U.K. historical specialist Mary Evans Picture Library has launched a new promotional magazine, ME & You. The first issue goes out to buyers in January.
California-based Zenofolio has updated is photographer portfolio Web site service with new layout options, no-coding-needed theme design functionality and better search-engine optimization tools. The enhancements are now part of the site's functionality at no additional cost.
For most of iStockphoto's best-selling photographers, the number of images downloaded per month declined in 2009.
This chart provides information for 198 of the leading contributors to iStockphoto. It shows the total number of downloads each photographer had as of May 1, 2009 and the minimum and maximum number of downloads the photographer had on December 31, 2009. We were unable to report exact figures for the period May through December because iStockphoto changed its reporting policy in June to only supply a greater than number that indicated the downloads were in a certain range. Using this data and interpolating for the first four missing months in the data we were able to make an estimate of the number of downloads each photographer had in 2009.
Masterfile president Steve Pigeon told
Selling Stock that his company was just awarded $600,000 (plus $5,754.34 in attorney's fees and costs) in a copyright infringement suit against a Georgia printing firm. Copyright compliance is a growing revenue source for the Toronto-based company, which sees litigation as an inevitable cost of remaining in the business of intellectual property management and licensing.
Photographs of many products and locations can not be used for any type
of commercial purpose without a release. Blanket releases for images of
these subjects are almost impossible to obtain. It is sometimes
possible to get a release for a very specific, clearly defined use, but
not for an undefined “stock use.” Therefore, if the stock
photographer’s goal is to license rights to the images he or she
produces the photographer may be better advised to avoid wasting time
photographing this subject matter. In some cases such images may be
used for editorial purposes.
After great success at producing and selling traditional rights-managed and royalty-free imagery for more than 25 years, Ron Chapple started producing microstock in 2006. By 2008, he went looking for new opportunities, and in 2009 -- the year when many other photographers struggled to survive -- he doubled his income compared to the previous year.
Malaysia-based PhotoAsia has announced the addition of 22 image collections, which bring its total inventory to over 4 million images, all available online.
From Pantone to JWT Intelligence, experts are predicting trends for 2010. The color of the year is turquoise, and all things aquatic are expected to be in vogue.
Marketing Daily sums up the forecasts.
As 2009 wound to a close, so did several more stock-image companies. Most notable for a couple of firsts they introduced to the industry are royalty-free sellers Zymmetrical and BrightQube, which ceased to exist in December and November, respectively.
Though final advertising spending numbers for 2009 will not come in for another few weeks, the first three quarters of the year were nothing short of abysmal, at least according to latest figures from TNS Media Intelligence. The ad-measurement company reported a U.S. decline of 14.7% compared to the first nine months of 2008. Still, there are some bright spots, including Internet display, print inserts, and telecom and pharmaceutical advertising.
While stats for most economic indicators remain pitifully low in long-term comparisons, numerous sources are reporting short-term gains. Importantly, advertising and freelance job markets have perked up in recent months.
For much of the past decade, textbook publishers have licensed rights to print a minimum number of copies of the books they published and proceeded to greatly exceed the authorized press run, without informing the content creators. Only recently have photographers become aware of this problem, which we covered last month. Here is a summary of the settled and pending actions.
Despite the general state of the economy, falling advertising budgets and continued debate over the marketing usefulness of social media, budgets allocated to social media in 2010 are bucking the downward trend. For the stock industry, the channel holds dual interest: it is becoming an important collective user of imagery and video, and an equally important marketing resource.
Getty photographer Carlos Sanchez Pereyra recently asked on Linkedin what others thought was the "best way to sell stock." There is no question that Getty Images makes more gross sales than any other brand, but it may not be the best place for most photographers.
Late-January course devotes first day to asset management, moves into rights clearance.
California startup that helps local businesses advertise online is making use of microstock to offer small companies a bundled mobile ad service.
Government officials, law enforcement and business leaders attending the Fifth Global Congress on Counterfeiting and Piracy earlier this month cautioned that the world needs to step up actions against counterfeiting and piracy to help boost global economic recovery. However, the lack of appropriate legislative structures and the general public's attitude make reversing the skyrocketing digital piracy trend highly doubtful, and not only in the very short term.
Close to half (43%) of respondents to a survey conducted by San Francisco photographer Jim Goldstein said Web sites and blogs offer the most revenue-generating opportunities in the social media landscape. Goldstein, who also just gave a presentation on social media at PhotoPlus Expo, designed the survey to help understand how and why photographers use social media. While responding photographers see social media as offering revenue opportunities, it has yet to offer much actual revenue.
Nielsen Business Media, the owner of a number of creative and advertising industry magazine titles, is selling and shuttering many by the end of this year. Adweek is going to a new owner; Editor & Publisher is no more; but Photo District News, its flagship trade show and stock-image business remain.
One of the oldest photographic agencies, Germany-based Mauritius Images, has launched a budget-priced offering. Bestprice-Stock offers more than 600,000 images priced at 20 euro to 80 euro and ranging between 1 megabyte and 50 megabytes in size, respectively.