The road to editorial supremacy is paved with many dangerous potholes and if Shutterstock wants to succeed in that space, it has to be ready to change the rules. The same way it has done with commercial stock. However, this time, the competition is ready and  up in arms. Surprise strategy will not work. Firepower, Read More →

Jon Oringer of Shutterstock said it well: barrier of entry in  stock photography licensing  today is very low (actually getting lower), barrier to scalability is very high and getting higher. In other words, it is easy to find and regroup content to license (UGC or not). It is much harder to find clients. Now with Read More →

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Bloomberg started spewing articles after articles on the sorry state of Getty Images. Three in a row, which is more than they did in the last 3 years combined. Fresh from insider knowledge, it reported Getty Images having  poor ratings on a debt secured when purchased by the Carlyle Group as Read More →

The recent news of Adobe’s acquisition of microstock company Fotolia has sent ripples throughout the photo licensing world. The software company purchased the 11 year company operating in 23 countries in 14 different language for $800 million in cash,  in return for 34 million images. While the public announcement clearly aimed at integrating it into its Read More →

North America woke up with the news that golden boy photo agency Shutterstock acquired no less than 2 companies in what seems as one swoop. One, in the music category, the other, in the photo licensing world. Obviously it is the latter that interests us here. Shutterstock’s announcement that it has acquired 60 years old Read More →

Ever so often, the topic of the value of a photograph emerges from the bowels of online conversations. Very quickly, the conversation ends with the undisputed point that a photo should at least cover its cost. In other words, the more it costs to take a picture, the higher its value. Photographers, like any small Read More →

We cannot achieve anything significant by ourselves. As much as we would love to, it is impossible to succeed without the help of others. Yet, over and over, we try with the same predictable outcome. For decades now, the number one issue that has plague the photo licensing industry has been attribution. Indelibly linking an Read More →

You walk in a supermarket, pick up a bag of potatoes and head for the cash register. At this point, the employee ask you how  you intend to use the potatoes. Depending on your answer, he will charge you more or less. He also asks what is your overall budget, how many people you intend Read More →

It used to be that when trouble hit the streets, autocratic governments would shut access to the media, in particular to photographers. Those were targeted for a few reasons: One, they were easily identifiable with their gear, two, they could quickly communicate a situation via photos, and three, they worked for outlets with large readership Read More →

Social Media opened our eyes to the reality that there is a massive talent pool of photographers that have not chosen the path of going pros. They enjoy taking and sharing photos just for the pleasure while they go on paying for their lives with other, probably more lucrative, occupations. Nevertheless, the technology world doesn’t see Read More →