iStock Gives Exclusives Over $200,000 in Royalties, Promotes Thompson to COO, Eyes Europe

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 394 Words | Posted 8/26/2008 | Comments
Continuing the tradition it established last year, iStockphoto gave out $40,000 in cash and prizes. The company also let exclusive contributors keep 100% of the royalties--over $200,000--generated by their images on Monday.

RF or RM: Photographer's Dilemma

By Jim Pickerell | 690 Words | Posted 8/26/2008 | Comments (1)
Companies that previously specialized in royalty-free licensing are now asking photographers to offer their new production as rights-managed content. Photographers are questioning whether or not this is a wise idea. Photographers worry that customers will not go to RF companies to buy RM--and if they do, they may not be willing to pay RM prices.

Lonely Planet Launches Travel Photo Contest

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 55 Words | Posted 8/26/2008 | Comments

Modified Rights Ready Pricing

By Jim Pickerell | 275 Words | Posted 8/26/2008 | Comments
In 2007 I proposed a pricing strategy that combines the rights managed theory of pricing based on usage and the simplicity of microstock and its ability to license rights for very small uses for fees of a few dollars. The system is described in a 12 page booklet. I call the strategy Modified Right Ready.

iStock Survey: 27% of Image Users Unaware of Law

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 473 Words | Posted 8/25/2008 | Comments
When discussing content piracy, industry insiders often say that nine out of 10 images are used inappropriately--that is, without payment for a license or in violation of its terms. Though the idea of educating the public on the nature of copyright is raised at industry events, such education is not often part of routine business activities for stock photographers or agencies. Perhaps it should be. An iStockphoto-commissioned survey of 1,000 Americans shows that a third use downloaded content, and practically all such users--27% of 33%--are unaware of needing permission.

Marketing Budgets Follow Economy

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 141 Words | Posted 8/22/2008 | Comments
A survey of major U.S. marketers, conducted by the Association of National Advertisers, found that 87% have cut back on marketing and advertising spending. Over 50% expect to further reduce spending by the end of the year.

PhotoShelter Tests Prints Offering

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 144 Words | Posted 8/22/2008 | Comments
According to PhotoShelter, which now represents 42,000 photographers from over 160 countries, image buyers frequently request the ability to purchase hard-copy photographic prints. Today, the company launched PhotoShelter Prints in response to these requests.

'Speaking in Tongues' Seminar Announced

By Jim Pickerell | 118 Words | Posted 8/21/2008 | Comments
The Metadata Image Library Exploitation Project will conduct an all-day seminar, "Speaking in Tongues," in London on Oct. 3. The seminar will include discussion and workshops on multilingual thesauri that can make image collections widely available internationally.

What Does RF Mean?

By Jim Pickerell | 694 Words | Posted 8/21/2008 | Comments
The rationale for royalty-free licensing used to be to provide the customer with three benefits: a simple, straightforward price that didn't require negotiation, unlimited use of the purchased image and a low cost. As this marketing concept has matured, all of these ideas have been lost.

A Photo Editor Launches A Photo Folio

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 69 Words | Posted 8/21/2008 | Comments
Rob Haggart, the former director of photography for Men's Journal and Outside Magazine, has launched A Photo Folio, a service that promises to build photographer Web sites from a client perspective.
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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.