StockPhotoTalk | Special Interest Blog

QuickLinks For 2007-03-31, II

• Early Easter egg:
  I received a hint that the April US print issue of Business 2.0, once somehow "famous" in the old times, runs a big article contrasting the Goliath’s of Getty/Corbis with Fotolia and Dreamstime and more.
  The story is currently not available on the official Business 2.0 website and I have no information if it will ever appear there in full length in May. However, you can subscribe here for a free trial print issue of Business 2.0 (US residents only).
  If anyone out there has more information regarding the article, just send a comment. (Thx Ellen!)
  Tags: Business 2.0 Getty Images Corbis Fotolia Dreamstime

QuickLinks For 2007-03-31

• MocoInterview with Brooks McMahon, VP Getty Images On Mobile Efforts:
  Getty Images is one of those media companies that is both threatened by and is offered a lot of opportunities by new media, especially mobile phones in the case of Getty ... I spoke to Brooks McMahon, VP of new products and platforms about the companies plans for the mobile market. [...]
  

Will Zooomr kill Microstock? What about the MPP to appear? Only the Ocean remained silent today

Fotolia Inks Deal with German T-Com

Fotolia Germany is out with an announcement about a new cooperation with the german telecommunication carrier T-Com, a division of the giant Deutsche Telekom AG.

New customers of the T-Com are eligible to receive up to 10 free Fotolia images.

The deal follows a similar cooperation with 1&1 Internet last year in May.

Related:

• 1&1, Fotolia Form Strategic Partnership (May 02, 2006)

Getty Images Joins YouTube

The new YouTube user Getty Images Film is out with a video on YouTube entitled:

A better way to pitch - surfer girls

Getty Images said in a short note today that the video is the first in a series of four videos Getty customers will be receiving over the next few months under the slogan "A Better Way to Pitch".

More details on free hi-res and non-watermarked preview files from Getty here (UK) or here (US).

QuickLinks For 2007-03-28

• S&P Keeps Getty Images on Watch List:
  Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said Tuesday it would keep the "highly speculative" credit rating of Getty Images on its watch list after the company delayed a financial report and arranged a $350 million credit line. [...]
  "We will monitor the situation closely," S&P credit analyst Tulip Lim said in a statement. "If the filing is delayed further, we could lower the rating again. If the company becomes current with its required quarterly and annual filings, we will reassess the company for an upgrade."
  S&P lowered its ratings on Getty in December, citing concerns over default notices stemming from the company's failure to file its third-quarter report with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
  Shares of Getty dipped 33 cents to $48.48.50 in afternoon trading on the NYSE.
  Associated Press.
  Tag: Getty Images

QuickLinks For 2007-03-27

• Time Inc. closes LIFE magazine, but starts photo portal:
  The company said LIFE "will continue with its plan to launch a major portal to put its entire collection of 10 million images online. The most important collection of imagery covering the events and the people of the 20th century will be made available to the public for personal use at no cost. More than 97% of this collection has never been seen by the public and contains the works of such master photographers as Alfred Eisenstaedt, Margaret Bourke-White and Gordon Parks, among others. LIFE's online site will be launched later this year".
  Editor & Publisher in "LIFE' Cut Short: Time Inc. Shutters Newspaper Supplement".
  Tags: LIFE LIFE magazine LIFE images

• Alaska Stock Images is currently looking for a:
  
  • Operations & Business Manager.
  All details and contact information here at Worldwide Stock Photo Industry Jobs.
  Tag: Alaska Stock

Coolest Domain Ever: Corbis.net

"Corbis suffered defeat in a cybersquatting complaint it brought against a British Web designer, the World Intellectual Property Organization said Monday. Corbis had taken its case to the Geneva-based WIPO in a bid to wrest control of the Internet domain name corbis.net from John Pickworth, who runs a Web design company in Blackpool, England.

Juice Images Opens The Doors

The new London-based RF stock production company Juice Images today launched the "first batch of 5,000 pristine, high-end RF images of all things People".

