StockPhotoTalk | Special Interest Blog

QuickLinks For 2008-11-26

• The Agency: Production Tactics from Rights Managed to Microstock.
  A lecture by Christina Vaughan, CEO, Image Source, during a PACA, CEPIC, BAPLA, PICTA, the User Generated Content Conference and Expo in San Jose.

• Is a 35% commission unfair to the photographer?:
  Yes, but it keeps companies like Getty Images in business.
  PhotoShelter´s Allen Murabayashi on a company called Digital Railroad.

• DRR and “What Happened?”:
  DRR´s fate is not a result of the business we were in, or the platform we built, but a consequence of strategies and gambles often taken by early-stage business in order to grow.
  Digital Railroad´s former CTO Andy Parsons on a company called - you got it.

• Alamy, Virtual Picture Desk and Universal Images Group:
  That´s [coop with Universal Images Group by Virtual Picture Desk] a new direction for Alamy content which has always been self edited by the contributors themselves. How the selection process will be performed is currently a mystery.
  Photo Spy.

QuickLinks For 2008-11-20

• Digital Railroad Inc. Information Page:
  
  • Question: I am a photographer whose images have been used by a publisher and I know that the publisher paid Digital Railroad for the use of my images. Digital Railroad has not paid me for my images. When will I get paid?
  • Answer: [Are you kidding me?] No, the company lacks the cash necessary to refund payments or pay any unsecured creditor.
  Latest update (11/10/08) on Diablo Management`s DRR website.

QuickLinks For 2008-11-12

• The very last curtain after the final curtain for Digital Railroad:
  
  • The creditor will have all information erased from the storage devices and then sell the equipment at auction. We will work, with the assistance of photographer associations to have the publishers pay the photographers directly. (Diablo)
  • We´ve asked Diablo to provide details of all outstanding invoices and contact info for the photographers and clients. A meeting is scheuled this week with the secured creditor. (SAA)
  • Newscom's managing director Bill Creighton told News Photographer magazine yesterday that Newscom dropped out after their review proved the idea to be too difficult and too costly. "We looked at what it would take to run it on a daily basis, and it was going to need a lot of hand-holding, more than we expected." (NPPA)
  • A source with knowledge of Digital Railroad´s finances said the company had burned through at least $20 million in investments and loans. Digital Railroad owed $1 million to a bank and more in unpaid bills. (PDN)
  • Several photo agencies that were with Digital Railroad have signed up with picturemaxx, a German company that provides hosting for stock libraries. Agencies making the switch to picturemaxx include Redux, eyevine, VII Photo, Noor, CandidatePhotos.com and others, according to Tom Tinervin.
    Virtual Picture Desk said it is helping migrate several Digital Railroad-powered stock agencies to IPN Stock or Photolibrary. (PDN again).
  (Compiled/Abbreviated).

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.

Newscom to acquire Digital Railroad?

A new memo from Diablo Management (full text):

Digital Railroad has received a letter of intent (LOI) to purchase the assets of DRR, specifically its hardware and application software used to store and retrieve images with the desire to continue providing services to DRR members and customers with as little disruption as possible. [...] The acquiring company will have no right to sell or distribute these images without the owner´s prior approval.

Pino Granata: Errare humanum est, perseverare diabolicum

There are very deep changes in the industry and all are very bad.

Alan Meckler has sold Jupiterimages to Getty Images and we can imagine why he sold. If I remember well he bought PictureArts for $65 millions and he made other acquisitions that somebody says have cost around $170 millions dollars including PictureArts so I realize that in selling Jupiterimages for $96 millions Alan Meckler and his shareholders have lost some money.

Maybe it was a good choice and by selling he has saved his company from bankruptcy which is a bad thing.

Slowly but safely Getty Images is going to have the monopoly of the industry which is not good news for us. Now I hear the news from Corbis.

Digital Railroad: "Sorry, no events in the near future"

"To our valued Members:

We´re sorry to inform you that Digital Railroad (DRR) has shut down.

On October 15th we reported that the company had reduced its staff and was aggressively pursuing additional financing and/or a strategic partner. Unfortunately, those efforts were unsuccessful. Therefore Digital Railroad has been forced to suspend all operations.

This archive may only be accessible for the next 24 hours."

From a NPPA report today ("Digital Railroad Shuts Down": "Calls to Digital Railroad´s published phone numbers in the States this morning, including their Marketplace Image Sales number, were answered by phone company recordings that said the phone numbers have been disabled"), quotation in the title from Digital Railroad´s Event Calendar (as long as it is accessible).

Related:

• Interview With Digital Railroad´s CEO Evan Nisselson (March 23, 2006)
• Digital Railroad: A New Hub For The Professional Photographer (August 14, 2004)

Digital Railroad: Final Curtain?

"For the past few weeks, Digital Railroad (DRR) has been seeking additional funding required to sustain its current level of operations. To date, those efforts have been unsuccessful." Consequences of this announcement:

• Charles Mauzy is no longer CEO, Maris Berzins is no longer President
• Diablo Management Group is now engaged "to shop the entire company, as is, around, or to sell off the company in parts".

Sources:

• Digital Railroad continues the “rebalancing” of the photography industry
  (Taylor Davidson)
• Digital Railroad Announces Staff Reductions, May Liquidate (NPPA)
• DRR going under?? (Lightstalkers)
• Digital Railroad Likely Being Liquidated (John Harrington)

Related:

• Interview With Digital Railroad´s CEO Evan Nisselson (March 23, 2006)
• Digital Railroad: A New Hub For The Professional Photographer (August 14, 2004)