Agencies/Distributors
Skeptical photographers are struggling to understand whether Corbis’ new Contributor Gateway and the elimination of foreign office fees will actually benefit them. Many have focused on the royalty reduction from 40% to 37.5%. In order to participate in the Gateway, contributors must sign a new contract with Corbis and agree to this lower royalty rate. However, the 35% foreign sales office fee that is currently being deducted from sales made by any office outside the contributor’s home territory will be eliminated
PicScout’s Image Tracker software has helped Glen Carner’s Hawaiian Art
Network dramatically grow revenue in less than a year by locating
infringements and assisting in the collection of appropriate fees for
unauthorized uses. Currently, revenue recovered from infringements
accounts for about 50% of Hawaiian Art Network’s income.
iStockphoto COO Kelly Thompson says the company cannot keep growing
profit at the old royalty rates, so they have to reduce what they are
paying suppliers. The problem is not that the company does not have
substantial profits. Rather, it is Getty Images’ arbitrary standard
for what the gross profit margin in the stock photo industry should be
that causes the problem.
Getty Images has announced the publication of
Coming Back: New Orleans Resurgent by Umbrage. The company described the book as “a moving body of work” by Getty photographer Mario Tama, introduced by CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
Many rights-managed and traditional royalty-free production companies
are having trouble finding photographers willing to shoot for them. Many
of the photographers who were rights-managed and traditional
royalty-free stars five to ten years ago have given up shooting stock,
or at the very least dramatically cut the number of images they produce
and the amount they are willing to spend production.
Though
unit sales are declining for many iStockphoto sellers, many of the same people are also seeing significant revenue increases. Here’s how.
As little as five years ago, approximately 98% of all stock photo
revenue came from print uses. There was little or no Internet and small
business uses. Today about 20% of industry revenue comes from Internet and small business uses. The needs of these new customers were hardly addressed five years ago, as all traditional sellers focused on the high end of the market. Consequently, when someone
wanted an image for these purposes they either took the picture
themselves, or copied something off another Internet site and paid
nothing for its use. In the last five years the demand for images that
will be used electronically has grown dramatically.
This story provides links to a five part series of articles designed to help photographers understand the major trends impacting the industry in 2010 and help them plan for the future. We outline some of the issues to consider, new business models to explore and things to focus on in order to have a profitable business. Following the first five stories are links to some additional articles on the business of stock photography that may be of interest.
Veer has relaunched its Web site,
billing the new treatment as uncomplicated. While Veer still carries traditionally priced stills, it is certainly
catering to the no-hassle customer segment with simplified licensing
and prices that span the gamut—starting at $1.
On Thursday, Toronto-based Mastefile acquired Norwegian microstock Crestock. Both companies announced the deal late on Friday, without disclosing financial details.
Jonathan Klein is CEO and co-founder, with Mark Getty, of Getty Images
and the most influential person in the global stock photo industry. For
fifteen years he led an aggressive acquisition campaign which positions
Getty as the leading source of still and moving imagery as well as
footage and music. He is a passionate believer in the power of the
image to create change in editorial as well as creative photography. In
this exclusive CEPIC DAILY interview, he gives frank answers to some
tough questions posed by Tweak founder Jerry Kennelly. It gives an
intriguing insight into Getty as a privately held company and their
vision for the future of the industry.
This story provides a list of useful articles that will provide the reader with a good background on the current state of the stock photography business and where it is headed.
If you are in the stock imagery business and want to stay current with
worldwide industry trends, the annual CEPIC congress is a must-attend
event. Held every year in early June—this year in Dublin, Ireland, at
the brand new Aviva Stadium—the congress provides an opportunity to
meet industry leaders and exchange ideas.
During his keynote speech at the Dublin gathering of CEPIC, Stockbyte
founder Jerry Kennelly announced the upcoming launch of his new
business Tweak. Operating on a
content-as-a-service model, Tweak aims to become a major global
self-service design library and change the way customers access
creative content.
In an effort to obtain updated information on revenue trends in the
stock photo industry, we will be conducting a revenue survey at the
2010 CEPIC International Congress and New Media Conference, which that
takes place in Dublin on June 9–13. In a blind survey, we will be
asking representatives of every stock agency and stock image
distributor to answer five brief questions on behalf of their company.
How does demand for images compare to what many agree is an
oversupply?
There is only a little over a week left until the 2010 CEPIC International Congress
and New Media Conference in Dublin, Ireland, takes place on June 9–13.
This is the premier annual event, worldwide, for those who produce and
market stock imagery. It is not too late to register, and if you are a
member of the Picture Archive Council of America or the American
Society of Picture Professionals, there is a special discount rate.
In a letter to its contributors, Corbis has disclosed it will be
seeking liquidation of the Sygma business entity in France. The company
acquired Sygma in 1999 and has had numerous well-publicized legal and
management issues with the former agency’s photographers, staff and
assets.
Alamy will no longer make financial information publicly available. Since Getty Images went private, the U.K. company's quarterly numbers have represented the only reliable sales data in the industry.
Is it time to institute a system of floor prices for the use of
rights-managed images for editorial purposes? Is there any price so
low—$50, $30 or $20—that the image creator would prefer not to make the
sale?
A New York court has ruled that
copyright registrations obtained by Corbis for images submitted by at
least one photographer-contributor are invalid, in part due to Corbis’ failure to list
the names of the photographers—the authors and owners of the copyrights
in the registered images—on registrations submitted by Corbis.
This story provides links to some of the stories on this site that may be of interest to someone new to the stock photography business, or someone who might to have a
brief refresher course on some of the things that have been happening in the
last few years. Many of these stories will also give you some idea of developing trends and what the
future might hold.
Sometimes there is a silver lining when your stock agency gets acquired or you get kicked out of the agency. For example, clients that previously licensed Stock Connection imagery through Jupiterimages now have to re-license them directly, because Getty Images has phased out some content.
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.
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.