January 7, 2010 by pmelcher.

(see Italian version of this entry on Poterefotografico )One of the leading explanation for the disappearance of the Neanderthals was that they could not adapt their tools to  the new conditions surrounding them. They were stubbornly trying to use those they had and adapt them. Obviously it did not work and they vanished.It is said that they might not have had the mental capacity to understand their conditions and were genetically doomed anyway. Since the invasions of the corpocrate in the photo industry in the late 90’s and early 00’s, brought forth by companies like Corbis, Getty and the now defunct Jupiter/A21, it seems that we are seeing prehistory repeat itself.Armed with poorly adaptable tools inherited by their MBA schools, a steady stream of self assure corpocrates have slowly invaded the photo business trade.  They have tried to adapt the industry to their tools rather than the opposite. An incessant flow of un-passionate executives coming from all kind of non photo related backgrounds have the taken the helm of these companies, utterly convince of their superior business understanding, only to be spit out a few years later. Regardless, they persist. The amount of ex Corbis, Ex Getty or ex Jupiter executive who had no previous experience in the photo industry before they entered those companies and have now opened some kind of photo related business is frightening. As if a failed stint in these corporation have made them suddenly experts. Some open RF photo agencies ( the majority), others become Success Coaches or marketing experts ( with newsletters or blogs) , while others create “one trick poney” companies that have no chance of surviving. They all have in common this pathetic idea that somehow, somewhere, they received the magic touch from the Photography gods and they have seen the Light.While all these ex open their useless shops, their old companies replace them with new batches of fresh executives, as clueless as they were, in the hope that someone, anyone, will figure out how to make these tools fit the market, or the opposite.All this would be amusing if it wasn’t for the fact that in the process their are destroying their own market. Because this industry is not, or poorly regulated, anything goes. And like a bunch of irresponsible farmers, they are creating there own dustbowl. Obsessive and poorly equipped for change, they try over and over,  to survive, or grow, by applying their inadequate solutions.It is not photogrpahy that is dying.  Actually, it is doing just fine. It is the Business of photo licensing. From publishing CFO’s convinced that by cutting their photo department they will revert the incessant decline of their publications to photo agency executive who beleive that by cutting their prices, bankruptcy will ignore them, to photographers smiling when they receive commission check with sales of 11 cents, there seems that there is no shortage of Neanderthals these days.Most of this is driven by fear. Fear of change, fear of losing , fear of even trying.  Those who’s responsibility is to create and  license professional grade images are paralyzed by fear. Mostly because they  shortsightedly beleive that on the other side of change there is chaos, death and emptiness. Just like their ancestors did.Sure, they don’t eat as well as before, and sure, they do not travel as much and sure hard times demand sacrifices. But something is better than nothing, right ? And the solution is right around the corner, isn’t it? someone will find out what to do and then I can follow their example. Right ? Why would I change what I have been doing for so long. I didn’t do anything wrong. Things will come back to what they used to be. Right ? right ? Can somebody please answer me ?5 years from now, this landscape will have been completely transformed. It’s going to be a painful carnage ( it has already started). The first to go will be those who fear.

Posted in photojournalism, license, Jupiter, commercial stock, finance, transaction, getty, corbis, editorial, Royalty free | Print | No Comments »

October 9, 2009 by pmelcher.

So, as it reaches $200 million dollars a year in revenue, Istockphoto is pushing the production of stock photography to its rim. The traditionally strong categories for stock imagery, like Lifestyle, Health, Parenthood, Teens, Green, Business are all being more than very well covered by the astute production of 100,000’s very smart microstock producers. For traditional photo agencies, especially Royalty Free, continuing to produce images in these categories is pure suicide.

But there is not much space at the edges of the stock photography demand. If you are specialized in photographing snails, that is great, but lets face it, the market, even worldwide, cannot be  very big. Sure, you will still be able to command your prices but probably with clients that have little or no budget. So what is the point ?

Even almighty Getty is suffering losses within its traditional stock offering and is probably thinking to shift the whole thing to its new subscription based Jupiter Unlimited model. At least, for a business representing thousands of photographers, that would make sense. What you loose on per image sales, you win on the volume. For individual photogrpahers, it’s a complete loss.

