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Articles from April 2010
Getty Images has added another key sports representation deal to its
portfolio: the company has become the authorized photographic agency of
the Fédération Internationale de Football Association.
Sausalito-based
ImageSpan,
the creator of LicenseStream platform, has appointed a new chief
executive officer. Kurt Garbe succeeds ImageSpan founder Iain
Scholnick, who will continue serving as chief platform officer,
focusing on strategy and expanding products and partnerships.
U.K. stock-image company
Alamy
has announced plans to launch a 24/7 news feed service in May. The
service will first launch in beta, with a full product release coming
later in the year.
In the next few years, there will be two major trends in the education
business: There will be less demand for books as a teaching resource.
Electronic “learning objects” will be used to a much greater degree in
classroom and online instruction. Photographers
who agree that these changes will occur, and who supply images to those
producing materials for educational use, should begin to restructure
their businesses and produce content that will be in demand by this new
educational delivery system.
As methods of supplying educational information to students change and schools adopt more and more electronic tools and techniques, photographers not only need to revise their image production strategies, but also to examine the way they will charge for their services in the future.
Getty Images has announced that it entered into an agreement to purchase Rex Features. The deal also includes Los Angeles-based Berliner Photography, which merged with Rex's North American operations in late 2008. Financial arrangements were not disclosed.
LTU Technologies has announced the public release of its hosted application programming interface, LTU engine/ON demand 1.2. The company also launched the next version of iPhone application lookthatup.
Jim Pickerell has a long history in stock photography as a stock shooter, an agency owner, and an industry analyst. In this wide-ranging interview he shares his experience and insight on the future of stock photography.
The opportunity to interact with editors from publishing companies, picture researchers, stock agents and photographers at the American Society of Picture Professionals' Reinvention Weekend in Boston provided a clearer picture of where the business of producing images for publication is headed.
Alamy is due to launch a new look for its home page and a new format for search results on Monday, April 26. The new site also features a creative imagery section targeting the advertising and design markets.
Jack Hollingsworth is continuing his business reinvention by collaborating with photo-sharing community Jalbum. Hollingsworth is producing a series of online photography tutorials.
Stephen Mayes, director of VII Photo, offers his view on NGO-funded projects. "The question of journalists' independence when funded by NGOs is entirely appropriate, and VII is sensitive to the issue," he told
Selling Stock.
Can the reader trust the reporting not to be biased when photojournalism projects are funded by non-profit and non-governmental organizations?
Corbis Images has introduced a Web and mobile-resolution product that offers stock images starting at $5.
Street vending your photography is not for everybody. But if you can live within the income limits, are innovative, like the outdoors, and truly enjoy people- you can have a lot of fun. Experience and suggestions from NYC.
Publishers Information Bureau has reported first-quarter advertising revenue for magazines. Though total revenue is down 4% compared to the first quarter of 2009, three of 12 ad categories have shown improvement.
Coordination of European Picture Agencies is hosting separate new media and metadata conferences on Wednesday before its Dublin Congress begins on Thursday, June 10. Registration for the two Wednesday events is now open for those not attending the congress (both events are included in the congress registration fee).
AP Images, the commercial photo division of The Associated Press, has rolled out two new services: video and editorial assignments.
PicScout's ImageExchange is moving into an open, no-registration-required beta testing period.
In a news certain to shock many a traditionalist, the godfather of stock photography Tony Stone has joined the executive management team of microstock newcomer Vivozoom. Stone will lead the company's creative strategy.
For those who think that the use of photography in education will remain the same, here are some numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau.
California-based NachoFoto has launched an image search engine that offers a different take on the currently available alternatives: a time factor.
VII Photo has announced its expansion into the Web and mobile space, beginning with
VII The Magazine. The new publication will be syndicated through a number of online outlets.
For those who have been wondering what Google is up to regarding images, this news may sound like the other shoe dropping: the leading search engine has purchased U.K.-based visual search company Plink.
Ernie Monteiro of Time Inc. Content Solutions is looking for new images by sending a letter to many photographers.
There is talk about a crisis in journalism, which generally takes
the form of angst-ridden journalists, editors and news folk in general
asking, “How do we maintain the commercial status quo without which
journalism as we know it will be gone?” The question is sincere and
extends beyond the fear of losing jobs; there is a genuine concern that
the investigative and informative roles of the news media will be lost
with a high cost to the civic health of our society. It’s not about finding new ways to do old things, but time to
radically rethink our business models by redefining out products, our
partners, and our clients. This article is about reinvention and redefining what we do.
CEO Glenn Parker says that Photolibrary has commenced its drive into the editorial space.
Getty Images and Ingram Publishing have announced releases of vector products this week.
U.K.'s first attempt at an orphan-works legislation has failed. Clause 43 was removed from the Digital Economy Bill by the House of Commons.
Transtock, Inc., a stock photography library with a comprehensive collection of professionally created transportation-related still photography is expanding into high-definition video. Thanks to recent exclusive agreements with several major contributors, Transtock is now providing access to automotive HD footage.
iStockphoto has gone from a Web site started in a basement to arguably the most successful stock photography business and profitable social network. The company is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a mini-site and more than $20,000 in giveaways.
After the courts denied requests to join on the creators' side of the Authors Guild et. al. v. Google, several photo and creative organizations, along with a few individual photographers and illustrators, have filed a separate class action against the search engine.
In "Do Publishers Use Microstock?" the last paragraph was misattributed to Barnes & Noble photography director Chris Bain. The statement was made by article author Jim Pickerell: "So, if you're a photographer who has a collection of some niche subject that simply can't be shot today, there is a chance you'll make a sale. Otherwise, things are not looking too good."
Only a couple years ago, a researcher for a major book publisher said the company would never use microstock for a textbook, because of the "difficulty of securing rights." Though that was puzzling given typically solid microstock releases, I came away believing that maybe the textbook market was a last bastion of hope for photographers trying to license images at rights-managed prices. But things have changed.
Chris Barton, a photographer and the managing director of Photographers Direct, has written an article highlighting multiple uses of the same microstock image and asking why a reputable company would do this to itself. There are numerous answers, and most are so mind-bogglingly simple as to make anyone wonder why stock-industry insiders are still having this meaningless debate.
As Selling Stock posited in January, iStockphoto's first quarter seems to confirm that microstock has reached a plateau. Our analysis reveals that a group of the company's top shooters are experiencing a slight drop in average downloads compared to the end of 2009.
In January we published an analysis
of the units licensed in 2009 by a group of iStockphoto’s most
successful contributors and asked the question “Has Microstock Reached
a Plateau?” The first quarter 2010 results seem to confirm this is the case. As a
baseline, on June 1, 2009 we did a count of the total number of images
licensed in May 2009 by a group of 196 out of the 250 top selling iStock
contributors. (Information on some of the top 250 was not available.)
There were 442,533 images licensed by this group in that month. Average monthly sales were up only 5% by the end of 2009, but they were down 1% to only 3.9% by the end of March 2010. See the full analysis and the implications for the future.
"Agitation works: MPs want re-electing. Deadline 6 April," warns stop43.org.uk. The Web site, named after clause 43 of the proposed U.K. Digital Economy Bill, was launched by nine U.K. photography groups to prevent what they see as orphan-works exploitation.
As the photo industry struggles with pricing and licensing structures to accommodate digital uses, such uses keep growing. Every month brings new evidence of advertising, marketing and communications budgets steadily moving in the direction of the Internet, with predictions that 2010 will see digital spending surpassing print.