the finalists by internationally-acclaimed Magnum photographer Elliott Erwitt. More than $5000 in prizes will be presented to the Grand Prize winner, and more than $2000 each for the other five finalists!
In January of 2011 Yuri Arcurs was interviewed by John Lund and gave the
following account of where his business is today. Yuri is the world’s
best selling microstock photographer, has a staff of more than 50 and
the overhead for his stock operation exceeds $200,000 a month.
Corbis Images has announced a new worldwide distribution agreement with London based
Demotix , the multi-award winning source of “Street Journalism.” Later this month, Corbis Images will begin offering an edited selection of breaking news photography from Demotix through
corbisimages.com.
iStockphoto has announced plans to introduce a new higher priced Vetta
collection of video clips. Video producers are rebelling over the
proposed royalty split for this higher priced product. Clips in this
collection will be handpicked for their art direction, conceptual
execution and rarity and will be made available at higher prices than
other exclusive content.
The Image Works has announced
the addition of imagery from Green Stock Media to its archive. This
collection visually promotes a broad spectrum of environmental and
sustainability issues with an extensive array of imagery representing
environmental problems, contemporary ecological solutions, and the
beauty and importance of nature.
Recently the U.S. Copyright Office launched a pilot program that enables
photographers to use the Electronic Copyright Office (eCO) system to
complete group registrations of “databases that predominantly consist of
photographs" or “published photographs."
In a previous story I said that Flickr photographers receive 20%
royalties when their images are sold on the Getty Images web site. In
fact, Flickr photographers receive 20% of RF image sales,
BUT if their
images are licensed as RM they receive 30%. Also, there will be
no change in royalty rates in the new contract.
In a recent talk at the Kernochan Center for Law, Media and the Arts at
Columbia University as part of a program titled
Collective Management of
Copyright: Solution or Sacrifice Eugene Mopsik, Executive Director of
American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) outlined the general
state of the photo licensing business and offered some possible
solutions.
Getty Images has announced that as of April 1, 2011 they will have a new
contributor agreement. For American photographers the date may have
some relevance. We call it April Fools day and it is usually celebrated
with practical jokes and hoaxes on family, friends and work associates.
However,Getty’s move may not be a joke.
Corbis Images (
www.corbisimages.com), has entered into a partnership with ZUMA Press (
http://www.zumapress.com), an independent press agency and wire services capturing news and documentary images.