Interestingly enough, the internet has not leveled the playing field. It is as difficult as it was 10 years ago for an image buyer to find the proper images outside of the 3 or 4 top stock photo agencies.  Volume and SEO are  two principal tools for worldwide marketing, both completely unrelated to image quality. Google Image, still being seen as the primary destination to find images is  completely counter productive for professionals as it doesn’t index IPTC ( Some still think it is  a standard) while it it privileges popularity over quality. Some tools, like the new Picscout IRC, are even helping Google Image to enhance its sad dominance over stock image licensing.

If the stock photo industry had any intelligence, it would create it own replacement for Google Image based on its  clients needs. A global image search that would read IPTC and classify images according to relevancy. That would privilege quality over popularity and volume. Sure, it would be a huge project and demand a lot of cooperation from competing businesses. Sure, it would demand cooperation rather than isolation, but the results would benefit everyone. It is probably the only solution the commercial stock industry has left until it disappears under the huge weight of  mass production.

Posted in Search, IPTC, license, Jupiter, commercial stock, technology, keyword, prosumer, getty, Royalty free, transaction, finance, CEPIC, PACA, Microstock | Print | No Comments »

July 22, 2009 by pmelcher.

When an  amateur astrologist discovers an impact on the planet Jupiter, no one screams the end of professional astrologists, so why is it that when an amateur gets an image that pros did not get, it is the end of professional photojournalism ?

The Universe is huge and not even the sum of all professionally managed telescope can monitor it entirely. The Earth is certainly not that big but it is still a big place and certainly cannot be monitored by the sum of all pro photographers. So yes, and this is no newsflash, amateurs have, and will always get pictures that pros don’t have.

So why the big deal ? Well, here and there, companies spur out, claiming loud and far, that they can help any amateur make a fortune by bypassing all the traditional photo agencies, because, after all, they are all crooks.

These “new” companies claim they are the only option for amateur to sell their news pictures. They try to position themselves as the crowd sourcing photo journalism. The thing is, if anyone has a great news image, and hands it over  to any of the top  news agencies, they will make great money and be published everywhere. Reuters, AP, Getty, Polaris, Sipa and so on will gladly accept a great news picture from anyone, as long as its relevant and truthful.

Furthermore, these new citizen journalist companies, also use traditional editorial photo agencies. Mostly because they have no client base of their own. So all they do is become brokers between the amateur photographer and the established photo agency .

Their business model is the same as microstock and well explained in the long tail theory : make money with the sum of the multitude and not the single bestseller. These “best sellers” are just “call items ” creating an initial appeal, allowing the company to widen its client base.

Green and misinformed pro-journalists seem to get really confused by all this and like a fly is attracted by bright lights,  get their little wings burned in the process. That is normal. Like a lot of other pros journalist, they got their degree in a school, not in the streets. The world they monitor is whatever appears on their company screens : If it is indexed by Google, then it must be real.

Pro and amateur photojournalism are not opposites . Its like saying there is a difference between women and men photo journalist. News does not care who took the picture, nor does the publication that wishes to use them. They are complementary, like amateur astrologists are extremely useful to the whole astrology community. Sure they will be a little annoyed that they didn’t get the picture, but that is mostly because they weren’t physically there.

So, please, lets stop getting excited every time an amateur gets an image published on the cover of the NY Times and proclaiming the end of pro photo journalism. It will happen, over and over again, like the sun rising every morning. Amateur photography brokers will continue to appear on a regular basis, playing on the general public ignorance’s of the market of photography and its real players. No big deal.

Posted in license, Search, Jupiter, magazine, technology, SIPA, google, editorial, news, transaction, wire service, photojournalism, getty | Print | No Comments »

March 16, 2009 by pmelcher.

In an email send globally, Jonathan Klein finally announces the layoffs:

It starts :

“ I am writing to you today with some unpleasant news. We have tried very hard to avoid lay offs during the continued turmoil in the world’s economy. However, it is now clear that we have no alternative. We must take decisive steps to ensure we emerge from this recession strong and able to best preserve the success of Getty Images.

