StockPhotoTalk | Special Interest Blog

Layoffs at Jupiterimages/Getty Images

From WMBD/WYZZ, Jupiter Images Lays of 100 Peoria Workers:

"Jupiter Images, originally known as Dynamic Graphics, employed a total of 400 people worldwide.

Company CEO Alan Mechler [see note below] tells us they lost 40% of their business after what he calls a 'technology internet revolution' changed their competitive landscape.

Mechler says the images the company used to sell for $300 a piece could now be purchased for as little as $3 by competitors. Thus leaving the company no other option but to sell the company to Getty images or go bankrupt.

All 400 worldwide employees from England to Australia will be laid off between April and September. One hundred of those employees are based in Peoria."

QuickLinks For 2009-02-21

• For download: the corrected PhotoShelter Photobuyer Survey (1.3 MB).

• Rumor: 2009 Overall Stock Photo Sales Down 40 Percent (Philip Nealey)

• Adography sounded initially like an interesting idea, but then it turned out:
  "You cannot do anything with that photo until it is taken off of the site. You agree not to sell it to anybody else or to appoint another company to sell it for you. In short, you agree not to publish the photo in any way while the photo is on the site."
  May be the soon starting SmugMugPro will be this kind of a desired solution.

• Recent statistics from Fotolia:
  

  • Of out one million registered members, 860,000 are active (defined as having made at least one credit card purchase or uploaded content within the past three months).
  • Fotolia says it is registering new members at a rate of 3,000 per day (86,800 per month).
  • The number of uploads is very close to the number of paid downloads. People upload 40,000 images and other content every day, and download 50,000 images a day. That download rate translates to 1.5 million paid downloads a month.
  • Fotolia already has 20,000 videos uploaded.

Micro Madness for the Weekend

After the recent newsletter sent out to contributors, it have been touching days for Fotolia:

• MicroStockGroup
• Yahoo MicroPayment Group
• Fotolia forum:

FT US forum 1

FT US forum 2

FT German forum

Next act:

David Mail of ProStockMaster wrote a nice piece (*) on iStockphoto´s Dollar Bin:

"Here is the email I just have received from iStockphoto.com.

You have two options. You either give me your money and then I kill you or I first kill you and then I take your money." (**)

Quotation compiled. Of course. (Link to the related iStock forum topic)

(*) Update Feb. 23, 2009. And because it´s a mad Monday, the link doesn´t work anymore and the blog post over there was removed.

(**) Update Feb. 24, 2009. And because it´s a mad Tuesday, the blog post of David Mail is up and running again.

QuickLinks For 2009-02-17

• UGCX Conference:
  If you couldn´t travel to San Jose, here are some media files and press coverage:
  
  • Keynote by the iStock guys (120 MB)
  • UGCX video interviews (thanks, Lee)
  • General press coverage on the UGCX website
  Thank God, the autumn event is in Boston.

• Be wary of Facebook...:
  On Feb. 4th, Facebook changed their terms of service (without telling anyone, because their terms of service give them the right to do so).
  Basically, the biggest change is that whatever content is uploaded to Facebook belongs to them FOREVER, and that remains true even if the person that posted the content leaves the site.
  Needless to say, that means that any image you upload on Facebook becomes theirs to sell and use as they wish.
  Folco Banfi (thanks Achilles).
  Related:
  • On Facebook, People Own and Control Their Information (Mark Zuckerberg)
  • "We have never claimed ownership" of members' content (Industry Standard)
  • (Update Feb. 20): Facebook Withdraws Changes in Data Use (NYT):
    "After three days of pressure from angry users ... the company reversed changes".
    This kind of behaviour would currently be helpful in the microstock industry...

World Press Photo of the Year 2008

How the times and the images have changed.

   

Anthony Suau, USA, for Time. US Economy in Crisis: Following eviction, Detective Robert Kole must ensure residents have moved out of their home, Cleveland, Ohio, 26 March.

Jury chair MaryAnne Golon said: "The strength of the picture is in its opposites. It's a double entendre. It looks like a classic conflict photograph, but it is simply the eviction of people from a house following foreclosure. Now war in its classic sense is coming into people's houses because they can't pay their mortgages."

