StockPhotoTalk | Special Interest Blog

QuickLinks For 2008-07-26

• No more opt out at StockXpert:
  SXP sent out some e-mail today to contributors about their new deal with images being sold via Photos.com. Buried in the 3rd paragraph was this:
  "As we move forward with more of these programs, we need to deliver the highest quality and most consistent product to customers and business partners. This means that as of July 30 we will no longer offer opt-in/out, and as of August 4 all SXP images will be included in our PPD, partner and licensing, extended licensing, and subscription efforts."
  I had opted out of subscriptions at SXP a while back. Now I have to exit altogether or put up with subscriptions. Nothing in the text says they´re planning to limit the sizes sold via subscription [...].
  The terms for contributors seem to be trending unfavorably - perhaps sites are feeling the economic pinch and trying to squeeze out all the revenue they can.
  Jo Ann Snover/Yahoo MP group.

• 4,000 U.S. Combat Deaths, and Just a Handful of Images:
  Increasingly, photographers say the military allows them to embed but keeps them away from combat. Franco Pagetti of the VII Photo Agency said he had been repeatedly thwarted by the military when he tried to get to the front lines.
  The NYT in 3 pages for the weekend.

Alamy Q2/2008 numbers

Alamy has released its quarterly financial statement for Q2/2008.

More details over there.

Correction on Getty Q2/2008 revenues

The previous chart "Getty Images Q2/2008 Numbers (Ultra-Light Version)", as of July 16, 2008, based on a SPI story, is no longer online. It was incorrect.

Getty said that:

Since we are no longer a publicly traded company, we have not issued a press announcement regarding our revenue earnings for the second quarter of 2008.

The number posted in your story of $218 [million] is in fact the revenue generated during our fourth quarter of 2007, while the first quarter of 2008 was $233.2 million.

QuickLinks For 2008-07-22

• GumGum Chews on First Round:
  GumGum has secured $500,000 of a $1 million Series A round, according to a regulatory filing. First Round Capital led the deal, with partner Howard Morgan taking a GumGum board seat.
  Private Equity Hub.
  While there is some confusion (NewTeeVee/VentureBeat) on some details regarding the amount, Ophir Tanz of GumGum insists that the sources are partly "not 100% accurate" in reporting and promized an precise update in the next days.

QuickLinks For 2008-07-21

• Shooting stars: Citizen paparazzi should be raking it in:
  Big Pictures, owned by the infamous Australian paparazzo Darryn Lyons, has started an offshoot called Mr Paparazzi and claims that a set of amateur pictures of Cameron Diaz surfing made £16,000. The cash was split evenly between the agency and the photographer who just happened to be strolling past.
  In the UK, the Press Complaints Commission states that it is unacceptable to photograph individuals in a private place without their consent - and the definition of a "private place" includes public property "where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy". Bennett, a photographer for the New York Times and adjunct professor of Photojournalism at Columbia University, thinks that the rise of untrained photographers has contributed to the sometimes violent scenes in the LA paparazzi pack. "It gives all photographers a bad name," he explains.
  On the whole, however, he sees good in this industry revolution. "Frankly, the reason that a lot of photojournalists bitch about it is that it raises the bar for all of us," he says. "We have to really differentiate ourselves and prove we're better."
  The Guardian.

CrowdSourcing: One day you are the next SuperStar in Micro-Imaging, -Footage or -Audio

Full version below. Branded version after the jump.

   

QuickLinks For 2008-07-18

• Flickr boss claims Getty deal is great opportunity for photographer members:
  For a time, Flickr considered building an entire licensing platform of its own. However, this option was soon dropped. Instead, Flickr reached out to a number of external companies such as Corbis and Getty. "I can't even remember who approached who", says Flickr CEO Srivastava. "Getty already has had a relationship with Yahoo for a long time. We reached out to them, along with other people. We will not receive a cut of every sales made by Getty."
  The deal was signed earlier this month, with Flickr receiving an undisclosed financial compensation. There is still one caveat: by signing this partnership with Getty, Flickr is banned from partnering with any other licensing company.
  BJP (compiled/abbreviated).
  
