StockPhotoTalk | Special Interest Blog

Some News...

... of the last days: JASTEC acquired LTU Technologies (Link); Digimarc releases ImageBridge 2005 (Link);  Getty reports QI/2005 results (Link);  PicScout partners with Digimarc (Link) and finally Getty has bought Digital Vision (Link; in depth: "Getty snaps Digital Vision", Seattlepi.com, and "Getty acquires Digital Vision", Seattle Times); Yahoo  picked up my story "WHO DELIVERS THE ICONIC WAR IMAGES - PROS OR AMATEURS?" (Link) in the "Directory >Arts >Visual Arts > Photography>Photojournalism>War Photography" (Link); Adobe to acquire Macromedia (Link and also Kottke); and Footage.info looks at the numbers behind the Getty/Digital Vision deal regarding footage:

Getty Images, which recently announced record quarterly revenues, and the acquisition of London-based Digital Vision, says for the third consecutive quarter its footage revenues have grown by 20 per cent. During the first quarter of 2005, revenues from footage sales were six per cent of its overall business, equating to some $10.69m. During the period, individual sales averaged $681 per clip. Getty says it acquired royalty-free image provider Digital Vision for $165m in cash. Overall, the first quarter ended with what Getty describes as "a particularly strong performance in March -- the best month in our history" and resulted in record quarterly revenues of $178.1 million, up nearly 14% on its performance in the first quarter of 2004.

And, best of all, Ricoh has announced a new 8 megapixel version of my favourite Ricoh Caplio GX.

Posted by Andy

Corbis Acquires Dead People

Corbis has acquired Roger Richman Agency, founded 27 years ago, "a licensing firm specialising in dead personalities including Elvis Presley... . It also represents Albert Einstein, the Marx brothers and Steve McQueen. Corbis ... said the acquisition would combine its existing historical images with the ability to secure the rights to license the persona of dead celebrities. Terms were not disclosed. ... Demand for the use of dead celebrities has been on the rise, Corbis said. According to Forbes magazine, Elvis Presley is the highest-paid dead celebrity with annual earnings of $40m, followed by Charles Schulz, the creator of the Peanuts comic strip, JRR Tolkien and John Lennon" (The Guardian).

See also The Seattle Post, ("Corbis finds lively market for dead stars"): "In the past three years, rights representation and rights clearances has become the fastest-growing segment of Corbis' business. Though it represents less than 10 percent of sales, it is growing at an annual rate of more than 50 percent, Shenk said. Shenk -- who oversees a team of 20 -- said Corbis should be able to expand the dead celebrity business as it takes advantage of the company's global sales force." (See also the press release).

Posted by Andy

A21 Numbers

The A21 Group (parent company of Superstock) has released the 2004 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Financial Results ("Gross revenue for the fourth quarter of 2004 was $2.1 million, compared to $0 for the same period in 2003 ... Gross revenue for the year ended December 31, 2004 was $7.5 million, compared to $0 for the same period in 2003).
Reading the press release carefully, Haim Ariav is not mentionend anywhere. Indeed the press release lists Tom Butta as CEO of SuperStock and President of a21. Haim Ariav now acts as "Chief Creative Officer" (and President) of SuperStock.

Jonathan Klein: Creative Research Division of Getty Images Not Smoking Dope

The Independent/Tim Webb has another story about Jonathan Klein. Besides insisting that the creative research division of Getty Images is not "smoking dope" and the fact that the market value of Getty Images is around $4.3bn (£2.3bn) the article continues

Not all trends are possible to predict. Klein says that after 11 September, common key words used by customers to search for images on the company's website changed within a week. "9/11 made us focus on different things. The 'me, me, me' of the Nineties came to an abrupt end." Words like comfort, home, safety, security, family, he adds, became the most used in searches.
Klein admits that he finds it "extremely difficult looking at our website" because of the graphic violence sometimes depicted. One Getty Images photographer, who was embedded with a US Marines unit in Iraq, photographed a civilian car that drove through a checkpoint. The Marines fired and killed the parents, but the five children in the back survived. The US military threw the photographer out of the unit after Getty published the pictures. "If we see it, we shoot it. It's up to the editor whether he wants to use the image with the children spattered with the parents' brains." (Link)

Posted by Andy