Agencies/Distributors
Foap, the site that licenses crowdsourced travel images taken by iPhone user, has received an additional $500,000 in funding from Jade Global Investments. David Los, co-founder of Foap, attributes the company’s growth to a first-mover advantage in offering iPhone users an opportunity to monetize photos already stored on their phones.
Shutterstock has introduced a new
Portfolio Page feature that allows contributors to organize their collection into sets they want to feature. Once a significant number of contributors have taken advantage of this opportunity Shutterstock will encourage their customers to check out the galleries and image sets that their contributors have created.
In October after
Image Source acquired Cultura Creative (
see story) the company immediately launched a series of photographer-centered workshops designed to inform top professional photographers of current industry trends.
Axiom Photographic Agency Limited ceased trading on September 20, 2012, and was subsequently placed into Voluntary Liquidation at a meeting of the shareholders on October 23, 2012 due to its inability to meet its obligations to creditors. The Liquidator subsequently accepted an offer presented by
Design Pics Inc., to purchase the assets of Axiom Photographic, which became effective October 25, 2012.
Bigstock, a division of Shutterstock, has introduced a new
partner program that will allow companies like email service providers, website design services and online ad builders to offer Bigstock photos to their customers through their portals.
Novus Select announced today the formation of
Tectonic Media Group (TMG), a New York-based talent management and media consulting firm. TMG represents the top talent in action and adventure sports photography and filmmaking. The firm will look after each artist in all aspects of their career, from print advertising and editorial work, to directing commercials, branded content, and feature length documentaries, as well as content licensing, book publishing, speaking engagements, and brand endorsements.
ABC News VideoSource has
upgraded and expanded its website delivering greater and easier online access to ABC News’ vast archival footage collection spanning from 1896 to the present day. Producers and researchers can browse, license and, in some cases, immediately access tens of thousands of video assets from ABC News’ expansive archives with the click of a mouse.
Since 2008 Getty Images has noticed some change in the kind of images financial service providers are using. Check out this
story for insights into the trends.
Dreamstime has become the latest professional photography service to resolve its legal issues regarding the pinning of copyright-protected, watermarked images shared on
Pinterest. The solution incorporates an attribution line, which now appears beneath the photo in question and links back to the photo’s page on Dreamstime.com. This is the same solution that Pinterest offers to other members of its “attribution program,” including Flickr, YouTube, 500px, Etsy, and others.
The Berlin based news agency group DAPD filed for insolvency on October 2, 2012. However, this action only affects six companies within the dapd media holding group AG including two photo services – dfd Foto Service GmbH and dapd video GmbH.
Shutterstock has raised $76.5 million by selling 4.5 million shares at $17 each. This was above the expected price range of between $13 and $15 per share. Today, the stock is trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “SSTK” at $22 per share.
Historical image library The Granger Collection has launched a tablet-friendly version of its website,
www.granger.com, that allows picture professionals to view and navigate the collection more easily on tablet computers.
Masterfile has launched a Super Value collection of 1.7 million photos, illustrations and vectors available through a $50 subscription allowing 50 downloads per month (all file sizes). The images are not restricted to a daily quota: they can be downloaded at any point, as needed, during the term of the subscription. 3-month and 12-month options are also available.
Getty Images has partnered with
SoundCloud Music in a deal similar to the one they have with Flickr. The more than 20 million registered users of SoundCloud can make their original content available for licensing simply by adding the Getty “license” button to their SoundCloud player.
Image Source and
Cultura Creative today announced the merger of their businesses, two of the most respected brands in premium quality stock photography in the world. The new business which will operate under the Image Source Group umbrella come together in an exciting deal that on day one will have over a quarter of a million premium images under their collective management and a production power house capable of generating both quality and volume of content going forward.
It has been pointed out to me that Getty Images has made some dramatic changes in its
Rights Managed price calculator. This may have been around for a while, but it is the first time I’ve had a chance to examine it in some detail.
Design Pics Inc., headquartered in Edmonton, Canada, has acquired
Alaska Stock, an Anchorage based photo agency, effective October 1, 2012. The agency was originally founded in 1990 by Jeff Schultz and has became known as “the place” to find quality images of Alaska, and more specifically, Alaska-themed images such as adventure, wildlife, winter lifestyles, and recreation.
Dreamstime has introduced a new corporate account system that streamlines administration of file downloads and enhances purchase and invoice tracking for large firms with multiple users. The new system enables multi-user firms to designate a Corporate Administrator, create multiple sub-accounts, and administer systems for purchasing images and track invoices.
Back in the first quarter of 2007 Getty Images introduced “
Premium Access” (PA) pricing for their “best customers.” See what's happening with Premium Access and how it compares with microstock.
Shutterstock Inc has announced that it plans to sell 4.5 million shares in its initial public offering at between $13 and $15 each. This block of shares would represent about 14% of its total shares outstanding.
iStockphoto has introduced a new
Shopping Cart Checkout option that allows customers to pay for just the images they need without having to purchase credits.
Dreamstime now offers almost 15 million downloadable images to a user base of 5.1 million. With over 100,000 new users joining each month, Dreamstime now has the fastest-growing user base in the industry and is one of the web's most popular sites. The company's rapid growth is fueled by a unique, community-focused business model that crowdsources creativity.
Last weeks
announcement that PACA, ASMP and CCC are considering some type of arrangement that would compensate image creators for the unauthorized web usage of their images on sites like Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube, etc. needs careful examination by all photographers and distributors before anything is formalized.
The cost of producing images certainly hasn’t declined in the last 8 years. If anything it has increased. But, it is interesting to take a look at what’s been happening to the return-per-image on file based on Getty Images figures.
Last month we wrote about
Scoopshot a site where any photographer can submit cell phone pictures for editorial use. The company has been in business for about 18 months and has over 130,000 contributors from 165 different countries. Now Scoopshot has added an option that allows editors to identify and give assignments to a select group of photographers that produce professional quality work.