  • Related: Getty robust in Flickr deal defence (BJP; compiled/abbreviated):
    Klein estimates that the first images will be available to license from Christmas 2008. Klein added that the deal was 'long term', covering at least five years, that Getty would be unlikely to sign up a photographer with just a couple of shots, and that photographers who regularly update their images will probably do best out of the deal. "Our experience is that less than 1000 photographers will generate the majority of the sales."
    And, while selected Flickr images will sell above the $200 mark, the financial benefits for photographers are still being worked out.
    

QuickLinks For 2008-07-17

• Blinkx Adopts Private-Label Video Search Model:
  Blinkx is the latest niche video search engine to shift to a private-label model rather than concentrating on becoming a destination for video search. Pixsy, Digitalsmiths and Truveo also are offering video search services to other sites and companies.
  The new service, Blinkx Red Label, lets Web sites integrate Blinkx’s search technology into their sites. That will let site visitors search for video and also watch video that’s been paired with targeted ads.
  The Red Label service is free of charge. Ad revenue will be split between Blinkx and each site. Blinkx said it indexes more than 26 million hours of premium content.
  TVWeek. Similar on ShareCast.

• Getty Images hires VP of communications:
  Reporting to co-founder and CEO Jonathan Klein, Caroline Andoscia will work to provide strategic media planning and PR as Getty moves forward with new partnerships, like with photo-sharing Web site Flickr.
  PRWeek.

News from Red Cover Picture Library

From Red Cover:

Red Cover has been going through some difficult times recently, during a period of rapid growth and without the benefit of third party investments.

To this end a formal meeting was held with a representative group of contributors and creditors. At this meeting, administered by Fisher Partners, Chartered Accountants, a plan to take the company forward under the Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) was approved unanimously.

"We put forward a number of proposals and all were accepted," comment two contributors, Andrew Twort & Johnny Bouchier.

Alamy updates Novel Use Scheme

Alan Capel´s announcement on the ongoing Novel Use saga:

For the next phase of Novel Use we are running a pilot scheme offering limited subscriptions to major corporations. It is currently operating in the US [...] Images accessed through these subscriptions can be used for internal business use only.

The revenue model for this project has yet to be finalised so returns are difficult to predict, but the price per image could be anything from pence to pounds [...].

Related:

• Alamy´s Limited Use license starts with 3.5 million images
  (June 10, 2008)
• Alamy: Novel Use Scheme, not to be confused with micropayment
  (Sept. 19, 2007)
• Alamy: Aha ... "a number of new products to broaden our customer base"
  (Sept. 17, 2007)

QuickLinks For 2008-07-09

• How Getty Is Killing the Stock Photo Industry:
  Now before you yell that this is a case of spilled milk from an upstart, let me explain why this is more of a David & Goliath story. You see, one of Getty Images' Executive VPs started contacting us as early as July 2006. Initially it was to use PhotoShelter technology to provide a way for non-Getty photographers to submit images. But once the PhotoShelter Collection was announced, they wanted access to our content because we provided ready-to-license, edited content from thousands of contributors around the world.
  They contacted us in July 07, September 07, October 07 and November 07, and we turned them down for one simple reason: It was a terrible deal for photographers (then, as it is now), and did very little to alter the fundamental imbalance in the stock industry.
  PhotoShelter CEO Allen Murabayashi about the Getty/Flickr deal.
  A clever and smart masterpiece of communication and indeed very glorious to report publicly your past business negotiations. It leaves a stale aftertaste, especially after PhotoShelter launched the Flickr Import Tool in March which was shut down 36 hours later. Not that he doesn´t have a point, but this is just bad style.

