August 22, 2008 by pmelcher.

I am no friend of fair use.  “Fair Use is a USA law that provides for the legal, non-licensed citation or incorporation of copyrighted material in another author’s work under a four-factor balancing test.  In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include:

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. the amount and substantially of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.”

This law does not even require that someone get a permission from the author or, at least,  informed them of such usage. Guess common courtesy does not exist in US copyright laws. Obviously, “non- licensed” means free. Fortunately, most people do not abuse this law that is widely open to interpretation.
This law has been in existence for a long time and is to me, much more damaging then the potentially upcoming Orphan Work Bill. After all, in this case, one knows the copyright owner but is still allow to use his/her work for free and without having to be polite about it.
Created to help scholar use reference work without going bankrupt, it has become the principle doorway to common copyright infringement.
Why not offer a small $1 licensing fee for those poor scholars that cannot afford paying full price. Or a special “education” fee, like Apple does with its computers. ( mmm…you have to see how much the US University charge per year/per student . Wonder what they do with that money instead of paying artists).
The idea is that every work used should be compensated, regardless of the amount. There has been work done thus compensation should be applied.
However that is not the worst. A famous blog situated on one of these new community based portal ( no, not DigitalRailroad) has been using an insane amount of images. At first, it seemed that since it is a professional blog, created with the obvious intend to drive traffic to its Collection, it would be properly licensing these images.
Imagine my shock ( and awe) when I heard that it does not. It recently used an image from a very well known photo agency that it ripped from another online legitimate publication and used it, along others, on its blog. No permission and no money exchange.
When asked why they would use images without licensing them when they are in image licensing business?  they  responded, “I can’t answer that question.”
They did pull the image down, only to be replaced by another from another agency. Probably without permission. What compels a company that is itself in the image licensing business to not pay for images that they clearly use for promotional usage?  Especially after screaming loud and clear they would be spending over $1 million in marketing this year. Is there no % in that budget to pay for licensing other people images ?

It would be nice, and honest, for that company, to clearly define their policy on the usage of photograph and stop claiming their are the defenders of the photographers when they boldly rip images from other sites like cheap second hand robbers.

Posted in copyright, technology, license, No sense, editorial, transaction, law | Print | 3 Comments »

July 24, 2008 by pmelcher.

Apple cracker jack buys debt from A21. Press release of the week Month Year :

a21, Inc. Signs Non-binding Letter of Intent with Applejack Art Partners, Inc.

Translation: A company with the dubious name of A21 (probably taken from a heavy drinking casino party) signed a non binding ( meaning its worthless) letter of intent ( meaning they might or might not do it) with Applejack ( a fruit juice company? it’s actually the name of the owner spelled backwards. Genius !!) to pay for its out of control debt.

The press release continues:

Transaction Would ( note the word “would” here. It can be replaced by IF, Maybe, Sort Of or Would Not) Result in Applejack Owning a Majority Stake in a21  ( making the company formally known as a21 now called 21applesjack)

Jacksonville, FL,( Who in their right mind has headquarters in Jacksonsville, Florida? Why not Middleof Nowhere, Arkansas ? ) July 22, 2008 . a21, Inc. (”a21″) (ATWO.OB), a leading ( in what universe?) online digital content marketplace ( new buzz word alert. No one is an agency anymore, everyone is a marketplace. The stock photo world is a giant Mall), today announced that it has entered into a non-binding Letter of Intent (LOI) with Applejack Art Partners, Inc. (Applejack). Pursuant to the LOI, Applejack would purchase all of a21’s outstanding notes ( that’s another word for debt) (an aggregate principal amount of $18,000,000) from the holders of such notes and also purchase all of the shares of a21 common stock owned by a21’s note holders (an aggregate of approximately 41 million shares). a21 would then exchange approximately 110 million newly issued shares of its common stock with Applejack in satisfaction of approximately $13,000,000 of such notes.( woopsie, another $13 million dollars borrowed against worthless shares)

The closing of the transactions contemplated by the LOI is subject to various conditions, including execution of definitive agreements by a21 ( ya, like they would say no. They just issued a press release even before the deal was signed), the note holders ( they want their money back, no objections here), and Applejack ( intention unknown). It is the intent of all parties to complete this transaction as described in the LOI as soon as possible.( You betya, specially those a21 guys)

In addition, on July 16, 2008, Applejack made a credit facility available to a21 pursuant to which a21 could borrow up to $500,000 with the consent of Applejack. One hundred thousand dollars has already been advanced to a21. The amounts outstanding under the credit facility bear interest at 12% per year.( they couldn’t wait for the deal so they already borrowed a hundred grand to pay the bills, or the gas for the car)

So, here is the deal in plain English:

Dude,  I owe a big “aggregate principal amount”  ? can you help ?

