Recent Stock Photo Industry Press Releases

b5media Teams Up With PicScout´s PicApp

Members of leading blog network using new PicApp image platform for sourcing, illustrating and enhancing photos, artwork; bloggers to provide feedback for future development

San Francisco & Toronto, May 30, 2008. PicScout has begun working with b5media, a global new media network featuring a diverse range of more than 350 blogs, to use the PicApp platform of premium, licensed images and photos for enhancing news and creative content across a select group of blogs. PicApp provides licensed images from a broad group of premiere news and stock photo agencies, giving bloggers and other online publishers legal access to millions of images, while addressing content owners’ usage tracking and copyright concerns.

Newscom Inks Deals With Pacific Coast News, Rapport Press, Others

Reston, VA, May 28, 2008. Newscom, a leading provider of visual content and text from around the globe, today announced it is adding to its offering of both video and image content through partnerships with Pacific Coast News, Rapport Press and others.

"Newscom is pleased to grow its already extensive offering of video and still images by partnering with these providers of relevant, timely, and useful content," Newscom Managing Director Bill Creighton said. Newscom will offer both still images and video from Pacific Coast News, known for capturing sought-after celebrity candids, ranging from their day-to-day activities to their lavish homes around the world.

Eyecandy Images launches Micro Stock Collection Rinky Dink Images

London, UK, May 28, 2008. Eyecandy Images, the newly launched production company behind the Royalty Free collection Eyecandy RF and the Rights Managed collection ecPro are launching a new collection called Rinky Dink focused on providing innovative images to the value economy imagebuying segment also known as micro stock.

"Whilst our RF and RM collections are very much liked by our customers, and business is growing all over the world without seeing any foreseeable change, we feel that some customers are not reached. Our style is distinct and very popular with New Media clients, who choose Micro as their first preference for images, before opting for higher priced material elsewhere. Through Rinky Dink we will connect with customers across all platforms, ensuring that Eyecandy content is available to everyone at the right prices", says Maurice Van De Mosselaar from Eyecandy Images.

123RF.com launches Corporate Stockphoto Intranet (CSI)

Houston, TX, May 28, 2008. 123RF.com today announced the launch of Corporate Stockphoto Intranet (CSI). 123RF's CSI will empower corporate companies with a large number of creative designers, art buyers and art directors to search, lightbox and download from 123RF's image library of over 2 million royalty-free stock photos and illustrations.

Stephanie Sitt, the VP of Sales and Marketing for 123RF states that, “The main advantage of CSI is that companies are able to retain their own corporate identity while 123RF plays the part of creative content supplier in the background.”

MGM and Thought Equity Motion Ink Exclusive Stock Footage Deal

Agreement Provides Access to High Definition Stock Footage from Select Films in Hollywood's Largest Modern Library

Denver, CO, May 29, 2008. Thought Equity Motion, the world´s largest supplier of online content licensing and management services, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM) have formed an agreement which will provide producers and media professionals around the world digital access to stock footage from MGM's film and television library. The agreement calls for Thought Equity to be the official licensing agent for stock footage from select films in the MGM library.

"With the ever-increasing demand for high quality footage from new media and traditional entertainment professionals, it's the perfect time for us to be entering the stock footage business given the breadth and depth of the MGM library," said Jim Packer, co-President, MGM Worldwide Television.

Alamy upgrade for Image Keyworder

Oxfordshire, UK, May 29, 2008. Faster and easier keywording is available to Alamy contributors thanks to new software from digital imaging experts, OnAsia. OnAsia has upgraded its Windows-based Image Keyworder software to include a customised ‘Alamy Mode’ for users submitting images to Alamy, the largest stock photo site on the web.

The new version, available at www.imagekeyworder.com, enables Alamy contributors to work on batches of images, speeding up the workflow for getting their pictures online. It is currently the only commercially available software that has been tailor designed to accommodate the specific annotation requirements of Alamy.

Corbis Appoints Cordon Press as New Editorial Representative in Spain

Corbis Aims for Growth in Newspaper and Magazine Markets through Partnership with Spain’s Number One Photo Agency

London, UK, May 28, 2008. Corbis (www.corbis.com), a leading visual media provider for the creative community, today announced that it has appointed Cordon Press (www.cordonpress.com) as its representative in Spain for the editorial market. Effective June 1, Cordon will handle the distribution of Corbis’ vast historical and award-winning news imagery in Spain to editorial clients including magazines, newspapers as well as book and other publishers.

Founded more than 20 years ago, Cordon Press is Spain’s number one news agency, with particular strength in the newspaper and magazine sectors. The company has a reputation for quality imagery and leading customer services, and the new partnership with Corbis will significantly expand Cordon’s collection.

iStockphoto Offers Subscription Plans and Corporate Accounts

World’s Stock Imagery Sales Leader Will Offer Industry’s Most Flexible Payment Options

Calgary, Alberta, May 26, 2008. iStockphoto, the world’s leading royalty-free stock imagery and video destination, announced today that it now offers Subscription plans and Corporate Accounts in addition to the micropayment Pay-as-you-go credit system the company pioneered. Subscribers can access the same royalty-free content as Pay-as-you-go customers: photos, illustrations, video and Flash files. Beginning this September, audio tracks will be available to subscribers, offering customers a complete palette of multimedia tools.

Subscription plans give clients a daily credit limit to be used in three, six or 12-month time periods. Plans range from 10 to 480 credits per day and start as low as $96 USD a month. Clients can use a subscription calculator http://www.istockphoto.com/royalty-free-subscriptions.phpto customize the best Subscription to suit their needs based on the number of credits required per day and the total time period of the plan.

AudioMicro Launches Micro Stock Audio Platform

Los Angeles, CA, May 24, 2008. AudioMicro announces call for submissions to its new micro stock audio platform.  The First 100 users with 100 accepted stock audio uploads will automatically receive a 1GB Apple iPod shuffle!

AudioMicro enters the space as a new outlet for composers, songwriters, sound designers, and audio engineers to license, collaborate, and communicate on a platform dedicated solely to audio content.  The maverick micro stock music site offers a service that will be extremely useful, and at a big cost savings to everyone in the film, radio, television, and video production industries.  AudioMicro content can be used for both commercial and personal purposes on a simple, royalty-free, democratic, easy to use licensing platform.   

AudioMicro is an artist friendly community, paying the highest royalty rate in the industry at 50% for non-exclusive contributors and 60% for exclusive contributors. 

Getty Images Announces Special Meeting of Stockholders

Seattle, WA, May 23, 2008. Getty Images, Inc. (NYSE:GYI), the world´s leading creator and distributor of visual content and other digital media, announced today that it has called a special meeting of its stockholders, to be held at 9:00 a.m. Pacific time on Friday, June 20, 2008, at its headquarters at 601 North 34th Street, Seattle, Washington 98103, to consider and vote on the proposal to adopt the previously disclosed Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of February 24, 2008, by and among Getty Images, Abe Investment, L.P. and Abe Acquisition Corp. under which Getty Images would be acquired by affiliates of the private equity firm Hellman & Friedman LLC. Stockholders of record as of the close of business on Tuesday, May 20, 2008 will be entitled to vote at the special meeting.