Every photographer detests copyright infringers. When one of their
images is used without compensation they want to be paid not only their
normal fee for the use but a reasonable amount for chasing down the
infringer and enough penalty to insure that the infringer won’t do it
again. The goal is to give everyone incentive to be honest. But is going after infringers really accomplishing that goal and is it generating more business for the future?
The annual CEPIC Congress, to be held this year in Istanbul, is
scheduled for May 18 through 21, 2011, just a little more than a month
away. Image distributors from all over the world will be in attendance.
The CEPIC Congress will be the best opportunity in 2011 for image
distributors to meet some of the leading people in the visual
communications world – thought leaders, early adopters, owner managers,
entrepreneurs - and establish distributor relationships for your work.
I was recently asked by a RM photographer, “Can you provide some
insights into the kinds of volumes that are generated when images are
licensed at microstock prices?” This story provides some information and links as to how to learn more about microstock volumes.
Many photographers licensing images at RM and traditional RF prices
believe that it is impossible to have as profitable business licensing
images at Microstock prices. They argue that despite the fact that some
microstock photographers earn significant revenue due to sales volume
their expenses must be so high that there is very little profit for
their time invested. This story explores the validity of that theory.
In an IBISWorld market research report author Toon Van Beeck has identified the
10 Fasted Dying Industries in the United States. While every industry has a lifecycle – growth, maturity and decline – the fastest dying “standouts” include:
Photofinishing, #4 on the list,
Newspaper Publishing ,#7 and
Video Postproduction, #10. IBIS has a database of 700 industries and studied 200 that were in decline to determine which were in the worst shape.
Prior to 1976 a commissioning client owned the copyright to images
created by photographers. At that time the vast majority of images that appeared in
publications and advertising were created on assignment. The 1976 copyright law changed all that and gave photographers control of their work and the ability to license narrow and specific rights. Now, the business world is pushing photographers back into a model that
looks very much like pre-1976. The promise of a continual income stream
from our creations often seems distant and unobtainable.
The Image Works stock photography agency (http://www.theimageworks.com)
has announced the addition of the Press Association collection to its
archive. Press Association has one of the most extensive collections of
UK news, sports and entertainment images in the world, dating back to
1860.
A rights-managed photographer recently told me that travel photographers must continue to
market their work as rights-managed because there is not enough
customer demand on microstock sites for travel images to enable
photographers to cover their costs and make a profit. He acknowledged that people who shoot model released business and
lifestyle photographs might be able to earn enough to profit from
licensing their images as microstock, but argued that it won't work for
the travel photographer. I decided to search iStockphoto for some popular locations and see how
many times the top ten images from each of these locations had been
downloaded.
The new
Getty Images Contributor Agreement is now available. It raises a number of issues for Getty photographers. Photographers must sign the new contract before the end or April in order to continue to submit new images. If they choose not to sign Getty will continue to license their images until their current contract expires. At that point their images will be removed from the database.
In the past two years Corey Rich has directed and shot more than 15 video profiles for Apple. The stories have generally centered around small business and enterprise companies that have integrated iPhone and iPad for greater efficiency and, in many cases, a positive effect on their bottom line. His two minute
iPad in Business profile of Eric Jackson and Jackson Kayaks may give you an idea of new business opportunities that are opening up for still photographers turned videographers and producers.