How much?

not much, about $18 million.

what do I get in exchange ?

Bro, give me a break. I ‘ll give you some of my worthless common stock if you want. How’s 151 million of them?

Ok.

Dude, you rock. Can we agree to maybe agree in the future ?

sure

Can I tell everyone that we are thinking about maybe agreeing ?

ya

By the way, while you think about agreeing , can I borrow 100 grand ?

Sure.

John Ferguson, Chief Executive Officer of a21, said, “We are excited to be working with Applejack and believe the transaction should be beneficial to a21’s stockholders, employees, and other stakeholders. This transaction will result in a significant reduction in a21’s outstanding indebtedness and position the company to execute its growth strategy.”( growth strategy that has been up to now : borrowing money to pay for a failing company)

Jack Appelman, Chief Executive Officer of Applejack, said, “We are pleased to make an investment in a21 and believe that our complementary product offerings should result in greater sales opportunities and efficiency for both companies.”(Good luck on this one, Appleman).

end of press release.

Please  note that nowhere in this release is there any mention of photography or photographers. A21 could be selling candies, it would sound the same.

Furthermore, I am sure that all the photographers currently submitting images to SuperStock are overjoyed at the prospect of continuing not to see any sales and pleased to realize that the management is  focused on confabulated  financial deals rather than photo licensing.

NOW IT MAKES MUCH MORE SENSE : ( send by one of my readers)

 UPDATE :   On July 10, 2008, a21, Inc. (the Company”) entered into an amended and restated employment agreement with John Ferguson, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, pursuant to which Mr. Ferguson will be entitled to receive (in addition to the compensation specified in his original employment agreement): (i) a special bonus of up to $125,000, in the event that the Company undergoes a change of control and a greater than $9,000,000 reduction in the amount of the Company’s outstanding promissory notes occurs; and (ii) an increase in the severance payments to be received in the event that Mr. Ferguson is terminated by the Company without Cause (as defined in the agreement) after a change in control of the Company from an amount equal to six (6) months salary, or $125,000, to an amount equal to twelve (12) months’ salary, or $250,000, payable over a period of one year.

as per yahoo business news

Posted in commercial stock, No sense, finance, transaction | Print | No Comments »

July 10, 2008 by pmelcher.

As per a press release of today : “Open Text Corporation (Nasdaq: OTEX; TSX: OTC), a provider of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) software, has acquired eMotion LLC from Corbis Corporation of Seattle, Washington. Open Text purchased the division for approximately US $5 million, net of cash and assets, effective July 2, 2008.eMotion is a provider of hosted business applications for managing digital media assets and marketing content. eMotion is headquartered in Seattle and has an office in Rockville, Maryland.

Corbis acquired eMotion, Inc. of San Francisco, California for an undisclosed amount in July 2005.

Corbis is a visual media provider for the creative community, licensing the widest array of award-winning contemporary, historical and entertainment photography as well as extensive collections of acclaimed illustration and footage.

Waterloo, Ontario based Open Text is a leading provider of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) software solutions. It offers a wide range of ECM products that help its customers ensure compliance with industry regulations and internal policies, controlling information flows, and helping solve other content-intensive business challenges. Open Text currently employs approximately 2,700 people worldwide.”

end of press release.

credit Techfinance.com

In 2005, Scott Wilson, CEO, eMotion said : “Corbis and eMotion’s services are a natural complement,”

Mmm. I guess not. At least not long term.

“Our clients are increasingly seeking ways to manage the still and moving imagery they use in their creative projects,” said Mark Sherman, about the deal, senior vice president of assignment & representation and emerging businesses at Corbis, at the time.

I  believe he got fired since.

