News Analysis
Looking ahead to 2006 there are two trends to watch. Distributors seem to moving - to acquire more imagery that they will wholly-own and to put more emphasis on working with production companies rather than individual contributors. This article explores these trends and has a number of recommendations for photographers.
This group of releases includes: ASMP Foundation Welcomes Grant Applications; Digital Railroad Delivers Aggregated Photo Marketplace and Annouces their Alignment with PicScout to Add Image Rights Tracking Services; iStockphoto Surpasses Half-Million Member Milestone; Masterfile Establishes Direct Sales Operations in France; and Photographers Laforet, Frakes, and Ashburn Choose PhotoShelter as their Online Image Archive.
A21 has acquired Ingram, a UK-based provider with a file of approximately 100,000 images that are offered for licensing by subscription, as CD-ROM or as single-image RF. The vast majority of these images are not wholly owned and royalties are paid when they are downloaded.
Getty Images reported $184.5 million revenue for Q3 of 2005. Revenue grew 19.9 percent. Also information about the acquisitions of Media Images and Rubberball. And Klein outlines the company's expectations as a result of the removal of some 3rd Party suppliers.
This group of releases includes: JupiterImages Acquires BananaStock; a21 Acquires Ingram Publishing Limited; Adobe Stock Photos Adds Four New Collections; IPN Relay Announces Alliance with Adobe Stock Photos; Grazia Neri Selects Digital Railroad for Online Distribution and Archiving Services; NewsCom to Represent PictureArts Content; and Index Stock Imagery to Release New Online Stores with Partner EZ Prints.
This edition has short items on: Another Paradigm Shift; Non-Released At Getty; Photographer's Choice Update; Getty to Integrate Editorial With Creative; Kennelly Receives Entrepeneurship Award; What's The Difference Between RM and RP?; a21 Closes On $3.2 Million In Financing and Multiple Use of RF Images.
A federal court judge in Miami has upheld a $400,000 jury award for photographer Jerry Greenberg in his copyright infringement claim against National Geographic Society for its use of his images in "The Complete NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC: 108 Years of National Geographic Magazine on CD-ROM".
After closing her agency on 1 January 2005, Cathy Aron, CEO of Photo Network Stock has notified her photographers of a plan to make full and complete payment of all monies owed for royalties. A minimum of 40% of the amount owed will be paid in December and the remainder quarterly over the next 4 or 5 quarters.
This group of releases includes: Speight Joins Masterfile; Asia Images Produces India, China RF Discs; SuperStock Supplies Vintage Images Through Art.com; Workbook Releases Framed Art Catalog; Mauritius RF Distributes Veer's Fancy RF; and Getty Images Receives Award From Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS.
As we move further and further into the digital camera age many photographers are discovering that focus is a much more critical issue than it used to be. There are two things to understand. Why is this the case? What can photographers do to avoid or solve the problems?
A21, Inc. has reported gross revenue for the second quarter of 2005 of $2,327,000, compared to $2,527,000 for the same period in 2004, an 8% decline year over year. There was a minimal increase of $15,000 compared with the first quarter of 2005.
This group of releases includes:Asia Images Appoints Managing Director; Reuters Acquires Action Images; SuperStock And WireImage Announce Agreement; Index Stock Expands Subscription Service To 80,000 Images; P.L.U.S. Coalition Creates Universal Language For Image Licensing; JupiterResearch Forcasts $5.3 Billion Online Ad Spending In 2010; Stock Asylum Publishes Second Annual Stock Asylum 103 Of Quality Stock Distributors.
Blend is looking for a few good men and women. Blend, you will recall is a RF production company founded about a year ago by a group of 22 leading stock photographers each of whom is a partner in the company.
This edition has stories on: Corbis Reports Growth, A21 Raises $1 Million, Help Getty Find Photographers, Registering Copyright Pays Off, Christina Vaughn Interview, SutterStock Subscription Offering, OnRequest Receives $8 Million and Searching For Images On Google.
This edition contains stories on: Adobe Adds Four New Collections; Web Use of RM Images; UpperCut Starting Promotion; and Bahar Gidwani Analyses Getty's Subscription Offering.
This edition includes: Getty Launches Subscription Service; Jupiter Redeploys Assets and Q2 Results; Jupiter Expands Subscription; Corbis Aggressively Expands RF; Management Changes At Corbis; Windfall For PictureArts Staff;
Why Are RM Prices Falling?; Alamy Publishes Annual Numbers; Getty Second Quarter 2005; Will Getty Continue to Grow? and much more.
Many of my readers know that Stockbyte is now the fourth largest supplier of royalty free images in the world, and that it is owned and operated by Jerry Kennelly. But how did the company get to where it is today. Recently Ian Kehoe of The Sunday Business Post Online, Ireland's financial, political and economic newspaper, interviewed Kennelly and provided a detailed look at how Jerry got his start and ended up focusing on producing and selling royalty free imagery.
This edition includes releases on the Stock Photography Pipeline launch and SuperStock's Purestock Collection to be offered on NewsCom.
This edition of Random Thoughts has stories on: Management Changes At Corbis, Jupitermedia Revises 2005 Financial Guidance, Jupitermedia Expands Subscription Service, Getty Changes Numbering System, Photo Events In October, Changes in the Advertising Industry and Why Are RM Prices Falling?
More and more investment analysts are calling to ask my opinions on where Getty's is headed. What's the company's potential? I think Getty has some difficult challenges ahead. This story explains in detail what I think they are.
These press releases include: Index Stock Forms Alliance with Polfoto of Denmark and Bruno Press of the Netherlands; Inmagine Represents 1 Million RF Images; Media Bakery Offers Visual Search; Pepper Stark Consultancy; Aurora Launches Outdoor Collection; Spencer Images; Jupitermedia Puts Graphic Design Magazines Online and Kai Chiang To Leave SuperStock
Jupitermedia Corp. has agreed to sell its Search Engine Strategies trade shows and its ClickZ.com Network of web sites, for $43 million in cash to Incisive Media plc of London in order to redeploy assets to its JupiterImages. Also announced was Q2 2005 revenues of $33.8 million up from $17.8 million and an 89% increase from the same period in 2004.
Alamy recently provided its contributors with some figures for its operations during the first six months of 2005. They intend to provide the same type of information on a quarterly basis going forward. The figures provide some interesting insights into where their business is heading.
Many investment analysts remain very bullish on Getty Images and expect continued growth. I'm not so sure. Recently Credit Suisse First Boston outlined the key points on which their investment thesis centers. In this story I've explained some of the reasons I have some reservations.
Short items in this edition include: Corbis Partners with European Pressphoto Agency; Hughes Out At ImageState; PictureArts Staff Receives Windfall; Alamy Reaches Three Million Images; Sales Positions At Major Agencies; Consolidation In Magazine Publishing; Bystander Photojournalism, Another Threat To The Professional; ASMP Investigates Mira; and Retrofile Sold To Getty