Recent Stock Photo Industry Press Releases

Artbeats Library Now Includes Emmy Award-Winning Footage

B. Sean Fairburn Wins Emmy for Footage Featured in Dan Rather's "Combat Photographer"

Myrtle Creek, OR, Sept. 29, 2008. The raw power of Iraqi war footage shot by cinematographer B. Sean Fairburn and featured in the Artbeats library has just been recognized with an Emmy® Award following its extensive use in Dan Rather's 2007 documentary "Combat Photographer."

Fairburn's footage is available from Artbeats as part of the collection entitled "Road to Baghdad," and can be viewed and purchased online by visiting www.artbeats.com/baghdad.

iTravelstock Launches - Art Life Images’ New Active Travel RM Collection with Over 40,000 Stunning Images

Art Life Media launches its first major Rights Managed collection, iTravelstock, on ArtLifeImages.com and to global distributors

Jacksonville, FL, Sept. 29, 2008. Art Life Images releases its first major stock image collection since launching online in 2007. The iTravelstock collection addresses a growing trend of requests for "active travel" imagery, focusing on the features and characteristics of a location, but also including enthusiast activities that make the location a destination.

Orphan Works Alert - Senate Passes Bill, House Expected to Follow

ORPHAN WORKS ALERT - ACT NOW!

Atlanta, GA, Sept. 27, 2008. SAA learned yesterday about an aggressive last-minute push by Congress to pass Orphan Works legislation.

The Senate was "hot lining" the Orphan Works Bill (S2913) for a vote, and the House was expected to follow suit.

We've now learned that the Senate bill was passed.

We must immediately turn our attention to the House.

We need to stop the House Judiciary Committee from folding their own bill (HR5889) and moving to adopt the Senate version.

New MAGROUND photo agency online

Hamburg, Sept. 25, 2008. The picture agency MAGROUND which is providing high-resolution images of landscapes, cities, and backgrounds is now present on the internet. The locations are photographed from various angles. This fact aims at distinguishing MAGROUND from other providers in this field. Advertising agencies in particular may use this archive in addition to their research for appropriate images.

The multi-perspective images enable diverse productions, sophisticated composing, as well as CGI productions (computer generated imagery), for which three-dimensional objects are integrated into the background image in a photo-realistic way.

Metadata Working Group Introduces First Specification for Interoperability and Preservation of Metadata in Digital Photography

Adobe, Apple, Canon, Microsoft, Nokia and Sony form Metadata Working Group

Cologne, Germany, Sept. 24, 2008. At Photokina 2008, industry-leading companies announced the Metadata Working Group, an organization formed in 2007 dedicated to solving key interoperability issues that make finding, organizing and searching for digital photos a challenge. Today, the Metadata Working Group has also introduced its first specification, which provides guidelines designed to increase interoperability and preservation of metadata in digital photographs.

“Lack of metadata interoperability has led to significant frustration for both consumer and pro photographers, and our companies have spent considerable resources trying to deal with the problem,” said Josh Weisberg, chairman and founder of the Metadata Working Group and director of Microsoft’s Rich Media Group.

Alamy expands to open US office

Oxfordshire, UK, Sept. 24, 2008. Alamy, the world’s largest online stock photo library, has announced plans to expand by opening a sales office in the US.

The UK-based company is aiming to grow its US business, particularly in the high value markets, by 30 to 40 per cent a year by establishing a local presence.

The move, due to take place early in 2009, is a departure from Alamy’s UK-based sales model and will mean a change to its current commission structure.

Time Inc. and Getty Images Jointly Launch LIFE.com

New Site Offers Access to Millions of Iconic Photographs From Getty Images’ and LIFE’s Combined Photo Collections - 3,000 New Contemporary Photos Uploaded Daily from Getty Images

New York, NY, Sept. 23, 2008. Time Inc. and Getty Images will jointly launch LIFE.com, the companies announced today at the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s MIXX Conference in New York City. LIFE.com will be jointly owned and operated by Time Inc. and Getty Images, and will provide access to the most comprehensive iconic and professional photography collections available anywhere online. Andy Blau, president of LIFE and SVP of Time Inc. Interactive, and Catherine Gluckstein, vice president of iStockphoto and Consumer Markets at Getty Images, will serve as CEO and CFO, respectively.

“LIFE.com brings together the two most-recognized brands in photography, making the defining images of our times even more accessible to people everywhere,” said Jonathan Klein, co-founder and CEO of Getty Images. “We are thrilled to partner with Time Inc. on the launch of this exciting new venture.”

Anystream and Voxant Merge to Create Integrated Video Distribution Powerhouse

Content Owners, Publishers and Marketers Now Have One Source to Package, Categorize, Syndicate and Monetize Video Content

Dulles, VA, Sept. 22, 2008. Anystream®, the global innovator of digital media production and workflow solutions, today announced its merger with Voxant Media, the new media network with over 30,000 worldwide publishing partners.

The merger is an unprecedented integration of content, production and distribution, bringing together Anystream's platform with Voxant's video news and information syndication service. The combination is the largest single destination for publishers seeking relevant, licensed content that can be effortlessly packaged, categorized and monetized.

GumGum partners with Newscom; Announces 1 Billion Asset Views Per Month

GumGum teams up with leading content marketplace, greatly expands breadth of content offerings.

Santa Monica, CA/NYC, Sept. 22, 2008. GumGum, an analytics and monetization platform for content online, announced today that it has partnered with Newscom, a premier destination for high-quality digital content. Beyond providing GumGum publisher partners with increased access to first-class content for a wide array of verticals, the addition of Newscom further enforces usage-based licensing models as the way of the future.

GumGum will enable publishers to license content from Newscom via pay-per-use and ad-supported licensing options. Pay-per-use enables publishers to manage costs and safely license more content by scaling costs alongside revenue.

PicApp to add content from Newscom

San Francisco/NYC, Sept. 20, 2008. Bloggers looking for real-time photos the next time Michel Phelps breaks a record or hoping to get a shot at the first pictures of Brad and Angelina’s twins now have even more high-quality, relevant and current images to choose from at www.picapp.com, where content from global news resource and aggregator Newscom is now available.

PicApp offers bloggers and online publishers premium, licensed images to enhance news and creative posts on their sites while at the same time addressing content owners’ usage tracking and copyright concerns.