Today we are announcing that approximately 110 employees globally, which is roughly 5 percent of our workforce, will be asked to leave Getty Images. This decision was difficult and was one that we had hoped to avoid.  Those who are leaving will of course be offered severance packages. ”

He continues by saying that the Sales related department will be most impacted. Unlike other companies who have blamed everything from the recession, to “nasty” banks, loans and global warming, Klein it quick to reveal that it is due more to” a result of changes in the imagery business” than the world’s economy.

Another  impacted department is the creative , where Getty will  ” also [be] reducing [its] investment in wholly owned creative shoots.”

What is also revealed is that the new owners have participated financially in the acquisition of Jupiterimages : ” The viability of our company is not in doubt, provided we take the right and necessary decisions. Our partners, Hellman & Friedman, recently invested even further to finance the Jupiterimages acquisition and they remain very supportive of the Company, our strategy, the management and the steps that we are now taking ”

The email also announces the suspension of employer contribution to the company 401k plan at least until 2010. It is not a surprise that the stock giant is going threw this process. Between the acquisition of Jupiterimages and the beating that commercial stock is taking from microstock, it was inevitable. It is also heavily suffering from a sharp decline of subscribers to its wire service ( aka, newspapers are closing) and an overall slump in the editorial market. Since it has transposed its subscription model to web medium, it can’t really look for the internet for a reprieve.

Getty is now facing its own demons, microstock and subscription. Both have brought down the price of imagery. Not really a good long term business model, as they now realize.. It will not be surprising to see them increase the pricing of some of its offering, not only to generate more revenue but to stop the talented  photographer hemorrhage that they are now starting to feel.

Posted in Jupiter, commercial stock, newspaper, finance, getty, editorial, Microstock | Print | 1 Comment »

March 3, 2009 by pmelcher.

The blog rumor mill is busy these days with the possible lay off of some 400 JupiterImages employees. We had expected that to happen months ago. It makes sense. Getty already has the operation and distribution in place, why would they need to double it ? To make this acquisition successful, they need to get rid of the debt and cost ( read staff ) and absorb the imagery. Since JupiterImage was running about $120 million a year, it will not take long for Getty to pay back the cost of acquisition and post a profit. Especially if they add no cost. Makes perfect sense.

Alan Meckler’s blog is remaining quiet about this, at least for now.

While Getty consolidate its strenght, at least in imagery, on the commercial side, it is starting to hurt on the editorial side. More top talent photographers have left Getty in the last weeks and it seems  it is only the beginning of the defection. This year should see more mistreated photographers throw their contracts in the air and resume having pleasure in photographing  ( is that a verb ?). Not that we haven’t said it before, but the corporate world is really not conducive to creativity. The environmental of “little bosses”, politics, backstabbing and other petty time wasters is really not what a good photographers is looking for in a company. And because mediocrity tends to rise to the top in these big companies, most staff photographers get confronted daily by small-minded-ladder-climbing ambitious middle managers that will do anything to put their careers in front of  inspiring creativity. Most of them probably never look at pictures, as they are too busy running from one meeting to another, in a desperate attempt to destroy any any ideas that is not theirs.

It will be interesting to see if Getty destroys the acquired sub brands of Jupiter Images and let the collections die of a slow death or will instead invest in producing some new images. We all know that traditional RF is suffering badly from microstock and JI is mostly made of traditional RF. However, if Getty is successful in maintaining the brands and growing them, then we will know it was just bad management.

Posted in Jupiter, commercial stock, finance, editorial, Royalty free, getty, Microstock | Print | 1 Comment »

February 26, 2009 by pmelcher.

Alan Meckler, the man behind the epic rise and fall of JupiterImages, is now back on the blogging block. His ” I have returned” entry is all about blaming the banks ( what, not the housing market ?).