Flickr + Getty Images: An old story* gets new blood

• Great Photo on Flickr? Getty Images Might Pay You For It (NYT Blog):
  Getty will make payments to Flickr, but detailed terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Mr. Klein said that financially the deal will be immaterial for both Yahoo and Getty Images. Over time, however, thousands of Flickr photographers may benefit.
  Getty also runs a site called iStockPhoto, where amateurs contribute photos that the company markets at lower rates. The photos on Flickr are of sufficent quality to demand higher prices, Mr. Klein said.

QuickLinks For 2008-07-08

• Photojournalism for the Web Generation:
  "Exactly upside down" is how Brian Storm, 37, describes the business model that guides the making, selling and viewing of photojournalism.
  How have they turned photojournalism upside down? Old LIFE stories began with an idea, and editors would assign photographers to produce pictures and a writer to produce text to fit that concept. MediaStorm producers start with the photographs.
  Using one client as an example, Mr. Storm talks about the benefits of MediaStorm´s workshops for writers, photographers and other media professionals. "The L.A. Times is no longer a newspaper trying to make a Web site work. It is a multimedia production company with great resources."
  MediaStorm, he says, "is a purpose-driven organization. I want to make photojournalism work by sharing the secrets other journalists knew, the backstories, the context for the images that made it to print. The problem isn´t bad pictures. The best stuff got left out because in the days of print we couldn´t use it. Photojournalism can make people care about the world if we learn to stop and take the time to tell a good story. Quality rules."
  WSJ/Mary Panzer (compiled).

QuickLinks For 2008-07-06

• Science studies - Corbis`July Creative IQ Trend Report:
  This report highlights the need for the creative community to reflect the increasing demands for skilled workers in the physical and applied sciences. As a large portion of the science and engineering workforce approaches retirement within the next decade, it’s time for science to take centre stage around the world. Only this week, UK-based researchers were in the spotlight for cracking the trillionth letter of the DNA code and across Europe, plans are under way to increase research and development investment, with the aim of making Europe the most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world within the next two years.
  The Creative IQ Trend Reports are now available to give the wider creative community a heads-up on material likely to be in demand in advertising and publishing over the next few months.

QuickLinks For 2008-07-04

• Charles Mauzy responds to questions from SAA ombudsman David Sanger:
  Up to today our sales by industry segment have been definitely weighted to the editorial buyers. Over the first 6 months of MP 25% of our sales were to Magazine Publishers, 24% to Book Publishers, and 5 % to Newspapers. Corporate buyers comprised 23% and the Advertising plus Graphic Design firms combined for 19%.
  We are very focused on shifting this mix to increase the percentage of sales going into the Advertising and Graphic Design segments where there is still a proven need for higher value rights-managed imagery and licensing fees are higher in general.
  To add some color to this, over the same 6 month period our average license fee per transaction into the Advertising segment was $609 and into the Magazine Pub segment $243.
  Digital Railroad blog.

QuickLinks For 2008-07-03

• Getty Images Goes Bye-Bye:
  What is interesting is that Hellman & Friedman bought DoubleClick back in 2005 in a deal that was valued around $1.1 Billion, and within three years this was a leading huge Internet acquisition where the firm sold DoubleClick to Google for around $3.1 Billion.
  You could argue that the entire DoubleClick profit is being used to buy Getty.
  We aren´t inclined to predict who will own Getty Images after 2010 or 2011, but we are fairly certain that it will look different as an operating company or via who runs it.
  24/7 Wallst/Jon C. Ogg.

QuickLinks For 2008-07-02

• Struggling picture agency Red Cover owes photographers thousands:
  Red Cover, based in Balham, south London, that owes nearly £500,000 to creditors has told freelance photographers and writers it will not be able to pay them for up to two years. The agency supplies home interior pictures to Getty Images, and provides some editorial content.The company´s accounts, filed in March 2007, show it had total assets of £218,050 and outstanding debts to creditors of £498,232.
  Sounds familiar? More in Press Gazette UK/Patrick Smith.