More about this photo here and the other winners here.

iStockaudio beta to lauch tomorrow - or later this week

After several delays, iStockphoto will launch the beta version of its audio iStockaudio site on Wednesday. Professionals won't be able to participate if they belong to organizations that require them to only distribute their content on a royalty basis.
Over 10,000 audio clips will be available, Livingstone said.
He said a lot of video customers have asked for audio so he expects interest there, but also from new customers.
Adding video support with iStockvideo came from frequent requests by customers, and proved an immediate hit. "In late 2006, we launched video and in two years, it's become a substantial part of our revenue," Livingstone said.

InternetNews in "From Passion to Profits in User-Generated Content" (compiled).

Related:

• Listen up: audio to launch this week (iStockphoto´s Audio Forum)
• A Short Fall Conversation With AudioMicro´s Ryan Born on Microstock Audio
  (Oct. 22, 2008)
• A Short Midsummer Conversation With Shutterstock´s Jon Oringer on Microstock Footage
  (Aug. 05, 2008)

Corbis to close SnapVillage, launches Veer Marketplace

Below you can read:

• Selected parts of Corbis´ explanation.
• After the jump SnapVillage´s full message to contributors including a FAQ guide ("Veer Marketplace - All SnapVillage Contributors FAQ") for downloading with detailed information on the new price structure ("Veer Marketplace will not offer the SnapVillage contributor-priced model of Pick Your Own Price").

As a new microstock agency (or: "a new microstock-specific section at Veer") Veer Marketplace will "launch in two phases, Phase 1 in late February and Phase 2 in spring/summer of 2009". When Phase 2 launches "image pricing will transition to a credit-based pricing and subscriptions model".

All higher price levels for images offered by SnapVillage ($25 and $50) do no longer appear on Veer Marketplace´s price list (see below).

It can only be speculated if any time later in the coming years microstock images from Veer marketplace and the high-end imagery of Veer will appear together on one website and an identical URL, similar to Fotolia´s microstock images mixed with the Infinite Collection from traditional stock agencies, all in one single destination.

QuickLinks For 2009-02-04

• Getty Images shuts Scoopt that marketed photos from amateurs:
  Getty Images bought Scoopt in 2007. Scoopt told its contributors that it thought the acquisition was "fantastic news" that would provide "the scale to better market your content to a global media audience."
  Scoopt will stop accepting and licensing submissions on Friday: "We remain convinced that there is a demand for this kind of material as part of an editorial product, but for the moment are choosing to focus our energies within Getty Images on our core products in news, sport and entertainment."
  Getty spokesman Molly McWhinnie said [also] that today´s marketplace is highly competitive: "I think there's a lot of other avenues out there that people can upload this type of imagery onto and I don't think they necessarily think ... 'Ooh, I want to make money off of it first'."
  She was not sure whether the company had explored options in addition to shutting down the site, such as whether it had tried to find a buyer.
  CBCNews.ca (compiled).
  
  
  • Related: Citizen journalism photo agency Scoopt closing (AFP)
    "Scoopt itself will remain active until March 6 but from February 6 we´ll not be accepting any new imagery," said Molly McWhinnie. She said Getty Images remained interested in user-generated photos. "We definitely believe there is a demand for this type of material as an editorial product but there are so many other avenues out there right now for citizen photo journalists."
  • Related: KyleMacRae on Twitter
    "To any Scoopt contributors on here, sorry it didn´t work out. The idea was for it to scale under Getty. Shame that didn´t happen."

Pino Granata: Desperate Stockphoto Dealers

I went to Stockholm for the weekend to see a friend of mine who is also a business associate. He works very hard but he is very unhappy about the business and he is very concerned about the future. He is exploring other options in the world of photography - but also in other businesses.

It´s not worth to work very hard to hear from picture editors that there is no money anymore in this industry. The offers he gets for his pictures are not even enough to cover the expenses.

He tells me of agencies which sell images to publishing houses for a ridiculous low monthly amount of money.

His girlfriend and partner in the business is even more desperate than him: there is no money anymore, she tells me.