Earlier this week, Mediapost published an article on the rising demand for original content by brands. Citing recent research, the article states that “estimated budgets for producing content have grown steadily from 12.6% two years ago to 23.3%, today — and are on track to surpass 33% by 2017 — according to new research from … 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 →
One of the biggest issue facing the professional photos licensing world today is search engines. In their effort to stay appealing to their users, they have all added an image search that allows for the quick and easy return of photos ( or graphics) corresponding to a query. Google, of course, but Yahoo and Bing … Read More →
Boring. Blaaaaah. That is the first word that comes to mind when looking at the winner of the World Press Award, circa 2015. Don’t get me wrong, this year’s committee, led by Michele McNally, probably the best photo editor of our generation, was full of talent. But it was just that, a committee. And time and … Read More →
While judges from top photojournalism competitions ( World Press, PoYi, etc) are getting ready to sit down and assume their role of gatekeepers of the true art, what is or not acceptable image alteration continues to slow burn deep inside the profession with no clear resolution in sight. Each organization, each publication, and each photographer … 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 →
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 →