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Articles from April 2008

Imagestate Media Launches imagestateoneprice.com

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 75 Words | Posted 4/30/2008 | Comments

123rf Launches Upmarket Label

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 355 Words | Posted 4/30/2008 | Comments
Houston-based Inmagine has announced an upmarket addition to its microstock property, 123rf.com. EVO is a new image label that will market the work of top 123rf contributors at midstock prices.

Changing Times: New Stock Environment

By Jim Pickerell | 581 Words | Posted 4/30/2008 | Comments
Unless pricing and distribution outlets change, it will be very difficult for an individual photographer living in the United States to earn his entire living from producing stock photography.

BAPLA Salutes Newpapers

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 80 Words | Posted 4/29/2008 | Comments

Getty Launches Podcast Series

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 46 Words | Posted 4/29/2008 | Comments

Proposed Orphan Works Bill Gets Mixed Reviews

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 575 Words | Posted 4/29/2008 | Comments
House Resolution 5889 and Senate Bill 2913 are two different versions of the proposed orphan-works legislation currently before the U.S. Congress. Though substantially different from its original form and endorsed by some respected industry organizations, the proposals are meeting with opposition only days after becoming public.

Corbis: Impact of Changing Editors

By Jim Pickerell | 170 Words | Posted 4/28/2008 | Comments
Several Corbis photographers complain that they've had two and three new editors in the last year. Dan Perlet, director of communications at corbis, says this happened as "a result of natural attrition and staff reductions Corbis had last year." He also pointed out that, unfortunately, similar reductions have been "happening in many parts of the industry as companies seek ways to be more competitive."

Orphan Works Bills Hit House, Senate

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 111 Words | Posted 4/28/2008 | Comments

Getty Photogs Sweep Overseas Press Club Awards

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 493 Words | Posted 4/28/2008 | Comments
Last week's Overseas Press Club of America awards placed Getty Images' achievements as a news organization on par with those of The New York Times. Former foreign correspondent, current United Nations representative for CARE International and OPC board member Kathleen Hunt singled out the two companies for their dedication to quality international journalism.

No. 1 Problem: Image Overload

By Jim Pickerell | 757 Words | Posted 4/28/2008 | Comments
There is general agreement that the industry's No. 1 problem is oversupply, but what can be done about it? It appears the three majors are in the process of cutting supply by editing tighter and taking less from both individual photographers and small, specialized production companies. New production companies find it next to impossible to get accepted by the three major distributors that combined represent close to 70% of commercial sales industry wide. Without selling through at least one of them, it is next to impossible to generate enough sales from other distributors to support a production operation.

Jon Lowenstein Joins Noor

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 59 Words | Posted 4/25/2008 | Comments

TheDataArchive Revamps Construction Photography

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 256 Words | Posted 4/25/2008 | Comments
TheDataArchive, a London-based information-technology company, has relaunched the Web site of its wholly owned stock-licensing subsidiary, Construction Photography. In addition to a new look, the site utilizes the latest version of the company's digital asset-management technology.

Getty Images Editorial Grants Due Soon

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 78 Words | Posted 4/24/2008 | Comments

Corbis Outdoes Getty With $15 Web-Use Pricing

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 759 Words | Posted 4/24/2008 | Comments (1)
Corbis has launched a set of new tools that target interactive-ad creatives. Among these is a pricing plan that allows high-end royalty-free images from dozens of producers to be licensed for $15 to $95. While price reductions for online image uses have been sweeping the industry over several months, this is the first public announcement of a cost as low as $15 from a major player.

Nature Picture Library Acquires Bluegreen Pictures

By Jim Pickerell | 183 Words | Posted 4/24/2008 | Comments
Nature Picture Library (NPL) has acquired Bluegreen Pictures, a library specializing in sailing, boating, marine wildlife and landscapes photographs. Bluegreen was established by Karren May on the Isle of Wight and represents some of the top names in yachting photography.

Book Publishing Prices For Additional Use

By Jim Pickerell | 638 Words | Posted 4/23/2008 | Comments
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company (HMH) is asking image providers to agree to an addendum to current and new agreements that limits HMH's liability in the event more copies of a book are sold, or more online uses are made, than were initially authorized. It is expected that other publishers will follow suit.

