Random Thoughts 123

Posted on 8/2/2006 by Jim Pickerell | Printable Version | Comments (0)

2

RANDOM THOUGHTS 123


August 2, 2006

iStockphoto Moves To Sell Footage - Seeks Contributors

iStockphoto(R)has announced it is now accepting user-generated video, expanding its premier image collection to include royalty-free (RF) stock video, film, and animation clips for as little as $5. This will be the first time that stylish, high-quality video will be offered at such compelling pricing from such a reliable, trusted source. Anyone can apply to become a video contributor at http://video.istockphoto.com. iStock(TM) videographers will collect downloads, earn royalties and receive "video reels" like photographer canisters to show their sales levels.

iStockphoto's nearly 1 million registered users average one still image downloaded every three seconds. iStock has received thousands of requests to offer high-quality, low-cost video over the years. This is the right time to answer that demand because of the explosion in consumer appetite for video combined with the relative affordability of HD video cameras. Video, film and animation artists can finally join the vast international marketplace of iStockphoto, with its reputation for selling the best contemporary content at incredible prices. Anyone who contributes in these mediums in the first 90 days will receive 10 free credits, useable for any product on iStock. iStockphoto members who refer video contributors will receive a bonus of $1 per clip, up to the first fifty clips accepted for RF use by their referees.

Beginning in September, iStock will sell broadcast-quality footage, with a focus on digital formats, including HD video. Thirty-second clips will start as low as $5. The new video clips will be accessible at both http://video.istockphoto.com and www.istockvideo.com.

"We're offering thousands of videographers around the world the opportunity to reach a global audience and make money," said Bruce Livingstone, founder and CEO. "There is a huge demand for video; people want up-to-the-minute, top-quality footage, but current prices are keeping most potential clients out. iStock is excited to provide videographers that same immediate connection between artists and global customers, just as we did with stills."































Clip Size and Price Points

  

  

Price

  

  

Small

320x240

$5

Medium

640x480

$10

Large

720x486

(NTSC/PAL)

$20

HD 720

1280x720

$35

HD 1080

1920x1080

$50



Corbis Files Lawsuit Against TemplateMonster and Ultravetex.com

Corbis has filed a lawsuit against TemplateMonster and Ultravetex.com seeking $109 million in damages and accusing the companies of copyright infringement, stripping images of their credit information and reacketeering.

TemplateMonster specializes in selling custom web site templates for virtually all business categories to graphic designers and corporations. The templates can be easily modified to promote any specific business and nearly all use professionally produced stock photos.

Corbis has identified 623 of its photos on TemplateMonster and Ultravetex and neither of these companies ever paid for any rights to use the images. Instead the companies simply appropriated images wherever they could find them. In addition, both Idee Espion and PhotoSearch, who use technology that crawls the web searching for unauthorized uses of photos represented by various stock agencies, report that they have uncovered hundreds of other unauthorized uses for their other clients.

The services of a private investigator were needed to track down the owner of these websites because they were registered to phony addresses. Corbis claims that the two web sites and several other businesses are owned by Igor Lugnikov. The lawsuit has been filed in Federal District Court in the Southern District of Florida because Corbis believes Mr. Lugnikov lives in Miami Beach. However, according to other court papers Mr. Lugnikov is a foreign national who resides in "the former Soviet Union."

Mr. Lognikov is fighting the lawsuit and through his attorney claims that he had no role in the infringements.

On July 6, a judge granted a preliminary injunction freezing the assets of TemplateMonster.com and Ultravertex.com and ordering the sites to take down all the images owned by Corbis.

Corbis first became aware of TemplateMonster when they discovered that several people who were using Corbis images on their web sites had purchased a template from TemplateMonster with the clear understanding that they were authorized to use the images that were included as part of the template.

Getty And Search Marketing

In my last Random Thoughts (Story 857) I included a short item in which I referred to
Alan Meckler's blog http://weblogs.jupitermedia.com/meckler/) where he accused Getty Images of using "sleaze marketing" tactics in search marketing.

Getty Images offered the following response.

    We seldom comment on competitors' statements, but from time to time we do feel the need to ensure that the industry has all the facts. Far from being evidence of "sleaze marketing," this is just further proof that some people don't know as much about search advertising as they purport to. Given how important search is to our industry, we find this troubling.

    To be completely clear, Getty Images is not buying competitors' names as search terms. But please, don't take our word for it! Here's a statement from Getty Images' Google account representative: "Getty Images has never had "Jupiter Images" as a term that they target in their campaigns. The reason they may appear on that term was not intentional. It is Google's expanded match feature. Getty is running on terms like "stock images" on broad match. Our system actively searches for keyword variations and displays Getty ads on those variations if keywords are on broad match. The system keeps or pulls those variations from the list based on results (click through rate, for example)."

    Getty Images is proud of its success with search engine marketing and we're happy to talk about our commitment to using it to compete -- fairly -- with our many competitors.

Getty Announces New Photographer's Choice Submission Procedures

Getty has announced that as of August 1st all new Photographer's Choice submissions will be managed by a team in their new Dublin, Ireland offices. They explained that currently PC is administered by staff in three separate offices and the team is being brought together in one office to "build a centre of excellence for Photographer's Choice and allow us to deal with submissions more efficiently."

The new team includes: Peter Maher, Caoimhe O'Reilly, Beth Wachtel, Brendan Healy, Dermot Doorly, David Levingstone and Paul Davis.

The current Photographer‚s Choice staff will continue to edit existing work until September 1st, at which point they will move to new positions inside Getty Images or will leave to pursue career interests elsewhere.

Redux Pictures To Represent New York Times Stock Images

The New York Times Co. has retained photo agency Redux Pictures to license Times photography to U.S. magazines, books, web sites, broadcast outlets and commercial markets.

The publisher will continue to handle photo licensing to its existing NYT News Service and Syndicate, to overseas markets and to all newspapers.

Display Advertising On Web

JupiterResearch reports that display advertising on the Web will claim 36% of total online ad spending in 2011. Spending in the rich media and video segments is expected to increase by compound annual growth rates of 21 and 27 percent respectively over the next five years.

However, search advertising dollars will outpace display advertising over the next decade. Online ad spending is expected to reach $25.9 billion by 2011, and represent nearly 9 percent of the total U.S. ad market.


Copyright © 2006 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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