Articles by Author

Getty, Corbis Begin Image Reductions

By Jim Pickerell | 324 Words | Posted 12/18/2007 | Comments

Getty is not the only company engaging in massive editing of its file. Several Corbis photographers have been advised in letters from Ross Sutherland, Corbis Chief Creative Officer, that close to 50% of their images will be removed.

Leslie Joins Masterfile as CIO

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 58 Words | Posted 12/17/2007 | Comments

Jupiter Acquires Music Site, Plans Services

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 69 Words | Posted 12/17/2007 | Comments

Image Source Experiments With Sound

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 251 Words | Posted 12/17/2007 | Comments

Image Source launched the latest element of its aggressively creative marketing campaign "Open Your Eyes." This time, the royalty-free producer wants to "Open Your Ears" to a new CD and Web tool that use sound, dialogue and audio effects to describe stock imagery.

Photolibrary Responds to Recent Reports

By Jim Pickerell | 726 Words | Posted 12/17/2007 | Comments

In an attempt to relieve Indexstock (IS) photographer anxieties, Photolibrary Group (PL) has made public details regarding payments of outstanding pre-acquisition royalties and the ongoing reliability of PL's accounting system.

Photolibrary Under More Fire

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 415 Words | Posted 12/14/2007 | Comments

Photolibrary executives obviously hoped to keep the matter of unpaid Index Stock royalties on the back burner until the ethics committee of the Picture Archive Council of America finished its investigation. However, photographers have made it clear that they are not willing to wait the six or more weeks this can take.

Solution to Dilemma of Too Many Images

By Jim Pickerell | 714 Words | Posted 12/14/2007 | Comments (1)

A major dilemma for stock photo portals is finding the right size for their collections. Customers complain about too many irrelevant images. Thus, a small collection would seem to be better. But an irrelevant image to one buyer, may be relevant to another. Cut the collection size, and customers complain they can't find the right image. What's the answer?

Getty Engages In Massive Editing

By Jim Pickerell | 482 Words | Posted 12/14/2007 | Comments (1)

For the past three months, Getty Images has been engaged in a massive reduction of the number of images on its site. The good news is that the average-return-per-image for those remaining on the site is likely to go up dramatically. The bad news is that most suppliers are unlikely to see any growth in revenue.

Getty Sponsors Ad Competition, Signs New Talent

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 216 Words | Posted 12/13/2007 | Comments

Avenue Images to Distribute Budget RF

By Julia Dudnik Stern | 228 Words | Posted 12/13/2007 | Comments

The Hamburg, Germany-based Avenue Images has launched a budget-image platform, Petit Price. Though Avenue is calling this a microstock venture, there are notable differences.

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.