DRR Highlights In-Demand Image Types

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 129 Words | Posted 4/23/2008 | Comments
Tom Wear, director of photography and editorial services at Digital Railroad, has released a list of "most wanted" images, identified by repeated requests from Digital Railroad Marketplace buyers.

HindSight Launches Photographer Search Engine

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 337 Words | Posted 4/23/2008 | Comments
Saugatuck, Mich.-based image and business-management services company HindSight Ltd. Has launched FindAPhotographer, a talent search-engine to help buyers find commercial and stock shooters.

Allen Takes Financial Reigns at Corbis

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 74 Words | Posted 4/22/2008 | Comments

Veer Type City Receives 2 Webby Nominations

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 83 Words | Posted 4/22/2008 | Comments

Torgovnik Wins ASMP Arnold Newman Prize

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 219 Words | Posted 4/22/2008 | Comments
The American Society of Media Photographers will present second annual ASMP Arnold Newman Prize to Jonathan Torgovnik on May 13. Supported by Getty Images, Canon and Photo District News, the prize recognizes environmental portraiture.

Jupiterimages Launches New Clipart Service

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 223 Words | Posted 4/22/2008 | Comments
ClipartConnection.com is the newest addition to Jupiterimages' microstock and subscription offerings.

Image Listings: The Volume Advantage

By Jim Pickerell | 539 Words | Posted 4/22/2008 | Comments
Twenty years ago, when images were color slides and researchers went through drawers of images to fulfill a customer's request, there was great concern that duplicate images were stored at multiple agencies. Shopping around would net the best price. In fact, this almost never happened, even in cases where the same image was available in multiple agencies.

International Photographic Council Honors Photo Leaders

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 96 Words | Posted 4/21/2008 | Comments

Everett Collection Reps 4 European Archives

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 491 Words | Posted 4/21/2008 | Comments
New York-based Everett Collection, an entertainment and celebrity image library that chronicles the history of film and television, has reached agreements to represent four European brands: Keystone, Mirrorpix, Mary Evans Picture Library and Matrix.

U.K. Company Touts Free Stock Shots

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 69 Words | Posted 4/18/2008 | Comments (2)

Buzz Foto Adds Elterman's Vintage Celeb Imagery

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 386 Words | Posted 4/18/2008 | Comments
A newly digitized collection of 1970s and 1980s celebrity and music-legend photographs by Brad Elterman is now available through Buzz Foto, which says it covers the world of celebrity as an art form.

Alaska Stock Expands Into Germany With Mauritius

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 54 Words | Posted 4/17/2008 | Comments

Shutterstock Launches Subscription Footage Product

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 67 Words | Posted 4/17/2008 | Comments

a21's MediaMagnet Launches to Buyers

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 46 Words | Posted 4/17/2008 | Comments

Westend61 Trims Collection and Raises Prices

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 398 Words | Posted 4/17/2008 | Comments
German stock-image producer Westend61 is removing over one-third of its collection from circulation. The 4-year-old company is also raising its print-resolution pricing by an average of 25%.

Search Options: Traditional vs. Microstock

By Jim Pickerell | 617 Words | Posted 4/17/2008 | Comments
Traditional stock photography sellers constantly struggle to improve their collections and search. Diverse collections are added to the offering to increase customer choice. Then portals revert to tighter editing, limiting the number of images returned on each search. When portals use this strategy, the rejected images often turn up on other portals and customers often buy the rejected images.

Thought Equity Motion Debuts Music Service

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 186 Words | Posted 4/16/2008 | Comments
Leading footage-licensing company Thought Equity Motion has launched a music and sound-effects collection. Offering exclusive and third-party audio content, the royalty-free music library brings Thought Equity even closer to the business models of the stock industry's Big Three.

Lucky Oliver Shuts Down

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 349 Words | Posted 4/16/2008 | Comments
Lucky Oliver, the favorite underdog of many microstock contributors, will cease operations on May 15. After the company spent a year seeking funds to take the business to the next level, company founder Bryan Zmijewski said: "The investment team decided that it was in the best interest of all stakeholders to shut the company down."

