New York-based subscription microstock Shutterstock has announced details of its 2008 contributor raise. Though the company has hyped the commission increase for several months, many contributors are disappointed with the numbers.
San Diego-based Tech Coast Angels, an angel network that funds South California start-ups, announced that it completed funding of a $650,000 convertible note for online stock-image distributor BrightQube.
The Getty-owned microstock announced it will launch a royalty-free audio service in September. In addition to holding the record for the total number of stock-licensing transactions, this addition makes iStock the first company to offer still photography, illustration, Flash files, video and audio in one place, under one payment model.
Jupitermedia's Q1 2008 revenues were $34.5 million down from $36.1 million in Q4 2007 and below the company's estimate of $35 to $36 million announced in March of this year. First-quarter revenue was down slightly from $34.8 million in the same period in 2007. Total revenue for the online images segment of their business continued a steady slide to $26.142 million, down 9% and $1.8 million from Q1 2007 revenue of $27.914 million.
Miami-based royalty-free producer Glow Images is expanding into the rights-managed arena with an initial offering of 1,500 images in June. The company plans to add 500 new rights-managed images per month.
Zurich-based Sodatech, a technology company that services the media industry, has launched a beta version of SodaSearch, a color and similarity image-search engine. Sister-company Sodapix is testing the functionality on its stock-photo Web site.
Royalties are changing as the business changes. It's helpful to learn to adapt to new realities in the RM/RF marketplace.
Along with considerable social and economic influence, bloggers have had a significant effect on image licensing. As the social-media segment continues unabated growth, stock-industry insiders can expect bloggers to play an even larger role.
RM and traditional RF photographers complain about declining incomes and the difficulty in getting information from the companies that represent their work. Traditional distributors might do well to adopt a number of ideas popularized by microstock, to improve relationships between photographers and distributors.
Berlin-based royalty-free producer fStop has released several new image galleries. It has also negotiated new distribution agreements, with global partners, including BrightQube, imageselect, Masterfile and photolibrary.
The National Press Photographers Association has joined a growing group that oppose the proposed orphan-works bill.
PhotoShelter's first student-to-pro photography competition, Elevation 2008, has announced five winners. PhotoShelter editors will also be conducting on-on-one portfolio reviews and providing the winners with three free months of the company's Personal Archive.
For photographers, there are three ways to showcase photos: building your own site, traditional agencies and microstock. All carry pros and cons. The more informed your are, the better it will be.
Toronto-based Idée has launched a beta version of the first image search-engine that does not rely on keywords or metadata. Instead, TinEye compares user-submitted images with those posted online by using image identification technology.
Photographers regularly ask why the royalty paid on RF sales is only 20% of the net received by their agent, when the agent pays 40% to 65% on RM sales that are made in the same manner. Royalty percentages have little to do with reality, and nothing to do with the cost of production.
According to Nancy Wolff, the legal counsel of the Picture Archive Council of America and the PLUS Coalition, the congressional version of the Orphan Works Bill of 2008 is an improvement. By contrast, Atlanta attorney Carolyn Wright thinks both the House and Senate versions of the bill pose an extreme threat to copyright owners.
By 2012, digital advertising is expected to eclipse traditional advertising, according to 52% of respondents to Accenture's 2008 Global Media Survey of more than 100 senior business executives in North America and Europe.
iStockphoto's Q1 2008 revenue increase was impressive compared to Q4 2007, but many image producers are worried about the declining number of downloads. Till the end of last year, virtually all iStock suppliers with reasonably sized collections could count on downloads and revenue rising steadily month to month.
Bo Olofsson, Getty Images senior vice president of sales, intends to resign upon the completion of the planned merger with Hellman & Friedman. Nicholas Evans-Lombe, previously executive vice president of imagery, products and services, has been promoted to executive vice president and COO, which is a new position for Getty Images.