Random Thoughts 13

Posted on 11/10/1999 by Jim Pickerell | Printable Version | Comments (0)

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RANDOM THOUGHTS 13


November 10, 1999

NAFP Disbands

Paul Hurschmann, President of the NAFP (National Association of Freelance

Photographers) has announced that NAFP ceased operations as of October 31, 1999

after three-and-a-half years of representing photographers interests.

NAFP had aligned itself with The Newspaper Guild/Communications Workers of America,

but according to Hurschmann the alliance was "a complete and utter failure" due to

miscommunication and unrealistic expectations on both sides. The inability to

obtain insurance for its members also contributed to NAFP's demise.

NAFP encourages active and vigorous participation in one or more of the many

organizations serving photographers and furthering the fight against the erosion of

our collective rights, especially the burgeoning Editorial Photographers group

(www.editorialphotographers.com).

Todtri Served

At least one client of NCS Recovery Corporation has served Robert Tod and Todtri

Productions in an effort to collect monies owed for more than two years. Other

suits are pending and service is expected in the near future. Picture Perfect is

one of Tod's companies.

(See Story 192)

Once served, Todtri has 30 days to answer. If the company fails to answer there

will be an inquest hearing where attorneys retained by NCS will ask for a default

judgement. If the court grants a default judgement, NCS can then attach any and all

assets of Todtri.

Joe Lipsom of NCS Recovery has instituted successful collections for many in the

stock photo industry. He can be reached in New York at 1-800-836-2655.

Getty Acquires Newsmakers

Getty Images expands editorial holdings with addition of leading photojournalism

collection

Getty Images, Inc. has acquired Newsmakers, a digital news agency covering current

events, news and celebrity photography. The acquisition of Newsmakers' entirely

digital business furthers Getty Images' strategy of migrating its press and

editorial brands to a fully digital distribution model.

"Newsmakers is a natural fit with our plans to move our Press and Editorial channel

to a completely e-commerce-based distribution model," said Jonathan Klein,

co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Getty Images. "News-oriented material is

in high demand, and time-to-customer is a key factor for success in this area. We

currently offer one of the strongest digital delivery capabilities in the industry,

and this acquisition serves to enhance that capability."

The press and editorial channel serves customers in the publishing sector, including

newspaper, magazine and book publishers, web publishers and broadcast news

businesses. Newsmakers' founder, Richard Ellis, will remain President of Newsmakers

and has been named Chief Executive Officer of Getty Images' New York Press and

Editorial channel.

"Getty Images' e-commerce focus and its dedication to creating tailored solutions

for press and editorial customers will drive its continued success in this segment,"

said Richard Ellis, President of Newsmakers. "As part of the Getty Images

international distribution network, Newsmakers will be able to continue growing and

expanding its customer base."

Newsmakers' collection of 50,000 images is entirely digitized and is currently

available through the company's website, www.newsmakers.net. Newsmakers was one of

the first news photo agencies to operate exclusively on the Internet, and its

customers include publications such as Time, Newsweek and People Magazine, websites

such as MSNBC and newspapers including the New York Times, Washington Post and USA

Today.

Ellis told Selling Stock that Newsmakers produced about $300,000 in royalties for

photographers in the past year.

Corbis E-Commerce Sales

Leslie Hughes of Corbis has indicated that 70% of the company's rights protected

sales in September involved some element of E-commerce.

It should be noted that this figure did not include the Outline division of Corbis

whose sales are currently 100% analog. It also did not include the Digital Stock

divison which is royalty free. One hundred percent of Digital Stock's sales could

be considered E-commerce because the files are either delivered on-line or on

CD-ROM. No film is ever delivered.

It should also be noted that "E-commerce" in this context does not mean that there

was no human intervention in the process. For example research may have been done

online, negotiation and billing might have been done in the traditional manner, and

delivery of the digital file was done on-line. No statistics were available for the

percentage of sales that were "full E-commerce" with no human intervention.

These figures point to an impressive shift in buying habits. However, some

photographers suggest there may be a different explanation. Given Corbis' digital

focus they may not be paying as much attention to researching the film and print

files as was the case under the prior management of the various divisions before

they were acquired. Thus, the total volume of sales may be off as the percent of

digital to analog is increasing.

Selling Stock estimates that the annual sales of Corbis' rights protected operations

will be approximately $40 million and that the Digital Stock royalty free division

will be about $30 million for a total in the range of $70 million.

PACA International Conference

The 4th annual PACA (Picture Agency Council of America) International Conference

was held in New York on October 31st

and November 1st with 466 individuals representing 237 companies from 36 countries

in attendance.

Many stock agencies used the opportunity to show off their catalogs and seek

marketing relations with other companies around the world. The focus of the

seminars was, "The state of stock around the world," "eCommerce: What, How, Why,"

and "RF: What have we learned, What's next?"

Photonica Appoints Mayes COO

Amana America Inc. (parent company of Photonica) has appointed Stephen Mayes as

Chief Operating Officer of American operations..

Mayes has worked for Amana since 1998 as Creative Director with responsibility for

European and American content. During this time the Western creative teams have

published three innovative catalogs under the Photonica brand: Hot (No.36), Blind Me

(No.43) and 44. November also sees the introduction of a new product line with

Work, the first volume of aka Photonica (more accessible stock imagery through the

eyes of Photonica's photographers) and the publication of Plastock, a revolutionary

approach to stock catalogues produced in partnership with CSA Design of Minneapolis.

Amana America will continue to develop the Photonica brand while introducing a

growing diversity of products and services supported by a full Internet presence in

2000.


Copyright © 1999 Jim Pickerell. The above article may not be copied, reproduced, excerpted or distributed in any manner without written permission from the author. All requests should be submitted to Selling Stock at 10319 Westlake Drive, Suite 162, Bethesda, MD 20817, phone 301-461-7627, e-mail: wvz@fpcubgbf.pbz

Jim Pickerell is founder of www.selling-stock.com, an online newsletter that publishes daily. He is also available for personal telephone consultations on pricing and other matters related to stock photography. He occasionally acts as an expert witness on matters related to stock photography. For his current curriculum vitae go to: http://www.jimpickerell.com/Curriculum-Vitae.aspx.  

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