Image Source Joins PicApp

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 61 Words | Posted 4/15/2008 | Comments

1Q 2008: Magazine Food Ads Up, Revenues Down

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 432 Words | Posted 4/15/2008 | Comments
According to first-quarter data from the Publishers Information Bureau (PIB), U.S. consumer magazines are exhibiting classic signs of recession. Advertising revenues and pages are on a decline, given the market's economic woes. In contrast, ads of food products and other necessities is growing in both dollars and share of revenue.

Traditionals Move Toward Microstock

By Jim Pickerell | 760 Words | Posted 4/14/2008 | Comments (1)
Many traditional stock sellers are trying to determine how to enter the microstock market. Microstock companies have identified hundreds of thousands of customers. Traditional sellers have resisted this market, due to the low fees per use. But the number of sales is becoming hard to ignore.

Malaysia's Political Ads Echo Western Concerns

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 643 Words | Posted 4/14/2008 | Comments
One of the three major political parties of Malaysia may have to go to court to defend itself against charges of unauthorized image use. The issues raised by the case, which concerns a campaign in last month's general election, are commonplace in the global stock licensing industry. It echoes those of several other ongoing legal proceedings.

Bar Parts With PicScout

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 80 Words | Posted 4/11/2008 | Comments

Attributor Secures $12 Million in Financing

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 53 Words | Posted 4/11/2008 | Comments

Bridgeman Pits Artwork Against Creative Stock

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 281 Words | Posted 4/11/2008 | Comments
The Bridgeman Art Library has launched an online conceptual image gallery that targets the core stock-buying market of advertising, media and design creatives. The London-based fine art and archival specialist invites art directors, designers and photo editors to "select powerful, non-clichéd images for commercial use... rather than having to use in-house artists or stock photography."

Shakeout: RF Brands For Sale

By Jim Pickerell | 577 Words | Posted 4/11/2008 | Comments
The major portals are editing many of the third-party collections, dropping images and limiting what they could add. They now refuse to accept some of the brands they had previously encouraged to produce. All this has meant more images for microstock.

The Industry Measure Closes

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 256 Words | Posted 4/10/2008 | Comments
The Industry Measure, formerly known as TrendWatch, shuttered on March 31. The research company's reports on the printing, creative, publishing, Internet and stock photography industries will still be for sale on its Web site.

AOP Opposes Several Proposed Copyright Exceptions

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 584 Words | Posted 4/10/2008 | Comments
U.K. government continues collecting and examining evidence from organizations and individuals that would be affected by the forthcoming changes to copyright law, as proposed by the Gowers Review. The London-based Association of Photographers, a 40-year-old membership body that represents pro shooters working in various fields, submitted its response on Wednesday.

Image Collections For Sale

By Jim Pickerell | 221 Words | Posted 4/10/2008 | Comments
Several photo brands are rumored to be quietly offering their collections to selected buyers, but so far there seems to be very little interest from the buyer side.

Ad Revenue Projections Down in U.S.

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 69 Words | Posted 4/9/2008 | Comments (1)

Inmagine Launches IRIS for Open Submissions

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 507 Words | Posted 4/9/2008 | Comments
Houston-based Inmagine Corp. has launched IRIS, which stands for Inmagine RM & RF Image Submission. Borrowing from the community-based business models of micro-payment agencies, IRIS is an online submission interface in which Inmagine editors consider uploaded images. The resulting IRIS collection will be marketed to image buyers starting this quarter.

SnapVillage Launches Fake Ad Contest

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 39 Words | Posted 4/8/2008 | Comments

Getty Photographers Nearly Sweep National Press Awards

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 508 Words | Posted 4/8/2008 | Comments
Getty photographers won in many key categories for the 2008 Best of Photojournalism contest held by the National Press Photographers Association.

Consolidation Frenzy: Sizing Up Agency Acquisitions

By Jim Pickerell | 1146 Words | Posted 4/8/2008 | Comments
In the last few years, the stock photo industry has experienced significant consolidation. The chart below lists 34 existing companies that have acquired a total of 197 agencies. In general, fewer large companies are controlling the industry as middle-sized and small companies disappear.

Commercial Printers: The "Hot" New Stock Market?

By Heidi Tolliver-Nigro | 543 Words | Posted 4/7/2008 | Comments (1)
When people think about stock images, the first buyer market that comes to mind is typically not commercial print. However, perhaps it should be-depending on the category of images purchased.