Juice Images was developed by Ian Lishman, formerly the Managing Director of Powerstock, SuperStock´s UK subsidiary, and afterwards promoted to Vice President, Visual Content, at SuperStock in July 2004.

Related:

• New RF Stock Photo Production Company Juice Images Soon Online (Nov. 23, 2006)

Moon River, wider than a mile: finally Weekend and nobody cares anymore about the Stock Photo Industry

QuickLinks For 2007-03-24

• Violated Copyright Law — Now What?:
  Like many designers, I often use Corbis to mock up layouts for review. It is legal to download images (comps) from Corbis to use offline for this purpose. If the client likes the design/images, I get a quote from the photo vendor and the client has the option to purchase. If the price is too high, which it often is with Corbis, I turn to less expensive or free alternatives.
  The problem comes when the site goes live and images from Corbis aren't replaced, which is an honest mistake as long as it doesn't happen excessively. [...]
  We just received a $25,000 invoice from a law firm in London representing Corbis ... I called Corbis ... I quoted the images in question on the Corbis site and the total would have been about $800 ... Other photo houses (Getty) send out cease and desist letter and it's done ... something tells me this is going to get ugly.
  Slashdot on the daily pitfalls in a designer´s life.
  Tags: Corbis Copyright infringement

QuickLinks For 2007-03-23, III

• Getty Images Gets $200M Credit Facility:
  Getty Images said Friday it reached an agreement with U.S. Bank National Association for a $200 million credit facility. The 364-day facility includes a feature allowing the company to increase the available funds to $350 million within six months. [...]
  Getty said it plans to use the facility to fund, in part, its anticipated purchase of MediaVast Inc., parent of rival WireImage. It will also use the funds for general corporate purposes, to repay all or part of its existing $265 million of 0.50 percent convertible subordinated debentures, and for working capital needs. Getty said the agreement requires that the company become current on its periodic regulatory filings by June 14 to avoid default. [...]
  Getty shares dropped 53 cents to $48.75 in afternoon trading on the NYSE.
  Associated Press (Original SEC filling here).
  Related: Moody's Affirms Getty Images (Associated Press today).
  Tags: Getty Images MediaVast WireImage

QuickLinks For 2007-03-23, II

• NPPA`s Best Of Photojournalism 2007 competition announces more winners:
  
  • Mary F. Calvert: Photojournalist of the Year (Small Markets)
  • Sarah L. Voisin: Cliff Edom´s "New America Award"
  • Joe Amon: Best Published Picture Story (Large Markets)
  • Preston Gannaway: Best Published Picture Story (Smaller Markets)
  • Carolyn Cole: International News Picture Story
  • Nick Oza: Domestic News Picture Story
  • Ivan Kashinsky: Natural Disaster Picture Story
  • Tony Overman: Enterprise Picture Story (Small Markets)
  • Michael Novotny: Enterprise Picture Story (Large Markets)
  The Photojournalist of the Year (Large Markets) will be named later today.
  All details and links to the photo galleries here and here.
  The NPPA has also awarded a picture of Megan Lovett/The Beaufort Gazette showing some new blood Merrill Lynch analysts desperately trying to call Bill Gates to convince him to acquire Jupiterimages.
  Tags: National Press Photographers Association NPPA Best Of Photojournalism 2007

QuickLinks For 2007-03-23

• Perez Hilton Update:
  X17, a photo agency, recently ran into a legal road block in its efforts to stop Perez Hilton, a celebrity blogger, from using its photos on his website. A federal judge failed to grant X17 a preliminary injunction, a court order that would have temporarily prevented Perez Hilton from using X17’s photos until the lawsuit is finally decided. The federal judge ruled that X17 failed to provide competent evidence. It is expected that X17 will remedy the defects in the papers and resubmit its motion for a preliminary injunction.
  Nancy E. Wolff/PACA Bi-Weekly Update No. 389.
  Related:
  
