Articles by Author

Strategies Traditional Sellers Should Adopt

By Jim Pickerell | 1911 Words | Posted 5/26/2009 | Comments

As the stock industry changes, traditional stock agencies and distributors are losing ground because they have failed to adopt new technological efficiencies. Granted, constantly keeping up with the latest technological changes can be expensive, and most agencies have already invested huge amounts to get where they are today. But, microstock sellers have introduced a number of strategies that traditional agencies and distributors should be considering – if not rushing to adopt.

Alamy To Launch 'Find a Photographer' Service

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 84 Words | Posted 5/22/2009 | Comments

MyLoupe Redesigns Web Site

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 61 Words | Posted 5/22/2009 | Comments

Blend Expands Rights-Managed Distribution

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 65 Words | Posted 5/22/2009 | Comments

Microstock: No Longer $1

By Jim Pickerell | 449 Words | Posted 5/22/2009 | Comments (3)

Many experienced professional photographers have been watching image prices fall but just cannot bring themselves to license their images for $1. Yet the truth is that at today's microstock prices, it does not take all that many sales to match what a photographer would earn from a single rights-managed sale, and there are a currently a lot more microstock sales than rights-managed ones.

Fotolia Launches Free Stock Web Site

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 193 Words | Posted 5/21/2009 | Comments (7)

Those who think microstock is under-priced will be chagrined at today's announcement of Fotolia's latest offering. Today, the New York-based microstock announced the launch of PhotoXpress, an online stock-image bank offering visitors a collection of 350,000 images free of charge.

Ex-Getty Execs Launch Microstock Business Vivozoom

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 202 Words | Posted 5/21/2009 | Comments

Former Getty Images chief financial officer Lawrence Gould and vice president of e-commerce Tom Donnelly have launched their second venture: microstock business Vivozoom. The duo launched royalty-free stock business ImagePick in 2007. The differentiating factor is that Vivozoom is the only microstock Web site that warrants the use of its imagery---to the tune of committing to cover damages and costs of up to $25,000.

Copyright Office in Logjam

By Jim Pickerell | 380 Words | Posted 5/20/2009 | Comments

The Washington Post reports that it is taking an average of 18 months for hard-copy copyright-registration applications to be cleared since the U.S. Copyright Office implemented its new electronic application system last July. It takes six months to process an electronic application, despite the fact that the system was supposed to be able to do it in one month.

Corbis Opens Sygma Facility

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 226 Words | Posted 5/20/2009 | Comments

The Sygma Preservation and Access Facility opened in France last Friday, after more than five years of work by its owner Corbis. Built by management company Locarchives, the facility houses 50 million negatives, printes, transparencies and contact prints.

Vario Reps Johnér in Germany

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 55 Words | Posted 5/20/2009 | Comments

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.