Charting the Rise of Bloggers

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 315 Words | Posted 5/12/2008 | Comments
Along with considerable social and economic influence, bloggers have had a significant effect on image licensing. As the social-media segment continues unabated growth, stock-industry insiders can expect bloggers to play an even larger role.

Can Traditional Distributors Learn From Microstock?

By Jim Pickerell | 591 Words | Posted 5/12/2008 | Comments (2)
RM and traditional RF photographers complain about declining incomes and the difficulty in getting information from the companies that represent their work. Traditional distributors might do well to adopt a number of ideas popularized by microstock, to improve relationships between photographers and distributors.

fStop Expands Collection, Distribution

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 154 Words | Posted 5/9/2008 | Comments
Berlin-based royalty-free producer fStop has released several new image galleries. It has also negotiated new distribution agreements, with global partners, including BrightQube, imageselect, Masterfile and photolibrary.

NPPA Joins Orphan-Works Opposition

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 211 Words | Posted 5/9/2008 | Comments
The National Press Photographers Association has joined a growing group that oppose the proposed orphan-works bill.

PhotoShelter Annouces Winners of Elevation 2008

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 176 Words | Posted 5/9/2008 | Comments
PhotoShelter's first student-to-pro photography competition, Elevation 2008, has announced five winners. PhotoShelter editors will also be conducting on-on-one portfolio reviews and providing the winners with three free months of the company's Personal Archive.

Getting Photos to Market

By Jim Pickerell | 680 Words | Posted 5/9/2008 | Comments (1)
For photographers, there are three ways to showcase photos: building your own site, traditional agencies and microstock. All carry pros and cons. The more informed your are, the better it will be.

Clarification: PLUS Coalition Neutral on Orphan Works

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 52 Words | Posted 5/8/2008 | Comments

age fotostock Expands to France

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 46 Words | Posted 5/8/2008 | Comments (1)

Idee Soft-Launches Image Search Engine TinEye

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 357 Words | Posted 5/8/2008 | Comments
Toronto-based Idée has launched a beta version of the first image search-engine that does not rely on keywords or metadata. Instead, TinEye compares user-submitted images with those posted online by using image identification technology.

Justifying 20% RF Royalties

By Jim Pickerell | 674 Words | Posted 5/8/2008 | Comments (6)
Photographers regularly ask why the royalty paid on RF sales is only 20% of the net received by their agent, when the agent pays 40% to 65% on RM sales that are made in the same manner. Royalty percentages have little to do with reality, and nothing to do with the cost of production.

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.