Random Thoughts 79

638

May 25, 2004

Stone+

Getty Images plans to offer Stone+, a new brand of high-end, conceptual imagery in
June. Evidently, Getty's high-end conceptual brand needs to get even more high-end
to meet the needs of some art buyers.

Another reason for this move could be that they have looked at the premium prices
that FoodPix and Botanica are commanding on their site and realize that maybe they
should be asking more for some of the images they are offering through the Stone
brand. It will be interesting to see how the images in the Stone+ brand are
priced.

Many of the Stone photographers have also been pressuring Getty to raise the
prices to a level that is at least equal to what is being charged by other brands
on Gettyimages.com and this move could be a response to those requests.

100% Digital Workflow at Corbis

Corbis has announced that by October 1, 2004 they will require digital submissions
for both commercial and editorial stock and will be dedicated to supporting 100%
digital workflow. The only exception to this will be the work of Outline
photographers who specialize in celebrity portraiture.

Corbis has also created a program called Digital Advantage that is designed to
make the evolution to digital easier for Corbis photographers by providing digital
training and education, and make it possible for them to purchase digital
equipment at significant discounts.

VPAimages.com Partners With Photolibrary.com

VPAimages in Singapore and Malaysia has partnered with Photolibrary.com in
Australia and launched new companies, namely Photolibrary.com Pte Ltd in Singapore
and VPA Photolibrary.com Sdn Bhd in Malaysia.

Their aim is to enhance their e-commerce and hi-resolution image development and
to cover sales operation in Singapore, Malaysis, Indonesia, Thailand and the
Philippines.

They will cease offering transparency dupes to their customers and focus on
supplying hi-resolution digital files for all customer needs. The company has
notified photographers that they will either return or destroy the dupes currently
in their files depending on what the photographer requests.

Masterfile Moves Representations

Masterfile has moved its representation in Austria to zefa Austria, a company
owned and operated by Barbara Ludwig under license with zefa visual media GmbH.
Their former agent, PIX, filed for bankruptcy in March, which accelerated a
scheduled transition to zefa.

Masterfile has also moved most of its representations in Latin America to a new
enterprise controlled by Mr. Carlos Angel. The new businesses will operate
"Masterfile Latin America" as well as independently-branded enterprises under the
names Outras Imagens (Brazil) and Otras Imagenes or Otras Fotos (Spanish-speaking
countries).

The countries covered by the new arrangement are: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia,
Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras,
Nicaragua and Panama.

The Masterfile representations in Mexico, Chile and Peru remain unchanged.

Stockbyte Three Tier Pricing

One thing I didn't pick up on in my story on Stockbyte Filtration (Story 636) was
their three tier pricing of RF images. Now, under each thumbnail there is a
pricing level of Platinum, Gold or Silver. This mirrors Getty's pricing strategy
for PhotoDisc of Red, Blue and Green.

If customers are only looking for an images at a certain price level they can use
the Filtering option to request Platinum, Gold or Silver and see only images at
that price level. This makes it possible for users working on a budget to continue
to use Stockbyte as the prices on certain high end images continue to rise.

The prices for the various tiers are:

Iconica Expands to Germany, France, Italy

Iconica (www.iconica.com) has expanded offering to localize its web site for the
UK, and added accessibility in three new languages: German, French and Italian.

The interest in the Iconica offering has been higher than expected since its
October 2003 launch and the company has moved quickly to make the images available
to a client base that is broader than just the U.S.

The additional language versions are automatically invoked by the user's browsers
or are easily accessible from a pull-down menu on the home page. In either case
the site defaults to the user's locale in all subsequent visits. Prices are also
listed in Euros or Pounds Sterling depending on the users country of registration.
Spanish and Portuguese versions of the site are currently under construction.
Iconica will also be available soon in Japanese through the parent company Amana
America's portal site at www.amana.jp.

CEO David Neilson said, "The new language options and pricing features for our
site were an essential next step for us as Iconica continues to make strides in
international markets. Such localized websites are easier for our UK, German,
French and Italian clients to use, and also enable our international customers to
be more precise in their online searches for images evoking a specific mood,
situation or topic."

Black Star and Stockshop/Medichrome

Stockshop/Medichrome moved their files into the Black Star offices in New York three
years ago and began integrating the digitized images onto Black Star's stockphoto.com
portal. Only a small portion of the total collection has been digitized. Barbara
Gottlieb, the founder of Stockshop/Medichrome, will leave the company in June and
Black Star will continue to represent the work of the Stockshop/Medichrome photographers.

According to Ben Chapnick, in future Black Star is only interested in accepting digital
files and will no longer consider film submissions from photographers.
The company is currently working to develop a system that will allow photographers
to upload digital files to a holding area where they can be easily editited for
addition to the database.

At present, the bulk of new images that are added to stockphoto.com are digitally
captured images produced on various editorial assignments by Black Star photographers.

Image Source 7

Image Source has launched a new catalogs, Image Source 7, that showcases the
images from 40 new disc collections and 2940 images, all produced in the last few
months. Discs featured in the catalog include: Lost Weekend, Ceremony of Football,
Bride and Groom and Contemporary Corporate People.

After an opening section the catalog is laid out by disc with eight to ten pages
devoted to each disc. There are colored category tabs at the side of each page for
easy reference, even when the book is closed.