This story is a report of various information and insights I picked up at the 8th annual CEPIC Congress in Amsterdam. CEPIC is a confederation of picture agency associations in Europe. There were over 400 individuals in attendance representing 238 firms from 37 countries.
Index Stock Imagery, Inc. has closed the last $4.5 million of its $20 million mezzanine funding round and is on track for reaching profitability by the end of the year according to Bahar Gidwani.
In response to yesterday's announcement that Pictor International, Inc. had filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S., Pictor International, Ltd. has made the following statement.
An analysis by the lawyer retained by StockArtistsAlliance (SAA) of the new Getty Images photographer contract.
This issue has stories on 2001 Photographer Profits Survey, Flat Sales At Getty, Dilemma For Getty Photogs., Tony Stone Is Back, Zefa Acquire Benelux, Masterfile, Greenbery Win Court Battle With National Geographic, and more.
This series of short items covers: Copyright Alert to stop the Hatch-Leahy Ammendment, Getty Shooter seems to have found the key to success, ASMP's Co-op Business Plan, Catalog selling on the web, Objections To Getty's Photographer Contract Grows and CEPIC to Release Industry Statistics.
On May 3rd Pictor International, Inc., a subsidiary of Pictor International, Ltd. filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the District of Columbia. The company had total assets of $635,000 and debts of $1,278,341. The bankruptcy affects the U.S. subsidiary, not the parent.
Only 97 photographers responded to this year's survey. They had total stock income of $8,877,211 in 2000 and additional photographic income of $5,579,669 for a total photographic income of $14,456,880. Analysis of the data is in this report.
Getty Images has announced sales of $125.8 million for the first quarter of 2001. This was about 4% below the $130 to $133 million guidance provided by the company on February 8th, and less than a million above the 4th quarter 2000 revenue of $124.9 million.
Opus Solutions UK provides technology services in the UK to Picture Libraries and Photo Agenices. About 40 agencies have almost 200,000 images in their system. Peter Arnold uses the service in the U.S. CORRECTION: I made some incorrect statements about Opus in my Random Thoughts 31 and this story serves to correct that mis-information and set the record straight.
The Bridgeman Art Library has acquired Giraudon, the prestigious French fine art picture archive from Getty Images, Inc. This acquisition strengthens Bridgeman's position as the world's leading source of fine art images.
I want to apologize to Corbis Corporation, its employees and my readers for an erroneous story about Corbis that I published in my Random Thoughts 31 on Monday, April 16th.
If you have any questions about why photographers don't trust Stock Agencies, and believe they can do a better job of licensing their work directly read the following from Seth Resnick, President of the Editorial Photographers group (EP).
Newsweek has recently lowered their day rate and some of the industry's leading photographers are saying enough is enough. Burke Uzzle and David Burnett have turned down work and written strong letters to Sarah Harbutt, Director of Photography at Newsweek. Their letters are printed here.
This series of short items includes: Tony Stone (the man) is returning to the industry, Advertising spending down, ASMP endorses StockArtistsAlliance, Rightspring doesn't get financing, and more.
Getty Images, Inc. announced today that they expect revenue for the first quarter ended March 31, 2001, to be approximately $124 million, which is about five percent below the $130 to $133 million guidance to investors provided by the company on February 8th.
The new Getty Images photographer contract has arrived and it seems that Getty and their photographers are operating at cross purposes. This story is my analysis of the current situation.
Many U.S. photographers dissatisfied with their current representation are taking a hard look at what Masterfile has to offer. The company had sales of $16 million in 2000, 55% of which were in the U.S. 20% of the photographers they represent earn roylaties of over $100,000 per year. This story provides an indepth analysis of their operation.
The 11th District Court of Appeals reversed a lower court decision and found that National Geographic had infringed Jerry Greenbergs copyright when they produced the ''108 Years of National Geographic on CD-ROM.'' The lower court is ordered to provide injunctive relief for Greenberg. Greenberg's attorney, Norman Davis, said, The appellate ruling ''establishes brand new law that had not existed before. It'll apply to any author who owns the copyright in his work.''
visual media international (vmi), which includes the picture agency Zefa Visual Media has acquired the Benelux Group situated in the Netherlands and Belgium. The company has over 200,000 images available online and will be establishing offices in the U.S. in 2002.
A new type of sub-agent providing technology services is moving to take a share of the gross fee in the internet environment. This fee, that is often hidden, will further reduce the photographer's percentage. Photographers need to push for full disclosure.
Two new actions have raised photographer hopes for a favorable Supreme Court opinion on Tasini vs. The New York Times Company. Register of Copyrights, Marybeth Peters has gone on record with a compelling document supporting authors. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals opinion in Greenberg vs. National Geographic also provides support for the authors position.
This story has information on French court decision on lost transparencies of Gamma photographer, RF use trends, Laision returning all analog images, ASPP Seminar to identify solutions for finding editorial images, Solus Images and more.
Corbis will introduce subscription pricing for their entire 30,000 image royalty free library. WAM!NET will access to corporations, publishers, advertising agencies and other creative professionals. Customers will pay monthly fee. Annual fee similar to price of a disc. There are no plans to use this type of pricing for RP images in the collection.
This issue has stories on Convergence acquisitions, Moffly Forms Creatas, Getty's Year 2000 Results, Getty's upcoming contract battle with photographers, Random Eye's new cross brand searching, Staff reductions at Corbis, an analysis of the 50/50 split and its place in today's market, and more.