Articles by Author

The VCG Story Takes Another Turn

By Jim Pickerell | 1105 Words | Posted 5/8/2019 | Comments

Selling-Stock has managed to gather more information about what has been happening at VCG. According to sources sometime after the Corbis acquisition VCG decided to copy Getty’s Premium Access strategy and launch a PA plan of its own. In addition to all the Getty and Corbis creative and editorial images, the iStock images are also available to the customers who purchase a PA plan.

Fair Use Claim Rejected

By Jim Pickerell | 215 Words | Posted 5/6/2019 | Comments

On April 26, 2019, the Fourth Circuit Court overturned a Northern Virginia District Court decision that allowed Violent Hues Productions, LLC’s to use a cropped version of a photo to promote a Film and Music Festival without compensation to the creator. Violent Hues had made no effort to request permission or compensate photographer Russell Brammer for the use and claimed “Fair Use” in court. (See July 2018 story.)

CEPIC Congress In Paris June 5 – 7

By Jim Pickerell | 780 Words | Posted 5/6/2019 | Comments

It is less than one month until the annual CEPIC Congress convenes in Paris on June 5 thru 7, 2019. Each year this event is the single most important meeting of people from all over the world who are engaged in the picture licensing industry.

Seminar On Improving Video Content Discoverability

By Jim Pickerell | 210 Words | Posted 5/6/2019 | Comments

On May 9, 2019 Mark Milstein will be offering a seminar in New York on Time-based Metadata: The Key to Video Discoverability and Content Immortality. The presentation will be at B&H Photo. Click here to register. You can also watch online.

ACSIL: Footage Revenue Worldwide $570 Million

By Jim Pickerell | 2047 Words | Posted 5/3/2019 | Comments

ACSIL and Thriving Archives have completed their fourth Global Survey of Stock Footage Companies (AGS4) since 2007 and estimate worldwide stock footage revenue in 2018 at $570 million, more than double what it was in 2007. Data for the survey launched in July 2018 was collected from 84 of the estimated 415 footage licensing companies worldwide.

Will More Images Grow Revenue?

By Jim Pickerell | 841 Words | Posted 5/2/2019 | Comments (1)

Will more images in an agency collection grow revenue? Is more choice always better? Shutterstock is adding 1,608,350 new images a week to its collection. That’s 229,764 new images a day. The average customer reviews 500 or fewer returns before changing search parameters. So how do they make it possible for customers to review all those new images?

Another Look At The Market In China

By Jim Pickerell | 643 Words | Posted 5/2/2019 | Comments

The stock photo market in China may be bigger, and more lucrative than many people think. Gaopin Images tells Selling Stock that their average gross sale to Chinese customers in 2018 was $35, 17% more than what Getty is earning worldwide and 44% more than the gross China sales Getty is reporting to its contributors.

Future Value Of Stock Images

By Jim Pickerell | 462 Words | Posted 4/29/2019 | Comments

I was asked recently to appraise the value of a collection of stock images that were being donated. Back in the 1990s and even the early 2000s this would have been a relatively easy task. I would look at the revenue the collection had generated in previous years, determine the rate of revenue decline year over year and assess, based on the type of imagery, the length of time they might continue to have commercial value.

Shutterstock Q1 2019 Financial Results

By Jim Pickerell | 1194 Words | Posted 4/25/2019 | Comments

Shutterstock has reported Q1 2019 revenue of $163.3 million up $6.7% compared to Q1 2018, (excluding Webdam which was sold in the first quarter of 2018). The revenue was almost flat with the $162.1 million generated in the previous quarter. During the conference call CFO Steven Berns pointed out that traditionally revenue for Q1 is very similar to revenue in Q4 of the previous year. Revenue per download averaged $3.42 per image, compared to $3.40 in Q1 2018.

Shutterstock and AP Renew Multiyear Distribution Deal

By Jim Pickerell | 229 Words | Posted 4/23/2019 | Comments

Shutterstock, has announced the renewal of its agreement with The Associated Press (AP) to distribute AP’s daily global photo output for license to customers based in the U.S., U.K. and Ireland.

About Michael Masterson

Michael Masterson has a broad range of experience in marketing, business development, strategic planning, contact negotiations and recruiting in the photography, graphic design and publishing industries. In addition to his long experience at the Workbook and Workbookstock, Masterson owned and was creative director of his own graphic design firm for several years.

Masterson has been a speaker or panelist at industry events such as Seybold, PhotoPlus Expo, Visual Connections and the Picture Archive Council of America (PACA) national conference. He is currently the national president of the American Society of Picture Professionals (ASPP). He also serves on the board of the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council in his Los Angeles community. He chaired the marketing committee for the Los Angeles Conservancy, a historic preservation advocacy group, for many years.

He currently heads Masterson Consulting, working on projects ranging from business development for creative companies and sourcing talent for them to promoting and marketing industry events as well as providing resume and professional profile services for job-seekers. He can be reached at zvpunryqznfgrefba@tznvy.pbz.