  • Gossip Gangsta Blogger Perez Hilton Vs. Celebrity Photo Agency X17: IP Attorney Notes "Impossible To Tell Who Would Prevail" (Dec. 18, 2006)
  • Celebrity Photo Agency X17 Sues Celebrity Blogger Perez Hilton, Claims $7.5 Million In Damages, WENN, INF, Splash News, Ramey, Bauer Griffin, Most Wanted, Flynet Follow (Dec. 01, 2007)
  • Some Just Don´t Get It: Paris Hilton, Perez Hilton, Who Cares? (Nov. 16, 2006)

Tags: Celebrity Photo Agency X17 Perez Hilton Paris Hilton

QuickLinks For 2007-03-22

• A lot of [micro] stock photo companies are out there already. Why start another?:
  Frame Media, mentioned here earlier, runs an interview with LuckyOliver´s CEO Bryan Zmijewski: "Do you see yourself in competition with high-end stock-photo houses like Corbis and Getty or more budget-priced offerings like iStockphoto?"
  The disclosure unveils that Lucky Oliver is a business partner of Frame Media which sponsors the Wireless Picture Frame website.
  Sam Costello on Wireless Digital Picture Frames.
  Related: Q&A with market analyst Harry Wang of Park Associates (Feb. 09, 2007)
  Tags: LuckyOliver Frame Media Wireless picture frames

PicFindr: Not Alpha, not Beta, just not done yet

Similar to Everystockphoto and Yotophoto, PicFindr is another new example of those free-to-use photo "portals" searching for completely free stock photography, "a rich internet application (RIA) that allows you to search several stock image and photo community sites simultaneously, based on your intended use".

And beyond this with the inherent potential to develop over time into a serious threat for "classical" photo portals, provided that some adjustments and refinements do occur. I´m pretty confident we see some new concepts turned into reality soon.

QuickLinks For 2007-03-20

• New Zooomr to permit photo sales -- once debugged:
  Adding the ability to sell photos injects a little profit motive in the business as well. It also puts the site in more direct competition with stock-photo sales sites such as Getty Images subsidiary iStockphoto. Zooomr will keep 10 percent of revenue from photo sales, the company said on its blog, letting users keep 90 percent. For comparison, iStockphoto keeps 80 percent, unless users sign an exclusivity agreement under which the company keeps 60 percent. Getty also acquired journalism-oriented Scoopt this month, a site that splits revenue 50-50.
  Thomas noted recently on Patrick Lor´s (ex-EVP iStockphoto) blog that "It is less our goal to become some hugely profitable company and more our goal to empower the photographers of the world".
  Webware/CNET.
  Tags: Zooomr iStockphoto Getty Images

QuickLinks For 2007-03-19

• Just announced are the winners in six of the Still Photography categories in NPPA´s Best Of Photojournalism 2007 competition:
  • Celebrity News Single: Diana Walker/Time magazine
  • Conceptual Photographic Illustration: Andrea Levy/The Plain Dealer
  • Humor: Dipti Vaidya/The Tennessean
  • Individual Sporting Competition: Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun-Sentinel
  • Team Sports Action: Nic Bothma/EPA for Sports Illustrated
  • Sports Enterprise: John (Sam) Morris/Las Vegas Sun
  NPPA, which adds: "Judging of the contest’s Web Site categories is underway".
  One of the judges is Heather Champ -- from Flickr.
  Tags: National Press Photographers Association NPPA Best Of Photojournalism

QuickLinks For 2007-03-18

• Recent Survey: Where is Royalty Free?
  Recently I made a survey concerning Royalty-Free of the photobuyers who actively purchase photos through our network (PhotoDaily, PhotoLetter). I was thinking the other day, "Do major editorial markets use Royalty-Free photos?"
  Here are the results of our survey of 71 editorial photobuyers/photo researchers. If it looks like a duck, and It walks like a duck, then ...?
  Rohn Engh, PhotoSource.com has the answer.
  On another note, Rohn looks at "Free Photos: A trend for the Future?", examining Dreamstime´s recently introduced section for free photos.
  Tags: Royalty Free Rights Managed

