Press Releases 13

Posted on 2/1/2006 by Jim Pickerell | Printable Version | Comments (0)

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PRESS RELEASES 13

February 1, 2006

Jupiterimages Invests in Stock.xchng and Stockxpert.com


Jupitermedia Corporation has announced that it has purchased a 49.7 percent equity investment in HAAP Media Ltd., based in Budapest, Hungary. HAAP Media operates two stock photo related Web sites: Stock.xchng (www.sxc.hu) and Stockxpert.com (www.stockxpert.com). Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Stock.xchng is one of the largest stock photo community Web sites in the world with over 25 million page views monthly and over 500,000 registered users. Photos cannot be purchased from Stock.xchng but users are linked to sister site Stockxpert.com where stock photos can be purchased for as little as $1.00 per image. Both sites are published in the English language.

"We are excited to now be working with HAAP Media in order to help make Stockxpert.com one of the leading sellers in the rapidly growing field of "micropayment" sites in which professional and amateur photographers submit model released and keyworded photos in exchange for royalty payments on future sales. Images typically sell for prices ranging from $1.00 to $10.00" stated Alan M. Meckler, Chairman and CEO of Jupitermedia Corporation. "Stock.xchng and Stockxpert.com are already widely recognized brands based on Google rankings. We believe we can make both sites even more significant by promoting these services through our network of Web sites to our 20 million unique visitors per month. Finally, it is the goal of Jupiterimages to offer images for every photo buyer's budget. This new relationship, combined with our many subscription, royalty-free and traditional rights-managed image offerings, distinguishes Jupiterimages from our competition as the only company catering to all levels of image buyers worldwide," added Meckler.


Football Association Signs Action Images as Photo Partner

The Football Association has selected Action Images (www.actionimages.com), the specialist sports photography agency, as its official photography partner in a new three year deal. Action Images, wholly acquired by Reuters in September 2005, was appointed by The FA following a competitive tender process involving a number of high-profile photography agencies.

Under the terms of the agreement, Action Images will exclusively manage The FA's photo library and assignment-based commissions covering all aspects of The FA's work within football. Further, the agency will be commissioned by The FA to undertake photography assignments at all England football team matches at every level.

Additionally, Action Images will manage the editorial and commercial sales of all photography for The FA, using its specialist knowledge in the sports marketplace. This service is further strengthened by the international sales and support infrastructure at its disposal since its recent acquisition by Reuters.

The Association's photo library contains over 200,000 images including many never seen before pictures. Together with Action Images own archives, the combined collection will make it the first choice for anyone looking for the very best in English football photography.

Action Images is a recognized market leader in sports photography. Its clients include major sports clubs and governing bodies, international media publishers and sponsors. It has a team of photographers working on editorial and commercial assignments, and an archive of more than 7 million sports images.

Jonathan Hill, Commercial Director, at The Football Association, said, "This is an important deal for The Football Association and will take us to the next stage of our photographic development. Not only does this ensure that we have the best photographic coverage for all our events across the wide range of work that the organization undertakes, it also ensures that we now have a pro-active sales force for our commercial and editorial imagery. With such a strong reputation in sports photography, we are delighted to be working with Action Images and Reuters."

Monique Villa, Reuters Global Head of News and Pictures and Chairman of Action Images, said, "England is one of the most popular and closely followed football teams in the world generating huge demand for photography amongst fans and sponsors alike. The FA's decision to choose Action Images to shoot and distribute these images is a major endorsement of our strength in this marketplace. We really are creating a new and competitive alternative in sports photography."


IView and Alamy Reveal Pro-Photo Tool

iView Multimedia (www.iview-multimedia.com) has launched a new service that accelerates the process of submitting images to stock photography service Alamy (www.alamy.com). The service streamlines submissions, with the collaborators claiming it, "radically reduces the time required by professional photographers to prepare images for sale online."

iView MediaPro 3.0 now features the new Alamy Wizard, which simplifies the stock photo submission process into just three easy steps. Each stock photography service has its own way of tagging and cataloguing images, which means users must furnish each service with individual file identifiers, tags and descriptions for images they want to sell.