One year later Business Week Magazine added ( 2006):
“A year ago, finishing off a year when revenue rose 20%, Corbis’ leaders confidently predicted that they would turn the company profitable. That didn’t happen. Instead, organic revenue growth slowed to 4%, though overall growth topped 34%. The total take was $228 million, thanks to the company’s mergers and acquisitions spree. (Getty Images grew 17.9% to $733.7 million, mostly organically, and pulled in $150 million in profits.)”
Ouch !!

the  same article continues:
“Corbis’ acquisition spree was partly aimed at placing bets in emerging markets. For instance, last July the company bought eMotion, a provider of hosted digital-asset management software. Yet image licensing remains a dominant part of its business. To boost profit potential, Corbis is beefing up its own collections and the custom-photography service, which involves assigning photographers to capture images. “end of Business Week Magazine quote.
You remember that guy from Star Wars Episode I ?  The Rasta guy with the tongue sticking out after being caught in the electric field of  Anakin’s pod racer ( do i sound like a geek right now?) ?

Well, whatever his name is, that is the Corbis management right now: tongue sticking out saying : blabadabaaaadabadaaaaa. Bladaabadaaaaaaaaaa.aaaaaaaaa.

Corbis ex- CEO, Steve Davis said, according to the Corbis press release, at the time: “In 2005 we doubled our global footprint ( How the hell do you double a footprint ? With bigger feet ?)  and rounded out our content and service offering. As a result we are the only company in the industry with the ability to provide comprehensive solutions—great content, the rights to use it, and the ability to manage it.”

And  I should add, big feet …

Shouldn’t someone have smelled E-Motion footprint at the time,because, apparently, it smelled bad. Certainly, not the sweet smell of success.

By the way, how much is a “footprint” going for these days ? 1 dollar a footprint ? what the hell is a footprint in photography ?

Gaaaaaaaaary ? any idea ? where is Gary anyways?

There he is (or was):

British Journal of Photography july 4th 2007, reports ( almost exactly a year ago):

“Days after taking on his role, Corbis’ new CEO has slashed 160 staff in 17 offices worldwide.

Gary Shenk took over from Steve Davis on Monday (02 July 2007), but the decision to cull 15% of the company’s workforce was announced late last week. The job losses are as a result of a three-month strategic review, led by Shenk and his management team, which is driven by the ambition to pull Corbis into profitability for the first time.”

and probably out of the “footprint” business.

the article continues :

“Corbis is also to sell its Digital Asset Management (DAM) division, which currently manages media libraries for large corporations. The service, which was officially launched only last summer (BJP, 16 August 2006), came about after the acquisition of eMotion in 2005. Like the Assignment Division, it has been performing well, says Perlet, and has won 25 new customers in the last 12-18 months.”

I guess ( actually, I know) Corbis hates, just painfully and  physically hates, anything that performs well.

E-Motion:

Bought in 2005,

analyzed in 2006,

destroyed in 2007,

sold in 2008.

Welcome to the club, dude.

Corbis  does it, again

Posted in Canada, technology, commercial stock, multimedia, No sense, corbis, transaction, finance, getty | Print | 1 Comment »

May 20, 2008 by pmelcher.

I have to apologize. I really do. I usually do not do that. I respect other people’s opinion, as long as they are intelligent ones. But for a few months I have been reading the new blog launched by Photoshelter to go along their Collection. They hired a full time blogger, it seems, which is a great idea, and she has been steady at shooting out blogs at rapid fire speed.

And, as anything else related to photography, I pay attention. But after weeks on, I am still baffled. I do not understand a word she is writing and who she is talking about. Nada, zilch.

I thought I knew a little bit about photography being born in this business and spending most of my awake moments dealing with some aspect of it. I thought I had been a fortunate member of the human race because I have seen so many great pictures in my life that it would hard for anyone to compete.

But when I read her blog, I have no idea what and who she is talking about…really.. I had heard there was a “fine art” photography world out there created on Ansel Adams memory path but had never seen it so active. Didn’t know it was so intense. She even gets really excited when she sits on the laps of a photographer that takes close-ups of green stuff growing up in her garden.

See, in Europe, photography is not considered a fine art and there is no fine art school or courses. There is commercial stock and editorial, but nothing to encourage people to take pictures for wall hanging. Of course, there has been photographers like Jean Paul Sieff and others that have somewhat played around with the concept, but really, more exception than the rule.

But now I see the light. And I am baffled. Nothing against this person who appears to be a nice, smart, well educated and certainly photo enthusiast, but I am really, seriously baffled. The last shock was today when this image ( trust me, not the worst) was shown as part of her favorite :

I spend the day thinking about it and other images posted on that blog. I cannot make sense of why anyone would think it is a good, or great photograph. I might by unbashfully practical but it is a close-up of a badly cooked egg. The lighting is not exceptional, the subject is boring, there is nothing there for me to get excited. about. Not even shocked. Just plainly bored. Sure, for someone that has a big Loft in New York with a 20 Feet ceiling, this image on a really big big print my look cool for a while ( does it come with the smell ?). But to me, hooked on photography, it is just an egg.