On more photographic news, the White House Photographers have voted for their best of the best, and like every year, it is a delight, not only for the eyes, but for the brain. Beside being graphically beautiful,  there is a lot of intelligence behind these photographs.

see them for yourself :

Did I mention, that unlike others prizes, they have a best of multimedia ? see the winners here

Posted in Jupiter, technology, commercial stock, photojournalism, slideshow, news, editorial, getty | Print | No Comments »

October 31, 2008 by pmelcher.

It’s been a long week, or rather couple of weeks, for the photo industry. Between the various shows in New York city, Paca, picturehouse, Photoplus, panels and parties, anyone that has remotely anything to do with photography was in New York for one or all of these.

But its been an even longer week with was has been happening in the photo world. First, the official announce of the Meckler/Jupiter debacle and fire sale confirming that it just doesn’t take a lot of cash to be succesful in this industry. Getty will absorb the collections and agreements in place, get rid of most of the staff , clean up the finance and move on. It was an easy and fruitful catch for them. Someone can inform Corbis of the deal, in two weeks, when they wake up.

Talking about Corbis, well, they couldn’t find any better deal then take money from their photographers. After having failed to generate a profit for so long and a stage that even if they remotely became cash flow positive, it would take another 20 years to catch up on all the money they have already spend, it wouldn’t surprise anyone if Bill Gates would finally pull the plug.

But all that is nothing compared to Getty getting slap with a 100 million dollar lawsuit by part of its photographers and contributors according to Selling Stock. Surprisingly, no one picked up that story. Pdnpulse has been too busy reporting on all the layoffs in publishing world, while others where commenting on the Photoplus panels and other useless events.

It been a while that Getty has been supplying staff and non staff images to a mysterious group of “premium subscribers”. These highly guarded few have “all you can eat” subscription deals with the Whale including access to photographers who only get a commission. And these guys have seen on their sales reports sales at $2 dollars. Even lower than Istock. But unlike Istock, these photographers are top notch pros that create image that command mucho dollars. Getty doesn’t care or cannot make the distinction. At the repeat demand of these photographers to be explained a bit more abut these deals that do not benefit them, Getty has remained silent. Contributors, like the science faction library, owned by ex getty VP Roger Ressmeyer, have even ask nicely to know more about the license granted and what industry these clients where in. More silence from the Whale. Same for the Minden collection, the famous and fabulous wildlife collection.

The reason for their demand for more information was not to  exercise control over Getty but rather to be able to inform their direct client if a particular image was available as an exclusive for a particular industry. Not only these images are sold by Getty for two bucks, but they become almost RF as the owners cannot guarantee any clients where these image are or have been.

Armed with they contract in hand, these guys have deposited a class action lawsuit, asking for reparation. We will see where this goes. Getty has a battery of strong lawyers and they will not go down without a long fight.

{An entry on Drr has been deleted}
A quick though on Picturehouse, and then I let you go. It always amazes me how much dollars is being poured in marketing  blunders. One company had the genius idea to stick into an already expensive bag, two oversized brochures. One was printed on glossy, very expensive paper. Big images, fancy layout, drooling fonts but absolutly no call for action. Basically you look at it once and you have only one thing left to do, throw it out.

The other brochure was printed on recycled paper. Same dimension, but all about how”green” and non polluting that agency is, and how “green” are they images. These two brochure side by side, in the same bag, just canceled each other.Lots of money than the drain. And no, it was not Corbis, for once.

There  were many other examples of “what were they thinking” and that show must become a destination for anyone looking for cheap pens or other useless ding dongs. If you took one of each item given for free and all claiming a space on your physical desktop, you could no longer fit your computer, let along get in your office.

Next year, I will beat everyone by getting giant real size stuffed elephants branded with my company name and give those away.

There is much more to write about these days but I see you are getting tired so we will do that another day.

Posted in magazine, Canada, technology, commercial stock, Jupiter, PACA, Royalty free, getty, corbis, Microstock | Print | No Comments »

October 23, 2008 by pmelcher.

At the eve of the PACA meeting, where small business owners of the RM and RF photo industry meet twice a year o complain about the state of the industry, Jupiter media just announced that it was dropping the ball and selling all to almighty Getty. Not a fire sale but very close. Jupiter Media stock had been trailing at subterranean levels the last few months and usually vocal CEO Meckler had gone silent and into hiding.

