StockPhotoTalk | Special Interest Blog

QuickLinks For 2009-06-14

• Corbis unit cashes in on dead-celebrity images:
  It’s part of a strategy to grow Corbis’ rights representation business, which already is a lucrative one. It was a year ago that Corbis rebranded its rights services division GreenLight. Today, GreenLight does about $50 million in business.
  Puget Sound Business Journal.

• Monetizing Digital Content - Innovative Ideas as Media, Entertainment and Technology Transform the Economy:
  “Google is the culprit, they’re not interested in engagement,” said Jonathan Klein, CEO of Getty Images. “You come in, and then go out.”
  Corante/Rebuilding Media on Digital Hollywood’s Advertising 2.0 conference.
  I´ve asked Getty if they could make the presentation of JK publicly available.
  [Update June 17th: I learned that JK was "a participant on a panel discussion. He did not give any presentations. The sessions at Ad 2.0 were not tapped, sadly".]

• Weird story: "'British pensioners' on BNP election leaflet are actually Italian models"
  Pamphlets being distributed by the far right party to 29 million homes ahead of next month's European and council polls feature testimonies from five "typical Britons", giving their reasons for voting BNP. But far from depicting proud BNP supporters, the images are actually stock photos from online picture libraries that have been used by dozens of websites to promote everything from painkillers to caravans.
  Suspecting that the images on a BNP leaflet he scanned into the site were dubious, a blogger ran them through a "reverse image search engine" called TinEye, which traces previous appearances of pictures anywhere on the web.
  At least three were for sale for a small fee on the iStockphoto website. The Canadian-based firm did not respond to enquiries about whether its customers were allowed to use images for political purposes.
  Telegraph UK (compiled)/Thx, MS.

QuickLinks For 2009-06-11

• Exclusive interview with Gary Shenk:
  Shenk doesn't believe microstock is the answer, and has instead been focusing on corporate customers. Shenk believes RM imagery holds the best value. "We're seeing a commoditisation of the market. We're not interested in that development. We're putting more focus on great and unique products. We're focusing on really great photography, we believe that editorial and rights-managed photography has the most value. In the creative segment so much can be recreated by amateur photographers. The key is to focus on stuff that cannot be replicated. The value grows over time."
  Today microstock represents a small part of Corbis' revenues - less than 1%. "We give customers a choice, but the vast majority of our revenues come from great photography and rights-clearance," he says. In fact, over the past three months, Corbis has started to see an overall decline in the growth rate of microstock photography across the market.
  BJP, Old gold (compiled).
  
  Which is not the full truth. A decelerated increase in growth - depending on the microstock company - from 40% - 70% (in one case more) in former years to "only" 20% - 35% are still very healthy growth rates which hardly, if ever, can be observed in traditional stock.
  Corbis once said in October 2008 that in 2012 microstock would be a market of around $500 million - $550 million. Convervative calculations - mainly based on the revenues of the Big Eight - put this market at around $320 million at least currently, and there are signs that this is not only conservative, but way too conservative, meaning finally that the $500 million barrier will reached earlier than 2012.
  So if Shenk does believe that microstock is not the answer, the reason is also that it will take a long time for Veer Marketplace to become an important player in microstock and in this number game.

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.

Corbis Video: Leadership in a Changing Market

Time for a little unpaid advertisement for Corbis (original video) with Gary Shenk, Don Wieshlow, Edie Tobias and Jens de Gruyter:

 

 

QuickLinks For 2008-11-07

• Jupitermedia Q3/2008 results and conference call:
  "I just called the replay number for the conference. It appears no one bothers to listen. There were no questions. How sad is that?" (reader´s comment).
  
  •More details here.
  •Full PDF report here.
  •Jupiterimages/Getty Images FAQ: Internal Use Only - Do Not Distribute.

QuickLinks For 2008-10-26

• Hard Times for Stock Continue, Corbis to Cut Royalty Rate:
  Corbis CEO Gary Shenk said the company faces “a moment of disruptive change in the image market.”
  “Overall, we expect the image licensing market to shrink in the coming years". He showed a slide forecasting that the total stock image licensing business will fall from $2.3 billion dollars in 2007 to $2.2 billion in 2011. The traditional stock licensing that makes up most of the industry will shrink at an even faster rate.
  PDN/Daryl Lang.

QuickLinks For 2008-10-02

• GumGum launches partnership with Glam Media and Splash News:
  GumGum will provide the entire Glam publishing network (over 600 publishers) with free and legal access to entertainment content from Splash News (photos typically range between $75 and $500 a piece), the content will be ad-supported.
  More details over at TC: "Glam Teams With GumGum".

• October Corbis Creative IQ Trend – Low Tech Living (PDF Download):
  However, as Blackberries, mobile phones and laptops have become more ubiquitous, our lives have become more "connected" and faster-paced than ever. It’s getting more and more difficult to take time away from the devices that were originally meant to set us free.

QuickLinks For 2008-09-02

• "Back to Basics", Corbis new September Creative IQ Trend:
  As the economy slows down, the evidence that consumers are cutting back is all around us. Corbis’ latest Creative IQ Trend highlights that this presents marketers with an interesting opportunity to ensure their products and services tap into this "Back to Basics" feeling and photographers will need to provide creatives with imagery that reflects this trend.

• Picture Press is looking for new content:
  Upgrading it`s own content by new material from the global RM picture suppliers Ardea, Able Images, Minden Pictures, Flower Photo, Red Cover and Tips Images since 2007, Picture Press is still looking for new and fresh photographs. "Especially  we are interested in people, beauty and lifestyle pictures", said Klaus Plaumann, marketing director of the Hamburg based agency. "Any offer would be welcome".
  Please contact Klaus directly: plaumann.klaus[at]picturepress.de, tel #49 40 3703 2570.