ALAMY IMAGES FOR A DOLLAR!

•  Alamy Images For A Dollar! – Stock agency Alamy has ruffled contributor feathers with its introduction last month of Limited Use, a scheme for selling images for as little as a dollar. Contributors who opted-in to new terms last Autumn, not knowing exactly what they were signing up to, now found their images exposed to Limited Use. Under the new terms, contributors were locked in, but Alamy quickly relaxed this as a furore developed. [expand story >>>]

As is usual with Alamy, the furore developed publicly on their Internet forum. Stock photographers have a lot invested in their filings. This is threatened by the new phenomenon of microstock. All agencies must respond somehow. But Alamy's contributors are generally opposed to the company selling their images as microstock. There was a feeling that Limited Use was simply microstock by another name, and that photographers had been duped into unknowingly signing up for it. Alamy insists this was not their intention – the rather opaque route they took to Limited Use was necessary for competitive reasons, they say.

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photoweek/2008/01/getty-is-for-sale

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ALAMY FEATURED ON PHOTOGRAPHY TV!

• Alamy Featured On Photography TV! –
UK-based picture agency, Alamy, features on the latest episode of PhotographyTV. Part three of episode two of this new magazine-style web TV show is based in Alamy, and includes a walk around with Alamy Chief Executive, James West. West talks openly with presenter Sian Welby about the challenges facing stock photography. Sian also interviews Alamy Head of Content, Alan Capel, about the agency's picture submission process. [add comment]

PICTURE BUYERS FAIR OPEN TO ALL!

• Picture Buyers Fair Open to All! – This year's BAPLA Picture Buyers' Fair in London in May is open to all exhibitors, not just members of the British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies. For photographers, the fair could be worth a visit if you're thinking about contributing your images, or launching a small, specialized new picture library of your own. You should find consultants and other support services there. [expand story >>>]

Most of the visitors to the exhibition will be picture buyers, ie. graphic designers and magazine staff. Amongst the exhibitors this year will be Action Images, Alamy, DK Images, Image Source, Lonely Planet, Wellcome Images, Reuters, Rex, Masterfile, National Geographic and PA Photos.

The BAPLA Picture Buyers' Fair is on the 7th & 8th of May, 2008, at the Business Design Centre in London's Islington. You can pre-register on the web for free entry.[add comment]

ALAMY GETS TOUGH ON MODEL RELEASES!

• Alamy Gets Tough On Model Releases! – Stock agency Alamy has put a post on its blog describing tough action against a contributor who knowingly supplied inaccurate information about an image. The agency was contacted by a member of the public who had found an image of themselves marked as having a model release. The contributor admitted not actually obtaining a release, and Alamy terminated his contract! [expand story >>>]

Alamy's terms and conditions state that "Alamy gives no legal assertion that an image marked as having a model and/or a property release has these releases."

In related news, spoof online newspaper The Onion pubished a story last year, Hero Firefighter Loses Lifelong Battle With Fire, illustrated with an image of the allegedly deceased firefighter. But when the image was brought to the attention of the actual living firefighter recently, he complained. He had signed a release, but believed his image was only to be used by The City of Ottowa. [add comment]

UK BANKS FINANCE GETTY SALE

• UK BANKS FINANCE GETTY SALE! – Getty Images' board has recommended to shareholders a $2.4 billion buy-out offer. This is the sale to private equity the corporation had been seeking. Getty is as good as sold! The private equity firm Hellman & Friedman will take Getty out of public ownership by offering shareholders a 55% premium on the pre-sale share price. The bid is enabled by financial backing from Barclays Capital, GE Commercial Finance and RBS Greenwich Capital. [expand story >>>]

Getty is striving with the challenge of adapting. Its business model has been disrupted by the digital and Internet revolutions. Its share price has been taking a hammering on the public market. Public investors have seen the problems in the corporation's traditional business only too clearly, and the promise of its emerging microstock endeavour dimly if at all. The Getty board bet private equity would be less blinkered, and they bet right. There had been some speculation that, given the current US credit squeeze, private investors might find it hard to get finance for the buy-out. But investment banks with origins in the UK, in a syndicate led by Barclays Capital, sallied in and won the deal.

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photoweek/2008/01/getty-is-for-sale [add comment]

GETTY IS FOR SALE!

Getty Is For Sale! The New York Times last week broke a story that Getty Images may attempt to sell itself off in an auction which is to close in the next couple of days. If the story stands up, the target buyers are Private Equity firms. However, as the Times pointed out, Private Equity works by financing its acquisitions with massive debt. The current credit squeeze could mean the stock agency may fail to attract a buyer. Getty shares fell 47 per cent in the last full year, and while the giant is by no means stricken, it certainly has to strive to adapt. It's business model has been disrupted by the continuing digital revolution. Striking at the heart of Getty's way of making money is the World Wide Web, with its ability to massively aggregate the supply of - and demand for - digital images. The web opens the market to a mass of new participants, and enables ultra-low transaction costs. As the Times summed it up, it allows clients to find images more easily, for less money. Stock as we knew it, it seems, has been blown to bits.

IStockPhoto Raises Prices!

The Getty owned microstock agency IStockPhoto is to raise its prices again next year. The move has generally been welcomed. The business models and pricing of microstock photography have proven extremely disruptive in the stock photography market generally, and have still not settled down.

BBC Click! On Microstock!

Professional photography rarely makes the news in the mainstream media, but recently BBC TV's Click! technology program covered the onslaught of the microstock phenomenon and its impact on professional stock photographers.
It's worth noting that apart from the impact it's having on those who earn their day to day living from stock, microstock also threatens the "retirement fund" that many other photographers thought they had built up by filing occasional batches of images with their agencies over the years.

Stock Artists Withdraw Their Images!

2 weeks ago, Getty Images announced the launch of a new license for images at $49 (£39) for web use. More than 50,000 artists from more than 17 associations weren’t happy with that decision and have called for Getty Images to remove all Rights Managed and Rights Ready images from the scheme. The Stock Artists Alliance (SAA) made clear that the announcement of a term reduction to three months was a positive move, but still falls short of addressing their serious concerns. SAA is currently in a dialogue with Getty Images about the $49 license. The main concerns about the new Web Use stock image license are the loss of high-value digital licensing revenue, the devaluation of RM licensing, and the reduced return for the photographer, amongst others.