Shutterstock will report its fourth quarter 2018 numbers on February 26, 2019. If the last three years are any indication, it is unlikely that there will be much evidence of additional sales growth. I’ve put together a chart of quarter-by-quarter sales since the beginning of 2014. The chart offers some interesting insights, particularly in regard to what has been happening in the last three years since the beginning of 2016.
The European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the Commission have come to a political agreement to make the copyright rules fit for digital era in Europe. This will bring tangible benefits to all creative sectors including the press, researchers, educators, cultural heritage institutions, and citizens.
Spending for weddings in the U.S. in 2018 was down 4% from $25,764 in 2017 to $24,723 in 2018. The photography segment of this spending breaks down as follows according to The Wedding Report.
Kodak, now going by the name of
Kodak Alaris. has announced the sale of its PPF (Paper, Photochemicals and Film) unit as soon as March 2019. Just last month they promised to re-introduce
Ektachrome in 120 and sheet film later this year, but this week it was reported that they will be selling the company.
We missed the announcement last December that
Mint Images had signed a worldwide exclusive distribution agreement with Spaces Images to represent the over 15,000 images its collection. These images are now available for direct licensing from Mint Images, and through Mint’s distribution partners around the world.
If you want to know what it takes to be successful in stock photography you may want to listen to what Steve Heap and Todd Klassy have to say. Both approach the stock business in non-traditional ways. Both have seen continued annual growth in revenue in the last few years despite the fact that many other photographers are seeing a plateau or decline in revenue.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California recently granted Google's motion to dismiss the antitrust claim filed by
Dreamstime.com LLC but allowed claims of breach of contract and breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealing to move forward.
Sources tell me that Getty is demanding that U.S. agencies with RM images in its collection make those RM images fully exclusive through gettyimages.com. Otherwise Getty will terminate the Agreement. One theory for doing this is that Getty wants to be able to grant exclusive licenses through e-commerce sales. If Getty knows they have total control of a given image, then they would be able to grant exclusive licenses without the need to do any checking with the parent agency that represents the image to see if exclusive rights are available. This would be similar to the arrangement that Stocksy has with its photographers.
Last week I reported on Apple’s new
global photography contest. The 10 winning images will be used extensively in a massive advertising campaign including product packaging and billboards. The official contest rules say the winning entries will have “No cash value.”
In the not too distant future there will be few, if any, new professional images created that require pre-planning, paying for models, renting locations, building sets, acquiring props, or anything that adds to the cost of producing such images. Currently the costs of producing a large segment of images in demand far exceeds the revenue generated from licensing such images. Producers trying to earn their living from such production will find it necessary to drop out of the market.
Visualsteam has just released it’s 6th annual survey of image buyers. This 35-page report prepared by Leslie Hughes who has decades of experience in the stock photo business always offers deep insights into what image buyers are looking for and the problems they face.
The stock agency sales model no longer works for most photographers trying to earn a portion of their living from the images they produce. Prices for the use of photos have declined so dramatically that it no longer makes much sense for professional photographers to spend much time or effort producing stock images on speculation.
Want to know how much the value of a great photo that is used in advertising has declined? In 2001 Microsoft paid $135,000 to use Chuck O'Rear's image of a green rolling hillside with a pale blue sky to launch a major advertising campaign for Windows XP software. How much do you think Apple is willing to pay for an iPhone photo that will be used heavily in iPhone advertising? Hint: If you're a photographer you won't be surprised, but you also won't be happy!
The U.S. Copyright Office has submitted a letter to Congress detailing the results of the Office’s public inquiry on how certain visual works, particularly photographs, graphic artworks, and illustrations, are registered, monetized, and enforced under the Copyright Act of 1976. The document is entitled, “Copyright and Visual Works: The Legal Landscape of Opportunities and Challenges.”
As of 1 September 2018, Mint Images obtained worldwide distribution rights for The Londolozi Photography Collection. Both companies are very excited to be working together. The collection is available for direct licensing from
Mint Images, and through Mint’s distribution partners around the world.
Shutterstock has published its eighth annual
2019 Creative Trends Report. This year’s eleven design styles, many of which echo the past in a playful and in a decadent way, predict the top influences for design and visual production in 2019.
A reader called my attention to an article
I wrote in 2010 where the “The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that online rights infringements costs the U.S. economy roughly $58 billion in total output every year.” The reader wanted to know how much that might be today.
Paris based photo agency
ABACAPRESS and German
ddp group, each a leading press
photo agency in their country, will join forces to increase photo production for their
core business, and to develop innovative services for new markets and corporate
brands.
Shutterstock has announced it is launching its first brand marketing campaign in six years. The
‘It’s not stock, it’s ShutterstockTM’ message is designed to showcase the unparalleled quality and depth of Shutterstock’s creative asset repository driven by more than 550,000 contributors from around the globe, as well as highlight the proprietary search and discovery technologies that inspire the creative professionals who use Shutterstock to find the perfect asset every time.
Aurora Photos has been sold to
Cavan Images. The official transition date is Feb 1, 2019. Aurora was founded in 1993 as an agency specializing in offering images related to Outdoor Adventure, Healthy and Active Lifestyles, Nature’s Beauty and remote travel to adventure destinations.
According to,
The State of News Photography 2018, published by the World Press Photo Foundation and authored by Adrian Hadland and Camilla Barnett photographers and photojournalists are finding working patterns in the media world increasingly difficult and many are facing more financial stress.
PhotoShelter has reached out to its more than 80,000 photographers to alert them to fake assignment scams that are being sent through the contact form on their PhotoShelter website. There is no reason to believe that the scammers are only contacting PhotoShelter member as it would be easy for then to run the same scam on any photographer who has a website and offers a way to be contacted.
In response to the article I
published last week where I suggested that what is needed is a system that enables photographers to deal directly with customers Macintosh Smith commented “Isn’t this what
PhotographersDirect.com has tried to establish?" Photographers Direct is a good first step, but in my opinion it has some major flaws. Consequently, I suspect it is generating very little traffic.
This long read outlines the step-by-step changes in the marketing of stock images over the the last 30 to 40 years. It makes clear why the production of stock images is no longer a viable business for most photographers and other image creators. At the end of the article, I have outlined some of the changes I believe need to be made in the relationships between image creators and customers in order to return the business to a profitable occupation for those who produce images.
In the last two years I have written a lot about stock photo pricing and its downward slide. If you have time over the holidays you may want to review some of these stories as you plan your strategy for engaging in the stock photo business in 2019.