Since the last screw up where the New York Post ( some talk about an internal leak done on purpose to get Corbis to bid) had reveal the potential transaction, it seems quite evident that Meckler chose to avoid writing anything that could damage this second round of talks.

Boy, someone must be biting their nails now. $ 96 million is not badbut certainly not what Getty would have paid a couple of years ago. Furthermore, while it could have been interesting for Getty to keep the brand alive at that time, it certainly not so appealing now. Finally, this makes Getty the leader in Microstock with two top brands, Istock and StockXchnge.

There will be very heated debate at the PACA reunion for all does living in the crumbs left by Getty. The last of the public photo agency ( if we do not count A21) has been absorbed by the crippling giant, making Corbis’ and others stay in the business even less evident. With such firepower and extensive content, Getty is now in a real position to completely asphyxiate the US market and maybe others.

After deleting redundancies, this acquisition will make it nearly impossible for a stock photographers to be successful outside any of Getty’s brand, and for those within,  impossible to negotiate a fair treatment.

It will be interesting to see how the stormtroopers of SAA will react, as well as the surviving independent brand. Sure, there will always be the “niche” market. But how easy will it be for Getty to filled those too if they think there is a profit to be made.

Finally, the last word is always in the customers mouth. Surely, as the content is there and the pricing adequate, they should not care. However, big corporation have been known to make mistakes and Getty is part of those.

The failure of Jupiter to succeed in this industry is another example of how inadequate the corporate world is when dealing with the ever changing world. Getty’s domination of the commercial stock business is also, indeed, scary and troublesome, but yet, not guaranteed.

The only sure thing is that this PACA meeting will be very heated..if not desperate.

Posted in commercial stock, Jupiter, finance, corbis, getty | Print | 3 Comments »

September 12, 2008 by pmelcher.

That is messed up. Really. Is there been one year where Corbis has NOT laid of people? This company is like a slippery tunnel. In, one way, out the other. Nothing, or rather no one, sticks. They must have employed half of the US workforce by now. 175 people looking forward to a grim Holiday season because the management is incapable of …managing. Corbis needs to install mirrors, lots of them, in their headquarters. And take a deep look at themselves. The Irony of it all is that once again, they buy a company, put the acquired senior management into senior management roles within Corbis, eradicate “redundant” jobs and hope for the best.

I am sure they said, this time it will be different, like they did with Westlight, Sygma, Zefa or The Stock Market. Another agency, another shot at a black hole.Not that I wish it will happen but lets meet again here, same time,next year and see how many more will get the axed. These guys are like the groundhog day of photography. Repeating over and over the same mistakes.

On a another very sad note, Photoshelter is shutting down its collection. Quite a surprised and not such a surprise. They have a very good team and were energized at conquering some real estate in the stock market. But that is where they made their mistake. They limited themselves to the USA and only stock. And that market segment is being ravaged currently by microstock and assignments, after being trampled by Getty, Corbis and slightly Jupiter.

A marketplace of so called “independent” photographer has little or no chance of surviving because it is flawed from the start. The best photographers are with agencies already. Thus any marketplace will be filled with the medium and not so good, those that could not find a strong agent. There is no strength in volume, in this case, because only quality matters. And when you shoot quality, you do not submit your work to a marketplace, you choose a real established photo agency.

Also, the pricing was off. You have to control excellent content to fight the just war of pricing against the Dark Side. Without exclusivity, the battle is lost from the start. So long Photoshelter collection, we will miss you. You took the right side even if you took the wrong tools.

Finally, “taking on Getty” as a business model will not work. Jupiter tried that and is still picking up what is left from its stock from the ground floor of the Stock Market. Creative Destruction is an idea that has left the building. Photography and selling it cannot be an act of revenge or vengeance, but an act of passion done by selfless individuals with no aspirations for financial rewards. It is not a battleground for egos, although it does create many strong ones. It is a long and painful uphill battle with no immediate rewards besides the pleasure of seeing images you love being published and enjoyed by others..  In a word, its not a business. Not really.One thing we will not miss is the hysterical blog of that egg lady who stole images. That, we can live without.

