Based on the number of downloads Shutterstock had in the
first three quarters it looks like they will report about 167,000,000 total downloads for 2016 when they report their full year numbers on February 27, 2017. Last year
they reported 147,200,000 downloads for 2015.
500px has also announced a collaboration with Adobe to introduce a select set of 500px images to Adobe Stock users within the
Adobe Stock Premium Collection.
Some Getty Images RF contributors have begun to share sales data with iStock Signature contributors and are coming to the conclusion that they can earn more money from images in the iStock Signature collection than from images on Gettyimages.com.
Shutterstock says they are “testing” new subscription options that allow customers to download either 10 or 50 images per month. The prices for these packages are $29 and $99 respectively on an annual purchase plan. This seems to be a reaction to the iStock and Adobestock subscription offerings (see chart below) that have been in place for some time.
Twenty-five to 30 years ago there was a large demand for stock images relative to supply. Prices to use a stock image -- while reasonable when compared to what it cost to hire a photographer for an assignment -- were much higher than they are today. It was possible for a professional photographer to produce a lot of images that no one wanted to buy, and still earn a decent living from the few that did sell.
Jon Oringer, Founder/CEO of Shutterstock Images has sent the following letter to staff and contributors outlining Shutterstock’s position on the recent immigration decision.
Getty is adding Programmatic Advertising content to its site. In June 2016 CEO Dawn Avery
pointed out, that “Over 97 per cent of visitors come to our websites to look at – not purchase – amazing imagery.” Getty is trying to find a way to earn some money from this 97% of users.
The U.S. Copyright Office is trying to determine the impact and effectiveness of safe harbor provisions contained in Section 512 of the Digital Millennial Copyright Act (DMCA). The safe harbor offers qualified Internet Service Providers (ISPs) immunity from monetary damages for hosting infringing content if the ISP expeditiously removes the content after receiving a proper notice.
Shutterstock has released its annual
Creative Trends report, which is developed from analyzing the information from millions of searches and downloads.
Recently, I was asked my opinion of what
Shutterstock could do to grow revenue? The questioner had come to the conclusion that there will be very little growth in coming years in the number of stock photo customer or the quantity of still images or illustration that each will use. He also feels that
iStock,
AdobeStock and even
Getty Images have priced their products very competitively with Shutterstock making it difficult for Shutterstock to simply raise prices.
It is that time when everyone talks about “trends” for the coming year. Getty offered an hour-long seminar on January 19, 2017 that can be reviewed in this
youtube video.
iStock contributors who want to retain their detailed historical royalty data
up to and including December 31st 2016 have
5 days left before that data disappears from the iStock site. After January 31, 2017 Account Management will only offer 23 months of
summary historical royalty data. It’s critical that contributors download all the data they require from the iStock site as soon as possible.
500px has launched a new, easy-to-use global
photographer directory with over 50,000 photographers from 11,000 searchable locations across 191 countries. Customers may search for a photographer in a specific city or town who specializes in one of 18 different categories of photography.
Pearson has reported that in 2016 the North American higher education courseware market was much weaker than expected and that their net revenues fell 30% in the final quarter resulting in an unprecedented 18% decline for the year.
Dreamstime editors and CEO Serban Enache recently released a promotion of
250 “authentic” images from the Dreamstime collection. While this collection of images certainly shows customers that Dreamstime has some very impressive and beautiful images, it may not be very representative of what Dreamstime is actually selling. Thus, when planning future shoots image creators may not want to use this collection as a guide.
If you are using a drone for aerial photography be careful that you don’t violate FAA regulations. SkyPan International was just
fined $200,000 for violating FAA “Rule 107.”
Many still photographers have watched their revenue decline and are considering transitioning to video. In a
recent article I asked Jesse Hughes, Jim Erickson’s director of sales to outline some of the specific challenges a videographer faces, and ways that a video shoot differs from a still shoot. I’ve also contacted two other photographers –
Gail Mooney-Kelly of New York and
David Scott Smith of Montana – for their thoughts. Both or these photographers were very successful still shooters at one point in their careers, but for a number of years now have focused almost exclusively on producing video.
Erickson Stock has recently launched an
RF collection that is now available on
PantherMedia. For over 30 years Jim Erickson has been one of the US's preeminent commercial photographers and has created timeless imagery for hundreds of blue chip clients, including AT&T, American Express, Wells Fargo, Cisco, Pinnacle Entertainment, General Motors, HBO, Pfizer, Merrill Lynch, United Airlines and Home Depot.
The Mega Agency launched its newly-signed syndication deal with American Media Inc. (AMI), one of America’s biggest publishers, with world-wide coverage of the first wedding of Prince Harry’s new girlfriend Meghan Markle.
What is an “Authentic” picture? Do they really sell? Photographers are being asked to produce more authentic pictures, but they are being given little or no information about what makes a image authethic, or how well such images are actually selling.
If copyright protection is important to you, it is
absolutely critical that you respond by
January 31, 2017 to the survey that the new Librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden has posted on
Survey Monkey.
If in the last 30 years you’ve seen an image taken in India there is a good chance it was supplied by Dinodia Photo Library. For years Dinodia images have been represented by many other image distributors around the world and those images have found their way into countless books, newspaper and magazine articles.
David Seevers, Chief Marketing Officer of
Footage.net and owner of
Thriving Archives recently asked me for my thoughts on the future of the footage industry. As owner of Thriving Archives Seevers was also the principle author of all three
ACSIL Global Surveys and has produced other industry specific research reports.
Getty Images has been granted a temporary restraining order against it former VP of Global Entertainment, Roxanne Motamedi. Motamedi held the post at Getty from June 2009 to November 2016 and was based in Los Angeles.
Shutterstock, Inc. has announced that it has expanded its milestone
multi-year deal with The Associated Press (AP). Beginning this week, Shutterstock will distribute AP’s daily global photo output for license to customers based in the United Kingdom. Shutterstock’s enterprise customers in the United Kingdom will have access to over 30 million photos from AP Images.