If you do not plan to retire before 2015, and the money you earn from stock photography is an important part of your gross income, it is not too early to begin devising a plan for modifying your photography business. In the last few years, there have been radical changes in the business of photography, and it seems likely that we have not seen the last of them. What worked in the past or is working now may not work as well in the near future or later. Given the rapid pace of change, it is inevitable that most people will make dramatic career adjustments in their lifetime.
A late July study from the International Intellectual Property Alliance shows that U.S. copyright industries continue to lead the economy in their contributions to job growth, gross domestic product and exports. Though the study does not take into consideration recent economic events, it does demonstrate an encouraging, consistently upward progression of revenues and other growth indicators over a five-year period, highlighting the need for stronger laws and their enforcement.
When Cutcaster announced its Betta Than Vetta image collection, its intent to ride on the coat tails of an earlier iStockphoto launch was patently obvious. The announcement was predictably followed by a cease-and-desist letter from iStock and a new, definitively Betta, product name for Cutcaster. Even those paying close attention to the micro segment quickly dismissed the entire thing as a weakly conceptualized publicity stunt, but Cutcaster founder John Griffin continues to fascinate onlookers with ramblings so devoid of professionalism as to cast doubt on the validity of his entire enterprise.
As first reported by
The Washington Post last week, a Getty Images-represented photo of Barack Obama by former schoolmate Lisa Jack has been used on a poster produced by The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws without obtaining a license for the image. On Tuesday, a Getty Images spokesperson told
Selling Stock that NORML has ceased selling the poster.
We recently profiled Backcast and the possibility of creating something with the look and feel of a print magazine online. Issuu and FlippingBook are two examples of Web sites that provide technologies to bring such concepts to life.
Dreamstime has introduced a Facebook application that allows members to connect their microstock-image portfolios to their accounts with the social network. According to Dreamstime, the app creates a new market for the Web site's contributors, because it makes their photography accessible to over 20 million Facebook users.
Much of the recent coverage of trends in the stock-photo business revolves around the shift away from traditional stock, in both subject matter and distribution model. Photo-historian Joseph Sohm's selection of ImageSpan's LicenseStream as a licensing solution exemplifies both.
Rohn Engh, one of the pioneers of the stock-photography industry, has announced the release of a 21-unit CD e-course, "How To Market Your Photos." The course is designed to help photographers take advantage of the Internet, with a primary focus on search engines.
Young adults lifestyles seem to be among the most affected by the recession. This month, Corbis highlights what the company has dubbed the "open nest" syndrome: college graduates returning back home.
Alamy sales for the second quarter of 2009 continued their downward trends in each sales territory but were flat when converted to dollars based on exchange rate fluctuations.
Getty Images' royalty-free brands, including Digital Vision, Photodisc, Stockbyte and Jupiterimages, are being removed from Alamy after the two companies were unable to agree on renewal terms of their distribution contract.
Fotolia-owned free stock site PhotoXpress has released a statement claiming to have "flourished into the online global leader of stock photography" by offering the largest free-image inventory: 400,000 files.
In response to customer demand for smaller file sizes for Web and mobile uses, Getty Images will begin to license 170-pixel and 280-pixel images. Priced starting at $5 for royalty-free and $15 for rights-managed content, the new sizes supplement Getty's existing $49 413-pixel product.
Launched in May 2009, microstock business Vivozoom is trying to attract customers by claiming that its image warranty is far superior to those of other microstock sites, specifically iStockphoto and Shutterstock. But is there a substantive difference in the way different microstocks deal with releases or claims from customers that receive something other than what they expect?
Mannie Garcia---who shot the photo of then-Senator Barack Obama used by Shepard Fairey as the basis of the "Hope" presidential election poster---has joined the ongoing lawsuit between Fairey and the Associated Press.
Alamy sales for the second quarter of 2009 continued their downward trends in each
sales territory, but were flat when converted to dollars based on
exchange rate fluctuations.
Jerry Tavin's IC Worldwide agency closed down operations on July 31. Most of the approximately 10,000 images it represented have been moved to Glasshouse Images.
Getty Images rejects the charges against freelance photographer Majid Saeedi by Iranian prosecutors. Saeedi was among a number of photographers arrested in July for alleged anti-establishment activities.
San Francisco-based Cutcaster has launched a "best of the best" collection under a name that takes on iStockphoto's recent launch of premium collection Vetta.