Don’t take me wrong : I am really, really glad that there is not just one taste in photography. I understand that I might not like all that is liked by my peers. But that blog has published such a series of awful pictures, I had to say something. And, all this with an incessant name dropping of people I have never, ever heard of.

Every time I read the blog, I feel I open the wrong door and fell into the middle of a party I was not invited to. And for a good reason, I don’t know anyone.

Again, I have an incredible respect for the author of the blog. The only reason I bring it up it is because it is associated to Photoshelter, a commercial entity who is trying to  license images. I would have thought the blog would be related. But it is so off into another unknown direction that I read it with my jaw dropping thinking ” What the hell are they talking about?”.

And how long can they keep posting images of empty dark greenish fields with a dead tree somewhere in the horizon and a little paper wraps on the ground?

Is that what the Photoshelter collection is trying to sell ?

As that blog says…off they go to LOOK3… Hopefully for them they might finally make  it to Eggland !!!

Posted in focus, license, No sense, web 2.0, prosumer | Print | 2 Comments »

April 2, 2008 by pmelcher.

A new company emerged from unknown depth a few days ago, proposing free “automated” tagging, or keywording. Named Tagcow, the company does not explain how the tagging is done.

Curious, I decided to give it a spin with a couple of images including this image:

After two days, the image was finally tagged with two words: “Pool” , “Man”. I guess that is what you get for free. Furthermore, when I downloaded the image, I could not find the keywords anymore…There is nothing automated about this service. It is currently impossible for a computer to recognize  the content of an image. The most advanced systems I have seen have a 10% success rate, and then again with very contrasted and simple pictures. Tagcow uses a little known service offered by Amazon call the Mechanical Turk. With this service, anyone can put a long, painful task and offer to pay for human beings to fulfill them

“Complete simple tasks that people do better than computers. And, get paid for it”. At 0.01 cent a picture, one can get images keyworded for cheap. However, the quality is not guaranteed.

Thus it is the power of the masses used here, making more obvious why they picked a cow for their name. Not the brightest animal in the land

Posted in No sense, Search, copyright, IPTC, keyword, flickr, prosumer, web 2.0, filter | Print | 2 Comments »

March 25, 2008 by pmelcher.

Posted in Search, technology, No sense, web 2.0, slideshow, photojournalism, Microstock | Print | No Comments »

March 23, 2008 by pmelcher.

Here are a few of the most recent press release spins that I appreciated the most:

Picapp: Seems every time Picapp sends a press release, everyone picks it up. Hard to avoid anything photo and non photo related without a mention of Picapp this week. The news ? not much, if only to mention that news images have been added. Not sure if it is really news. The web 2.0 community seems lukewarm about this ad supported service while the photo community has no opinion, most still trying to figure out the difference between a Jpg and Tiff.

Seems to be a few issues: Why put in just pro content like Getty ? At a time when even Getty suffers from crowdsourcing, does it make any sense ? Why can’t I put up my images and make money on it on my blog or any other blog ? Do I really need to go through an agency and give up 60% of my earnings ? And why keep on claiming to have Corbis content when the only pictures from Corbis are a few old images of Bill Gates or one of Gary Shenk at a Hollywood podium ? And finally, why no mention of Jupiterimages, Imagesource, Thinkstock and all the others that apparently Getty has dragged into this experiment?

And what’s with the funny, cutesy cartoonish interface ? Sure, one can use a recent image of the Iraqi war, along with a insightful commentary, only to have some little guy’s face playing hide and seek with the image. I do not think serious blogs will appreciate that.

Finally, still wondering why a company that has been in the image tracking and infringement business for many years has now turned around into a licensing platform ? Is this the long arm of their Picscout business ? Look, we caught you in a copyright infringement. Next time use Picapp !! A bit as if a cop would stop you for speeding and try to sell you a speed radar detector.

