With all the depressing news, it is good to hear some good industry news occasionally. SuperStock is looking to hire a comptroller and an account executive.
TIME used Robert Lam's photo of a jar of coins on the cover of the magazine, with the headline "The New Frugality." The copy read: "The recession has changed more than just how we live. It's changed what we value and what we expect---even after the economy recovers." Lam received $30 for use of the image, which suggests we should expect a lot less.
If you are among those who think newspapers and magazines will always be with us because customers want them, consider that this year's newsprint consumption in the U.S. is down to a third of what it was in 1990.
The numbers below show the number of downloads for each of 124 of iStockphoto’s 150 top earners in the months of March, April, and May of 2009, based on total download statistics supplied daily by iStockphoto and compiled by
istockcharts.
If you sell pictures for use in print publications, take a look at Backcast Online Magazine---not so much for the content, although it is great, but for the concept, which could be a huge new opportunity and salvation for editorial photographers.
The advertising model for funding the costs of newspaper and magazine content creation and delivery seems to have outlived its usefulness. Is there an alternative to meeting the needs of advertisers, content creators and consumers?
The European Union's telecommunications chief Viviane Reding recently said that it is not piracy that is destroying the recording industry's business model, but a failed business model that is leading to piracy. This sentiment applies as much to the imaging industry as the recording industry, and it should be a wake-up call to business owners.
Recently, a very talented and successful photographer who produces both rights-managed and traditional royalty-free images was bemoaning the sorry state of the stock photo industry. He said: "We need a little respect [for our work]."
A recent WhatTheyThink survey found that 70% of the owners of printing businesses in the U.S. expect 2009 revenues to decline compared to 2008. If less is being spent to create printed products, less is being spent on the photographs that are used in them.
iStockphoto's move to segment its microstock collection into standard-priced images and the premium Vetta collection, priced 10 times higher, complicates the choices of contributors when trying to determine where to place images in order to maximize return. Should photographers enter into exclusive agreements with iStock in hopes that some of their images will be selected for the Vetta collection, or continue to distribute their images through multiple microstock sites?