March 24, 2008 by pmelcher.

Apparently Picapp is having some hiccups. As per many posts in their forum, Picapp has been supplying non authorized images to bloggers worldwide for free.

Apparently Getty  was supposed to only put their wholly owned images via the Picapp service. That is images either produced by staff photographers or bought outright. But by some API fluck ( that is the official version, at least) images from commissioned photographers also appeared.

Apparently, the issue is currently being solved but if I were a Getty contributor, I would check if my images are made available. There filtering system does not seem to be very efficient. The most amusing part of all this?  Picapp is run by Picscout, an anti copyright infringement service. I guess you can’t trust anyone these day…

Posted in copyright, technology, license, filter, wire service, getty | Print | 1 Comment »

March 24, 2008 by pmelcher.

As the beast stumbles, the race continues. Mighty Associated Press has decided to increase its celebrity coverage by an additional 21 staffers spread out between the East Coast and West Coast. And not just photographers, but also writers, videographers. Furthermore, AP will not just limit themselves to red carpet, but might join the ranks of the street paparazzi if the story demands it.

“AP is uniquely positioned to become the definitive provider of entertainment news for all media formats largely because of our reputation for accurate, unbiased coverage.” said newly appointed Director of Entertainment Content Daniel Becker in an internal memo. And this might just be true.

Getty and Wireimage are exponentially covering events as the publicist-hired company. Thus forcing themselves to commit an act of auto censorship and most times publicist censorship. Getty cannot guarantee any editorial freedom and independence when they cover these celebrity events on behalf of those who produced them. It is quite the opposite. Most will be edited and watered down before being send for mass consumption in magazines all over the world.

AP doesn’t take these types of assignments. Which is good news for the business side of Getty but certainly not for content directors. It will be very interesting to see how this battle plays out. Those who might suffer, however, are the numerous small agencies that survive on the crumbs left behind by the soon to be private Seattle giant.

More competition on celebrity events is certainly not good news for the Startraks, Starmax, Beimages, Celebrity photo and others who have managed to do well, for some, thanks partially to Getty’s and Wireimage’s inability to offer a full, truthful coverage.

The question now, is not if, but when will Reuters and EPA follow ?

Posted in license, celebrity, magazine, technology, newspaper, keyword, news, editorial, transaction, wire service, getty | Print | 1 Comment »