Photoshelter : A bit less effective with their press releases than Picapp but still able to travel way beyond the photosphere. Changed their interface. Made it all green, not sure why. No pricing for blog usage but the closest I got “web. newspaper” told me $135. But what is with this 1/4 screen, 1/2 screen , full screen question when trying to figure out the pricing for a blog or any web usage . And this 1 week, 2 weeks , 1 month ? One would have thought that for such an internet savvy company, they would not have applied print usage standard for the web. This is not 1994 anymore…

Anyway, under cover of a redesign, another blog launch ( they have 2 now) and added features to the Personnal Archive, Photoshelter changed they contributors agreement to give themselves the right to grant discounts to image buyers . Recently launched, the Photoshelter Collection is already offering discounted prices…It is going to be hard to keep high rates. Using Fotoquote as a billing tool might not have been the best choice. They now have to face the reality of the market and the wake up call is harsh.

Remenber, Getty and others, sell images for web usage for either $49 or free ( if you use Picapp). At $135 a pop, they are not really competing hard. So let the discounting start !!!!

Jupiterimage: Great spin !! “a transition year” says their press release. You have to love that !!. Isn’t a growing company always in a “transition year”, every year? Transition from what to what exactly ? and that “write-down of goodwill and intangible assets” of $82 million. Much much better then the Corbis legendary ” If you do not include our one time expenses, we are profitable”.

and what happened to the celebrity offering promised in September 2007 ?

Posted in No sense, Search, license, technology, web 2.0, finance, getty, corbis, transaction, Royalty free | Print | No Comments »

March 16, 2008 by pmelcher.

Email is dying. A slow and painful death. It used to be you would send an e mail to someone and get an answer. It was a second class way to communicate with someone, but still, a good way to get an answer. Then came Microsoft Outlook and the preview Pane.

Now common on all e mail readers, it allows you to see the content of an e mail without opening it . It made not answering easier as you do not feel you actually read the email but rather peeked at it thought the envelope. It also eliminated email much quicker from your field of vision as suddenly half your incoming messages become quickly invisible.

Before Facebook, Myspace or Linked, email was the first popularity contest. The more email you received, the more popular/important you were. But still, like letters, people answered. Even if in a negative way. Spam has little to do with this phenomena as everyone knows that not answering spam is a duty. A law. a rule.

It has more to do with people education or lack of. It is the same with voice mail by the way. More and more, you will send e mails and not get any answers. Portable email readers like Treos and Blackeberry has made it worse. You are on the go, read an email, figure it will take too long to answer on a pygmy size keyboard, figure you will answer when you get back to your computer and forget all about it a few hours later.

Newsworthy is a killer too. the most recent email receives more attention than the one you receive 2 hours ago. Even if it is not as important. It has the advantage of being new and fresh.

Some companies use and abuse email as an internal tool of communication that it becomes quite impossible for anyone to have the time to answer inquiries from the outside world. People do not move from their desks anymore. I have worked in companies where I did not have the time to do  anything else during the day than answer internal e mails .

Since we are bombarded with irrelevant emails, we find it ok not to reply. every site you visit, these days, will ask you to register and proceed in sending you completely irrelevant emails once a week. But, unlike a human being, a website automated newletter do not care if you do not reply. People do. Emails have no emotions since they are faceless, but most often, there is a person on the other side that is expecting an answer.

However, not responding to email is like turning your back to someone asking you a question. Ignoring voice mail is like walking away when someone is trying to talk to you. It is rude and impolite.

Sure, if you get a lot of emails and do not have the time to answer them, it makes you feel important. After all, all these people are asking for your attention and you can only focus on some. You are in control as you decide who you will talk to and who you will choose to ignore.

But there is no greatness in not responding. It is just either cowardice or lack of organization. You are either incapable of answering because you do not know what to answer or you have taken so much work that you cannot handle it anymore. neither of those are signs of intelligence or power.

Being disorganized or simply rude are signs of your impossibility to control yourself and your environment. Makes you look vulnerable and ignorant. Passive and overwhelmed. and also, very, very impolite. Without even mentioning that you may be passing on a very good opportunity.

Email is dying at a time when more and more of the photo industry is relying on it for everything to marketing to pricing negotiation. Mostly because voice mail died years ago . No one really pays attention to their email much more as there is no easy way to find see if it is important or not. They all come in democratically, one after another, whether from your boss or from that boring photographer who thinks it is a replacement for Instant Messaging.

Some are full of traps, especially if you work within a politically charge corporation. They are made to keep a written trace of your decisions or comments and will be used against you later on. Or for someone to cover their ass.

