The story provides a rough estimate of iStockphoto sales and revenue growth since the company was acquired by Getty Images in early 2006. The figures for the years 2006 and 2007 are reasonably accurate because Getty Images was a public company during this period and reporting a great deal of detail about their operations. After the company went private in early 2008 it became more difficult to accurately estimate downloads and revenue.
Jim Erickson breaks all the stock photography rules and yet is one of the world's most successful sellers of stock images. Pick any strategy that everyone agrees is the key to success in stock, and Erickson is probably doing the opposite.
PicScout has announced a strategic shift from a single source product company focused on finding unauthorized image uses to a services company based upon the PicScout Image Index Registry Connection. One of its initial services will be a product called ImageExchange, which provides a connection between image users and licensors. ImageExchange makes it possible for potential users to easily identify the creator of an image and instantly connect with someone who is authorized to license rights to use it.
For most of this year I have been tracking the number of downloads for 117 of the 150 most productive contributors on iStock. (I have been unable to identify the other 33 in the top 150.) Total downloads of the 117 during the last seven months represent about 17% of all iStock contributor downloads. Sixty-five of the 117 contributors have seen a slight decline in average downloads-per-month since March.
An Atlantic City billboard that uses an image shot by Jon Feingersh illustrates a discouraging trend in stock-photo pricing. Feingersh produced the image two years ago, as part of a $35,000 Venezuela shoot. A decade ago, The Stock Market probably would have licensed one of Feingersh's images for billboard use at between $4,000 and $5,000; the photographer would have received 50% of the sale. Today, however...
In the Internet age, creator rights are under attack and in peril.
On October 31, 2009 the Encarta Web site will be discontinued. Microsoft stopped selling Encarta products in June. Now the place for reference information is Wikipedia.org.
According to BIA/Kelsey, local advertising spend continues to shift to digital and to decline overall in gross revenue generated.
The SuperStock division of RGB Ventures now owns the artist distribution contracts of Art Life Images, which cover approximately 80,000 rights-managed travel images.
Selling Stock has compiled a list of the world's leading stock photo sellers.