Fotolia Reveals 2009 Top Sellers

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 334 Words | Posted 1/12/2010 | Comments
"Sales of $1 images continued to generate six-figure incomes for the world's top photographers in 2009," begins the Fotolia press release that highlights the company's three top-selling images for last year. Combined, the three Fotolia top sellers gathered around 10,000 downloads, so the photographers' earnings are nowhere near as impressive as Fotolia claims; however, the images themselves offer an interesting perspective into current buyer needs.

Will We Ever Prevent Unauthorized Uses?

By Jim Pickerell | 723 Words | Posted 1/12/2010 | Comments
A friend who has been on the periphery of the photo industry for decades now works for a company that manages social media and search engine optimization for a variety of clients, including law firms. She said her office mates disagree on what they are allowed to do with pictures they find on news Web sites. She asked: "Are bloggers allowed to illustrate their blog entries with photos they find on news sites, such as a photo of a sinkhole? What are the rules about using editorial images in a blog post?"

TopFoto Highlights 50-Year-Old Coverage, Daily

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 97 Words | Posted 1/11/2010 | Comments

Getty Images Reps Washington Post

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 113 Words | Posted 1/11/2010 | Comments
Getty Images will now be the exclusive global distributor of the imagery produced by The Washington Post's team of photojournalists. The move bolsters Getty's editorial image offering.

Getty Images Reps Washington Post

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 111 Words | Posted 1/11/2010 | Comments
Getty Images will now be the exclusive global distributor of the imagery produced by The Washington Post's team of photojournalists. The move bolsters Getty's editorial image offering.

Mary Evans Launches Mag

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 138 Words | Posted 1/8/2010 | Comments
U.K. historical specialist Mary Evans Picture Library has launched a new promotional magazine, ME & You. The first issue goes out to buyers in January.

Zenfolio Updates Photo Web Sites Service

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 172 Words | Posted 1/8/2010 | Comments
California-based Zenofolio has updated is photographer portfolio Web site service with new layout options, no-coding-needed theme design functionality and better search-engine optimization tools. The enhancements are now part of the site's functionality at no additional cost.

Has Microstock Reached Plateau?

By Jim Pickerell | 721 Words | Posted 1/7/2010 | Comments
For most of iStockphoto's best-selling photographers, the number of images downloaded per month declined in 2009.

Top Istockphoto Contributors: 2009 Sales

By Jim Pickerell | 2746 Words | Posted 1/6/2010 | Comments
This chart provides information for 198 of the leading contributors to iStockphoto. It shows the total number of downloads each photographer had as of May 1, 2009 and the minimum and maximum number of downloads the photographer had on December 31, 2009. We were unable to report exact figures for the period May through December because iStockphoto changed its reporting policy in June to only supply a greater than number that indicated the downloads were in a certain range. Using this data and interpolating for the first four missing months in the data we were able to make an estimate of the number of downloads each photographer had in 2009.

Masterfile Awarded $600K+ in Copyright Infringement Lawsuit

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 526 Words | Posted 1/6/2010 | Comments (1)
Masterfile president Steve Pigeon told Selling Stock that his company was just awarded $600,000 (plus $5,754.34 in attorney's fees and costs) in a copyright infringement suit against a Georgia printing firm. Copyright compliance is a growing revenue source for the Toronto-based company, which sees litigation as an inevitable cost of remaining in the business of intellectual property management and licensing.

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.