Cutcaster: Stock Trading Meets Stock Licensing

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 251 Words | Posted 4/7/2008 | Comments
Cutcaster, a community-based online content marketplace launched last week in New York, promises a new way to buy and sell stock images and video.

Business of Shooting Celebrities

By Jim Pickerell | 325 Words | Posted 4/7/2008 | Comments (1)
Big money is being spent for pictures of celebrities, but how much is going to the image creators?

Microstock RF Cannibalization Faster Than Predicted

By Jim Pickerell | 308 Words | Posted 4/4/2008 | Comments
Microstock cannibalization of traditional RF is occurring at a faster pace than I predicted in an earlier article "Royalty Free Trends At Getty." Getty has confirmed that iStockphoto earned $22 million in 2006 and $72 million in 2007.

ASPP Opens Conference Registration

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 57 Words | Posted 4/4/2008 | Comments

iStock Goes for Subscription Business

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 298 Words | Posted 4/4/2008 | Comments
iStockphoto, which is the third-largest generator of stock-image revenues in the world, has announced plans for a subscription offering. iStock says it is diversifying in response to customer demand.

Image Source Bucks Industry Pricing Trend

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 526 Words | Posted 4/3/2008 | Comments
Since the beginning of 2008, U.K. royalty-free producer Image Source has been phasing in a new pricing structure, along with several other changes in how it markets stock. According to company co-CEO Duncan Grossart, these changes support Image Source's core goal of remaining at the highest end of the stock-image market.

Dreamstime Partners With ImageClick

By Jim Pickerell | 198 Words | Posted 4/3/2008 | Comments
Dreamstime has entered into an exclusive partnership with the Korean agency ImageClick to make professional-quality images available to the Korean market at microstock prices. ImageClick will launch its exclusive brand (www.i22.com) that will make it possible for Korean visitors to search the content in their native language.

iStockphoto Reveals Contributor Earnings

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 90 Words | Posted 4/2/2008 | Comments (1)

Getty Images, iStock Most Recognized by Marketers

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 58 Words | Posted 4/2/2008 | Comments

ASMP, PicScout Testify in Orphan Works Hearings

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 532 Words | Posted 4/2/2008 | Comments
A new orphan works bill, which covers images without photo credits, is being drafted for consideration in the 2008 U.S. legislative session. Representatives of ASMP, digital content-monitoring company PicScout and others who stand to be affected by the new legislation testified at the first orphan-works hearing held by the House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property in March.

Corbis, Crestock, April Fool's

By Jim Pickerell | 118 Words | Posted 4/2/2008 | Comments

CEPIC Launches Worldwide Industry Survey

By Jim Pickerell | 259 Words | Posted 4/1/2008 | Comments
CEPIC [Coordination of European Picture Agencies (Press, Stock, Heritage)] has launched its first comprehensive survey of the stock photo industry since 2000. Alan Smith, CEPIC president, says it, "will help picture businesses to know their market environment more profoundly and to learn how to respond to the current challenges."

Newspaper Revenues Plunge in '07

By Jim Pickerell | 102 Words | Posted 4/1/2008 | Comments
Total U.S. newspaper revenue in 2007 was down $3.9 billion compared to 2006, the second-worst drop since the industry started tracking overall revenue in 1950.

NPPA Names John Moore Photojournalist of 2008

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 86 Words | Posted 4/1/2008 | Comments

Barnardo's Taps TopFoto to Digitizes Archive

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 346 Words | Posted 4/1/2008 | Comments
When Barnardo's, an Essex children's charity established in 1867, decided to digitize its historical image archive, it turned to Kent-based editorial image distributor TopFoto. Every child that entered the charity was photographed, and Barnardo's archive now consists of some 500,000 images.

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This stock photography news site focuses on the business side of photography with a special emphasis on stock photography. Our goal is to help photographers maximize their earnings based on the quality of their work and the commitment they are prepared to make to the trade. The information provided will be applicable to part-timers as well as full time professional photographers. We’ll leave it to others to teach photographers how to take better pictures.

Jim Pickerell launched his career as a photographer in 1963. In 1990 he began publishing a regular newsletter on stock photography. In 1995 the information was made available online as well as in print and was gradually expanded to a daily service. Click here for Pickerell's full biography.

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