JUNE 25, 2014 , Guest post by Robert Henson The annual conference CEPIC recently took place in Berlin, where international photo libraries congregate primarily to seek distribution for their images and/or image collections to represent for their clients. The industry they serve is commercial and editorial image licensing, and their clients are advertisers and publishers of all stripes Read More →

If a fly lands on your nose, right between your two eyes, it becomes invisible. You might feel it, but you do not see it. The obvious, sometimes, acts like a fly on your nose. Several announcements in the last few weeks has made it clear that the stock licensing industry is due for final Read More →

          It was just a question of time. We have repeatedly wrote here about how the current photo licensing model is broken and obsolete . We also explained at full length how image data collection and third-party revenue are the new gold mine. Getty apparently heard and is now applying. (If Read More →

Instagram knows more about photography than Getty Images does. Or Corbis. Or Associated press. Or even Shutterstock. In 3 years years, it has aggregated more information about which photograph works better than the combinations of the best photo editors at any photo agency. It is not just Instagram. Flickr does too, although they might not Read More →

I organized a panel at the recent PACA ( the Digital Media Licensing Association) conference around mobile photography and image licensing. I invited 4 companies  representative of what is going on in this space, in an effort to show and explain that the next major disruption in the professional image licensing world will come from your mobile Read More →

The misconception of the pro photography world is that, without their content, publications, blogs, and other companies cannot be successful. They believe that they are in a position of power in an economy that is rapidly doing without them. True, a decade or plus ago, it was very hard, if not impossible, for a print Read More →

Photography is endangered. It’s ability to return revenue to its creator is threatened. Pretty soon, there will be no more professional photographers. or so they say. The recent news that the UK government has approved the passing of an Orphan Work bill has, once again, awakened the Armageddon sayers. From petition signing to violent blog Read More →

There is a story in Greek mythology that says that long ago, an Italian sailor on his way to home heard someone screaming from the shores of Greece: “the great god Pan is dead”. It was later on interpreted as meaning that the last of the Greek gods has passed away and it was the Read More →

Just like the music industry, with which it shares many similarities, the photo licensing world is ripe to be iTuned. The industry landscape is dispersed and confused. None of the photo licensing companies know what to do. From the Getty images to the small mom and pops that have been around for 5,000 years ( Read More →

The news cracked like thunder in the middle of a hot afternoon : Corbis has just acquired Splash news. The quiet giant has just eaten up the lean mean paparazzi machine. It is a surprise. There had been rumors in the photo agency world of Getty looking to purchase Splash, to fill their last hole Read More →