In the silence of mid-summer, the Copyright hub launched its first practical initiative. For those who do not know, which is the vast majority of everyone reading this, the Copyright Hub is the brainchild of the UK effort to help drag copyright legislation into the XXI century. It is a … Read More →
Responding to an increasing demand for reliable insights on the stock photography market, the three top stock photography industry experts, Lee Torrens, Paul Melcher and Amos Struck, have officially launched Stock Photo Insight (http://stockphotoinsight.com), a consulting service providing calls with all three experts simultaneously. In addition, Stock Photo Insight is introducing a one-question-by-email service where … Read More →
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 →
In an industry that practically defines itself by its conservative progress, it is nice to see bursts of innovation. As we have written many times, it is almost exclusively outsiders who introduce new concepts as they are unshackled from legacy culture. Our first refreshing innovator is a company called Placeit. Taking the concept of commercial … 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 →
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 →