Now that the flow of comments, rumors, anger and misled interpretations have died down and that more facts have flown through the pipeline, it is a good time to take a more educated approach. Let’s kill the misinterpretations first: Getty did not buy Corbis.. …nor is it responsible for its sale to VCG. Rumors of … Read More →
Rumors have been rampant for a while. First Shutterstock was believed to be the buyer, a rumor quickly killed by no other than Jon Oringer himself during their last quarterly report. At the last DMLA conference, the target moved to China Visual Group and remained there. It is confirmed today: LOS ANGELES & BEIJING–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Corbis … Read More →
I was recently invited to speak at B&H Photo Video . Here is the resulting podcast: “Anyone, I mean, anyone can submit their photos for sale in the stock-photography market. (Are you a foaper?) But the question remains: is it worth it? No doubt, the industry has been transformed by corporate conglomeration and digital technology but, while … Read More →
Photographers and anyone involved in the professional photo licensing business have a love/hate relationship with social media. Great marketing tool to display their latest photographs but with no revenue. Worse, social media platforms generate millions on the content being shared. This might change. Tsu.co ( pronounce “soo”) is a recent newcomer in the crowded world of … Read More →
While there has never been so many photos taken and shared online, the world of professional photo licensing is not striving. In fact, most legacy companies have seen their revenue freeze or decline in the last decade, with rare exceptions. While at first contradictory, a closer analysis reveals that part of the issue seems to be linked to … Read More →
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 →
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 →
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 →