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 →
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 →
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 →
If you have been reading this blog, you already know that we strongly believe that next big disruption to the pro licensing scheme is already in your hands. Not so much because everyone has a camera and can potentially shoot ( nothing new here) but rather for its ability to put image buyers and sellers … 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 →
I was perusing through photos of the 2013 CEPIC congress who just completed its annual festival in Barcelona. Like every year, photo merchants from all over the world gathered around tables and four chairs to trade, exchange, redistribute content they mostly did not create, like kids playing with sets of collectable cards. I’ll … Read More →
I remember reading, a few years back, about the largest know living organism in the world. Located under the Oregon forest, it is a 2,200 year old fungus whose fruits, or otherwise known as mushrooms, peek out here and there. Probably because of its un appealing nature, fungi are poorly known and it is estimated … Read More →