Posted in technology, commercial stock, Jupiter, corbis, getty, Microstock | Print | No Comments »

August 19, 2008 by pmelcher.

  According to Sellingstock.com, the CFO of A21 just quit. Left his company. Just like that. Not surprising really when you look at A21 recent  numbers. Rising cost of operations, lowering sales, the company is heading straight for a wall, head first. Amusing part is that the only two other public or ex public companies in this business have also posted negative results for the second quarter of 2008.( Jupiter and Getty). None of them have signaled community portals( Alamy or Photoshelter) as the cause of their financial suffering . Some have accused the rising price of oil ( ya, right) and, others more bluntly, the ever shifting move from traditional commercial stock to Microstock.

Even if Getty and Jupiterimages saw Microstock coming, they both underestimated its impact tremendously. It is no longer in the original 8% of existing Getty customers that istock is eating in, but rather 25% and growing. Jupiterimages is struggling to integrate their own microstock offering into photos.com hoping to elevate the price per image. Who will be the first to shut down some of its more traditional divisions in order to save the leaking ship ?

No one knows how Corbis is doing in these hard times. Surely, their Snapvillage is not a player in the microstock field, and if the public  companies revenue are any indication, they must be hurting too. In a Bill Gates kind of way. More layoff before years end ? definitely. But not just at Corbis. expect Jupiter, A21, Getty and others to lay off some weight.

There are no clear solutions for these companies. They were build with very expensive infrastructures that do not work well with lower pricing. Although Getty’s project used to be an Internet company only, they have lost their objective and have fallen  heavy into the overhead trap. When they purchased PhotoDisc, they were going to go all speed ahead in high technology/low headcount. Apparently they got sidetracked, allowing Istock, Dreamstime, Shutterstock to continue and achieve what they only dreamed of achieving. Buying Wireimage was cute but will certainly slow down their growth considerably. They have inherited a mastodon of inefficiency, who was busier to reach high market shares rather than being profitable. Results: lots of personnel, huge operation cost, a big mess and waay too many photographers. Jonathan Klein even said himself at the last Getty shareholders meeting : Mediavast was never profitable.

Everyone knows that Getty purchased Wireimage to get rid of it, not to make it grow.

The next 3 years will see the industry giants engage in any and all enterprise that will help them cut their cost to a minimum while not engaging in significant investments. Not an easy task if they want to also grow at the same time. Certainly less of an easy task when lesser size companies are starting to move on the next step. Mostly European, these companies have grown organically using the more slower pace path of reinvesting their profit. Much more careful on their investments than the big loud 3’s, they have now reach a level of financial strength that they can now start to retaliate.

Some are acquiring, others are merging. While the corporate mend their wounds, alliance are forming  in the back alleys of the industry. Interestingly enough, most have hired ex Getty, Corbis or Jupiter staffers who have learned, from within the beast, what not to do. These agencies are extremely ambitious and battle savvy. They have all they need to succeed : knowledge, relations, expertise, endurance and cash. Most will never publicize their acquisition or mergers because they couldn’t care less about what the rest of industry knows. They have drawn a very precise path and their definition of success is  far from Wall Street . Very far.

The race is far from over : Neither Getty nor Corbis have succeeded  cornering the market. In fact, both have abandon the idea as they realized it is almost impossible. While Corbis is still figuring out how to turn a profit, Getty has spend the last 10 years acquiring companies they felt they could not compete with or create internally. Like pasting dollars bills on their obvious shortcoming.

JupiterImage is surviving only thanks to its internet properties while A21 keeps on borrowing money. Neither have a bright future, not, at least , in the photo licensing world.

A reasonable expectation is that our universe is about to see its giant stars implode. They are about to break apart because, similar to  the laws of the universe, they cannot survive under their own weight. Too much manpower, bureaucracy, equipment, replacement, fiscal obligation are making them crumble.

They ate too much.

Posted in Jupiter, technology, commercial stock, finance, corbis, Royalty free, getty, Microstock | Print | No Comments »