The Alamy Wizard integrates both companies' tagging and cataloguing systems from within iView MediaPro 3.0. The software will validate the images for the stock image service, after which pro snappers just need to burn the collated images to a CD and send them to Alamy, which then uploads the pictures.

When photographers next log in to the "Prepare images for sale" area on Alamy and see their submitted images displayed they just need to email the service. The images then go on sale.


PunchStock & UpperCut Opens New York City Office

Stock photography agency PunchStock & UpperCut Images (www.punchstock.com) has announced the official opening of its New York office located in the Murray Hill section of Manhattan, at 386 Park Avenue South. The office houses the company's rapidly growing marketing department and New York sales office. PunchStock and UpperCut Images' other locations include its Madison, Wisconsin headquarters as well as offices in London and Seattle.

In addition to the launch of UpperCut Images-PunchStock's companion collection of exclusive high-end rights-protected images-PunchStock also introduced a complete overhaul and upgrade of its online image search technology, as well as a marketing campaign that sent six winning registrants on all-expense-paid domestic and international vacations.

"The opening of the New York office is the perfect postscript to a fantastic year," says PunchStock & UpperCut Images President Miles Gerstein. "Our new rights-managed collection, UpperCut Images, was born; we launched several successful, award-winning marketing and ad campaigns and exceeded our 2004 sales figures by 40 percent. I'm really looking forward to continued success in 2006."

Proximity to a major portion of its client base is among the many reasons the agency opened its New York office. Said Andy Hill, PunchStock & UpperCut Images vice president of sales in North America, "With many of the largest ad agencies, publishers, media, and corporations located nearby, our new office will enable us to develop deeper relationships with these valued customers and provide an even higher level of service to meet their creative visual imagery needs."


SuperStock Opens New York City Office

a21, Inc. has opened a new office for its subsidiary, SuperStock, Inc., (www.superstock.com) in New York City, "to meet the needs of our current clients and support our growing business," Thomas V. Butta, CEO of SuperStock and Vice Chairman and President of a21, has announced. SuperStock is headquartered in Jacksonville, FL and, through its UK subsidiary, has two offices in the United Kingdom.

"We're very excited about our new office in New York City, and the opportunity it affords us to deepen relationships with our clients," said Candice Crough, Vice President, Sales of SuperStock, who will be based in New York and manage the office.

"It is very important for us to satisfy our clients by maintaining strong relationships with them, especially in the key New York advertising and publishing market," noted Butta.

a21/SuperStock recently acquired Ingram Publishing, and has also added key management, improved technology and enhanced content with SuperStock.com. The company continues to explore additional expansion opportunities, both through organic growth and acquisitions.


SAA Event In London

Stock Artists Alliance (www.stockartistsalliance.org) is planning an event in London on 14 February 2006 that will interest professional photographers looking for an orientation to the business, as well as stock photographers looking to update their knowledge of the industry and plan for the future. The day long program will feature a morning presentation, afternoon panel session and include networking opportunities. Photographers are invited to attend one or both sessions.

The morning Presentation entitled "Thinking Stock" provides an orientation to the quickly changing industry of stock photography. Presented by SAA Executive Director Betsy Reid, this program provides an in depth look at the industry from the perspectives of image creators, distributors and users. Expect a candid appraisal of the realities of the stock industry with regard to licensing and distribution models.

10:00 Arrival

10:30 Presentation: "Thinking Stock"

13:00 Networking lunch

An afternoon Panel Session will offer Straight Talk about Stock by members of the SAA Board of Directors. We will discuss the most compelling issues and challenges that stock photographers face today and looking ahead including licensing models, rights managed vs. royalty free and subscription, direct sales, photographer web sites and promotion, stock portals, contracts, pricing, global distribution, trends in imagery, digital photography and more. The session will include a question and answer period.

14:00 Arrival

14:30 Panel Session: "Straight Talk about Stock"

16:30 Networking drinks & snacks

18:00 ends

Location: 14 February 2006 at Zigfrid, 11 Hoxton Square, London N1 6NU.

Photographers are invited to attend one or both sessions.

£90 / £50 - Full price

£70 / £40 - BAPLA / AOP / EPUK / BFP

£40 / £25 - SAA

Space is limited. To register for this event please email zvpunry@cvpgherubhfr.bet.


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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