Nevertheless, it is dying as faxes have died. The technology cannot keep up with what is really needed . We have become imbeciles that cannot see that we have a duty to treat each other with respect. And, in a way, with email dying, it is a little bit more of us that is dying in the process, as we slowly return to the ways of the animals.

Posted in technology, No sense, transaction, editorial | Print | No Comments »

February 20, 2008 by pmelcher.

London, UK, Feb. 20, 2008. Designers, advertising creatives, web designers and editorial picture editors can now get top quality images to bring their creative work to life for ‘whatever they want to pay’ through innovative new UK-based online stock image library www.moodboard.com

Moodboard, the company with the cool website that invented the 20% , 10 year, world exclusive representation for pro photographers is revolutionizing, yet again, the photo industry. In a typical, “mm, what can I do that no else had done before so maybe we can sell some images” moment, they just launched a “price your own image” scheme.

Copying a move by the music industry, the band Radiohead put their album online and asked people to pay whatever price they wanted, Moodboard goes full speed into the same path. Difference is, Radiohead has a following of dedicated fans, Moodboard, has not.

But what the hell, if you can’t compete with microstock, why not throw everything to the wind and see if something, if anything, will fly. In these complicated times, where the industry is redefining itself, it is certainly not a surprising move. After all, if you cannot compete with the quality of your images, why not compete with the price ? Since no one from the outside can monitor what people are paying, you can bloody hell say what you want. Soon, mark my words, you will have another press release claiming that someone decided to pay $10,000 for an image on Moodboard Unleashed dot com.

It is the kind of event that will remain in history as “what where they thinking?”.

When will this industry finally understand that it is not only the price that has made the microstock successful, but the content. A guy designing a website for a dentist can actually find an image of a toothbrush. If you have the right content, people will come and purchase images, mr Moodboard. No need to beg and ask for charity : ” here, take one of our images and please give what you can so we can have some supper tonight”. It is basic economics.

Regardless, it is one for the books and a very interesting experiment. Even with a wholly owned photo shoot, it will take a while to get the investment back. Why not give these images to 4 of 5 micro/midstock agency, instead of blocking a whole server for this ? Surely, my dear, they cannot believe they will make more income with this ?

Or is it just a simple, basic, low grounding marketing plow to catch the headlines and conversations of every image buyer worldwide. A trap, maybe ? a media coup ? One that Photo news website might easy fall into ?

mmm… more tea my dear ?

Posted in Search, Midstock, license, No sense, keyword, Royalty free, transaction, finance, Microstock | Print | No Comments »

January 28, 2008 by pmelcher.

Last week, super giant discounter and famed losing money photo library Corbis announced with no small effort that it was going “global”.

From Cnet.com :

“SnapVillage, a microstock site founded in June by stock-art sales company Corbis to compete with rivals such as Fotolia and Getty Images’ iStockphoto, has expanded to include international sales.

Although the site now works beyond the United States, the Web site is English-only for now. ”

Does that mean that prior to this press release, Snapvillage would refuse any sales coming from outside the United States ? To me, going international is to have your site in local language. Or open offices in countries other than your point of origin. So what did Snapvillage exactly do to go from local to international? The site works beyond the United States now, we are being told. Does this mean that the Corbis programmers have finally discovered that foreign browsers can read HTML too ?

The most interesting part is that a few days earlier, German RF company PantherMedia also announced it was going international by partially translating their site in English. So, what does “going international” really means people ?

According to my extensive research, it is :

1) Having a site in English

2) Having a site that works beyond your borders

3) Having your site in English

During one of my many tenures, and of on the subject of globalisation, I had to listen to a VP based on the west coast of the United States whose furthest travel had been to the East Coast of the same country tell me that ” The United States is the Business nation of the world thus what we do here will apply everywhere in the world” or something like that. No, his name is not George Bush and yes, he was serious.

I guess Corbis subscribes to that model. Corbis also sees Snapvillage as a “image warehouse” according to its own definition :

Which allows its contributors to proudly say to their friends and family that they are “stack” photographers working for an image depot. How proud they must be. Stock it up, people. Faster !!

Finally, on while we are on the subject of the second agency in the world (who decided that ? under what criteria ? Is it that Jim Pickerell again ? certainly not in profit), here is a post that you cannot miss :

Overheard at Corbis this week.

Posted in Midstock, license, technology, No sense, keyword, Royalty free, corbis, prosumer, Microstock | Print | 2 Comments »