There are a number of reasons to believe that a rapidly growing supply of images may not be as big a problem for the buyer as some industry insiders think. Large image collections are outpacing tightly edited rivals in revenue growth in all pricing categories, suggesting that collection size and pricing are not the only factors influencing buyer decisions.
Many believe the marketplace has an oversupply of images. This raises several concerns for image producers.
Jerry Greenberg has once again petitioned the Supreme Court in his long-running battle with the National Geographic Society, which reused his copyrighted images without compensation in a CD-ROM compilation.
Some wishful thinkers believe photographers will eventually stop supplying new images to microstock, when it becomes clear that the vast majority can never earn enough to justify continued effort.
Alamy has announced that it will open a U.S. sales office in early 2009. The company is aiming to grow its business Stateside, particularly in high-value markets, by 30% to 40% per year by establishing a local presence.
Photographers still ask me, “Is the Hellman & Friedman’s acquisition of Getty Images good or bad (for photographers)?” As far as I can see whether or not Getty is owned by H&F doesn’t make a whole lot of difference for photographers.
There is growing concern among Stock Artist Alliance photographers and many other Getty Images' contributors about the company's Premium Access Subscription strategy. Increasingly, Getty's premium rights-managed and royalty-free images are licensed for fees of less than $10, with the photographer's royalty share a fraction of that.
One thing PhotoShelter's demise teaches us is that 70% of nothing is still nothing. Percentage alone is not the critical issue for photographers. Nevertheless, too many focus on that issue, because it is the only absolute in a relationship where someone else is licensing rights to your photography.
This story deals with a number of things that need to be considered when negotiating. It includes a discussion of how to deal with multiple of a single image in multiple publications, or many insertions in a single publication. There is a discussion of buyouts, discounting where there are multiple images licensed in a single sale, reuse and revision and minimum price. Finally there is a checklist of things to consider when negotiating.
A year after its acquisition of Veer, Corbis will reduce its workforce by about 175 employees between now and the end of the year. The company has also promoted several senior executives.