QuickLinks For 2007-03-16

• Meckler on micropayment stock:
  Obviously, micropayment imagery, some of it is excellent [...] It's definitely a growth business [...] I think the best way for those on The Street to look at this business is that it's a part of the royalty free business. Where it's going to settle in, in terms of the overall percentage of what it represents, my guess is that it could be 20% to 25%.
  The part that makes it difficult is -- I've used the term before -- it's net additive.
  SeekingAlpha is out with the transcript of JUPM´conference call yesterday.
  Tags: Jupitermedia Jupiterimages

Jupitermedia´s Recent Conference Call

SeekingAlpha, the website for stock market opinion & analysis, has done a great job since 2005 to publish transcripts of conference calls of Getty Images and Jupitermedia almost immediately the same day. In the case of Getty Images SeekingAlpha delivered transcripts even before Getty itself published the transcript of the most recent conference call on its website.

Jupitermedia Releases Q4/2006 and Full Year 2006 Results

Jupitermedia, the parent company of Jupiterimages, today released the results for the Q4/2006 and the full year 2006, "reporting a fall in net income on higher operating expenses, despite a 5% increase in revenues".
Here´s a quick overlook regarding Jupiterimages with increased revenues of 3.47% from Q3/2006 to Q4/2006:

 

JupiterImages Revenues

Y	Q4/04	2004	Q1/05	Q2/05	Q3/05	Q4/05	2005	Q1/06	Q2/06	Q3/06	Q4/06	2006
	7.526	22.571	12.163	19.731	24.011	24.753	80.658	26.565	26.807	26.177	27.087	106.636

 

More details later after the Conference Call, more details now in the press release.

QuickLinks For 2007-03-14

• Snappers in wrangle over AFL coverage:
  At any sports event youll see them, perched on the sidelines with their oversized camera lenses trained on the field of play to catch the very best shot of the day. Sport and press photographers go hand in hand, but not it seems with the Australian Football League. Some of the world´s biggest press agencies have accused the football league of breaching editorial independence after it denied them access to football matches this season. The move has sparked a row between the AFL and the World Association of Newspapers, which says the AFL´s move to appoint its own official photographer is a money grab. [...]
  The AFL has crossed a line. You have to balance news coverage, because these are news events. They´re entertainment, sure, but they´re also news events.
  ABC Online in a funny story about bizarre things happening in Down Under.
  Related:
  •AFL and the lost picture show war (The Australian)
  •Lockout of world media may be blow to AFL's image (TheAge)
  Tags: Australian Football League AFL Agence France-Press Reuters Getty Images World Association of Newspapers

QuickLinks For 2007-03-13

• Follow-up on "Independent picture agency Scoopt up by Getty Images" or 2000-employees-company acquires start-up-with-2-founders:
  Founder Kyle MacRae is an IT journalist and computer manual writer from Glasgow. MacRae had the idea to set up an agency which would negotiate on behalf of people who found themselves in possession of potentially valuable pictures.
  MacRae runs the firm with his wife Jill at an office in Kilmarnock Road in Glasgow. There are no other employees and both will remain with the business.
  The Herald.
  2000 employees? Yeah, I know... .
  Tags: Getty Images Scoopt

Gimme More User Generated Editorial Content:Getty Images Snaps Up Scoopt

Roughly 20 months after citizen journalist photo agency Scoopt was founded in summer 2005 and I first wrote about it in "Scoopt - A New Picture Agency For Citizen Reporters" in July 2005, Getty Images acquires Glasgow-based Scoopt for an undisclosed amount of money.

Responding to my question in July 2005, founder Kyle MacRae noted then that there is no venture capitalist behind the company: "We're self-funded".

Probably a new record in the picture business to get your company sold to one of the Top Three within only one and half years.