Shannon Fagan is a former
President of the
Stock
Artists Alliance and an Advisory Board member of the
Young Photographers
Alliance. In the past 18 months, he has attended every major
industry conference to gather information on stock photography and
licensing’s current direction. He has contributed both Rights Managed
and Royalty Free images directly to Getty Images, Corbis, Veer, Blend,
Image Source, Cultura, Spaces, Tetra and many other brands. He has a
deep knowledge of the stock photography industry, both from personal
experience, and from his role helping other photographers develop their
businesses. The following summarizes a few of his thoughts that were
first published on
Greg
Ceo’s blog.
The recent CEPIC Congress proved fruitful in making alliances for
PicScout. The San Francisco-based company announced picking up more than
50 new photo-agency clients at the stock industry’s largest
international gathering.
A 14-month review of data from the leading microstock supports the theory of the fastest-growing industry segment having reached a plateau, with flat unit sales and revenue growth resulting from price increases.
The following material was compiled from
iStockcharts.multimedia.de and shows the sales of 198 of iStockphoto’s top contributors in the 14 months between May 1, 2009 and June 30, 2010. (I’ll use the word “contributor” instead of “photographer” because a significant number or the top sellers are illustrators or graphic designers selling illustration, not photography).
On Thursday, Toronto-based Mastefile acquired Norwegian microstock Crestock. Both companies announced the deal late on Friday, without disclosing financial details.
Two-year-old Cambridge, Mass.-based ImageRights International has
launched a free version of its flagship service, which helps
photographers and illustrators monitor the use of their content and
recover licensing fees.
Successful stock shooter Jonathan Ross has invested in all tiers of today's stock image market. His experience says that the way to a profitable future is rooted in a unified approach to pricing and quality. Read this transcript of Ross's recent presentation at the New Media Conference, which took place during the CEPIC Congress in Dublin.
The Picture Archive Council of America has filed an
amicus—“friend
of the court”—brief in Muench Photography, Inc. v. Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt Publishing Company and R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company,
pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District
of New York. PACA is urging the court to reconsider a
recent summary judgment that deemed Corbis’ copyright registration processes to be invalid.
Stock image producers often have two misconceptions about
subscription licensing services: They believe subscription licensing is
simple and that for a very low monthly fee customers are allowed to use
any image for any purpose. Neither is true.
So says Polylooks, the microstock owned by T-Mobile parent Deutsche
Telecom, which just surveyed 2,200 Brits and says the results make for
interesting reading.
Universal Images Group,
the distribution business unit of the Virtual Picture Desk, has been
awarded a contract by the Encyclopaedia Britannica to provide an
extensive online library of low-resolution (150 dpi) images suitable
for educational use. The images will be supplied by numerous producers around the world and, together with Britannica's wholly owned content, will become part of a new subscription service, Britannica Image
Explorer.
After PicScout announced that it now offers image crediting free of charge,
some questioned the terms of use on the PicScout signup page, which
describe having to pay fees. PicScout has clarified the details of the
free and pay-for portions of its ImageIRC service.
I receive regular requests from photographers who want to know how they
can license rights to the images they have created over the years on
film. Here’s what I tell them. Licensing rights to images is very
difficult in today’s market because there is such an oversupply
available compared to the demand.
Sam Faulkner and Annie Marie Musselman, and respective agencies Mon
Frere and 619 Graphic Design, are the recipients of the 2010 Getty
Images’ Grants for Good program.
Getty Images-owned iStockphoto has announced an iPhone app that offers features for both image buyers and contributors.
The 15th annual gathering of the Picture Archive Council of America is returning to New York this Octobe.
Fotolia has announced the launch of an Adobe AIR application that offers desktop access to the company’s collection.
At the recent CEPIC Congress in Dublin, Ireland, CEO of UpperCut Images Miles Gerstein offered
CEPIC Daily
his assessment of the future of the stock photo industry. Gerstein
previously owned PunchStock, which he sold to Getty Images in 2006, and
Artville, which he sold to The Image Bank in the late 1990s. His years
of experience in the industry provide him with an important perspective
on where the industry is likely headed.
Don’t tell Cathy Yeulet that you can’t make money in microstock. She operates
Monkey Business Images,
one of the most successful microstock production companies. However,
unlike many microstockers, she is not new to stock photography. For
many years, Yeulet operated a successful rights-managed business in
Oxfordshire, U.K. When traditional royalty-free first began to take
off, she created the BananaStock brand, which she sold to Jupiterimages
in 2005 for approximately $19 million in cash.
She started uploading images to iStockphoto in March of 2008.
Photographers and editors of Getty Images have earned more than 90
industry awards in this year’s ceremonies that covered images and
multimedia productions. The honors include top-level placement at
competitions by the National Press Photographers Association, the
Overseas Press Club of America and World Press Photo.