News Analysis
Between 280 and 300 Stone photographers earned in excess of $10,000 in 1st quarter 2000. Of these between 196 and 210 (70%) had 1st quarter 2000 earning that were 20% higher than 1st quarter 1999.
Short news items include: Survey of Number of Stock Agency Scanned Images, Digital Video Seminars,Monkmeyer Closes, New Photographer Relations Manager for Stone and French Govt. Attack on Press Freedom.
Freelance writers, illustrators, and photographers of the Boston Globe have filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of one thousand freelancers, seeking an injunction in Massachusetts Superior Court against the Globe's unfair and deceptive trade practices.
If you think it will be a snap to keyword your images so people using other languages can find them -- think again. To get some idea about how hard it is to translate keywords into multiple languages consider some of the fiascos major corporations have had in trying to market their products in other countries.
Businenss Week has presented the details of their new working arrangements with photographers to many of the photographers who do regular assignments for the magazine. This agreement is a great improvement over Business Week's policies of a year ago. It is likely to set new industry standards which many publications will be forced to copy in order to compete.
Information from Index Stock Imagery, other agencies and individual photographers supplies additional perspective on the way images are acquired and used by Webshots. It appears images are properly licensed, although for very low fees.
The gettyone.com representation of the National Geographic Image Collection is causing quite a stir outside the U.S. Some readers believe the foreign agencies currently representing the NGIC catalogs will no longer have ''exclusive'' rights to license the images which is not the case. Gettyone.com's rights to the catalog images are restricted to the U.S.
Both Getty and Corbis are doing deals with sub-agents. Small agents need to consider how this strategy might benefit them and photographers need to consider why these big companies, with unlimited resources, are doing sub-agent deals rather than buying these companies outright.
Short news items include: Rebecca Taylor gone from FPG, Online Uses, Kleinn's sale of stock, European agency for sale, Webshots.com possibly infringing copyright and Content demands for the future.
Getty has announced first quarter revenue of $104.8 million that significantly exceeded investor expectations. This was up from $79.9 million in the 4th quarter of 1999. Wall Street analysts were predicting $85 million. Stone's revenues rose 45% since April 1, 1999.
Stories this month include: Photographer Profits Survey, Rate Increaase at Business Week, Getty Acquires VCG, Corbis Acquire TSM, Changing Educational Uses, and Future Shock - an indepth analysis of where the industry is headed. This story looks at the choices for photographers and small to mid-sized agencies.
Corbis announced Monday that they will acquire Sharpshooters. In coming months, Corbis will integrate Sharpshooters' images into its existing offer and customers will be able to search, access, and buy Sharpshooters' images in the same way they would buy other Corbis images.
News about the Greenberg case against National Geographic, Actors Losing Rights, new TSM forum, Masterfile Pricing schedules, Digital Transfer, Web vs. Print and a new Natural Selection Stock catalog.
Blair Seitz explains in detail how he established a business of producing and self-publishing picture books. He dispels mythis about the publishing business and outlines advantages and pitfalls to avoid.
The Steering Committee of Boston Globe Freelancers' Association recently supplied freelancers with information on the potential for re-selling news material in the internet environment.
How will industry consolidation impact suppliers. This indepth analysis looks at how the industry is changing. It identifies some of the major issues to consider as we move ahead and looks at the choices open to photographers and small to mid-sized agencies.
Seth Resnick and Paula Lerner of the Editorial Photographer fourm have prepared an analysis of the Boston Globe Contract with suggestions for negotiating that may be helpful to photographers.
Artists groups with The Image Bank, Stone, and FPG/VCG have developed private chat groups to discuss business and other issues of interest to stock photographers. They are seeking new members. This story outlines how to join.
The Boston Globe has presented freelancers with a contract that attempts to get unlimited reuse rights, for no additional fee, to anything originally produced for the Globe. This story outlines things photographers should consider when negotiating with the Globe.
Five major organizations of writers, graphic artists and photographers have united to denounce The Boston Globe's attempt to cram an unfair contract down the throats of its loyal freelance contributors. PACA also denounces the contract.
PACA wants to know what photographers think. They want to know the Best and the Worst things about picture agencies from the photographer's point of view. The results will be discussed at their June annual meeting.
Upon further review the Corbis contract and its implementation has more problems than we first spotted -- particularly for editorial photographers. Read this story in conjunction with Story 296.
The results of the annual photographer survey are available. 138 photographers responded with a total 1999 stock income of $12,636,770. Their gross photo income was $20,358,485. Review the analysis.
Corbis is out with a new photographer contract. Given the way the industry is headed this contract has several positive aspects, but there are also two or three points that should be given careful consideration before signing.
UK writer Ian Buchanan analyses the psyche of Stone in an interview with Stone creative director Andrew Saunders and art director Zoe Whishaw. This article was first published in the British Journal of Photography.