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Articles from June 2019
A reader asked, “Is it known how much money is lost when premier and enterprise customers are able to get high resolution images that they use for sketching, internal presentation or pitches at subscription prices and only pay for the ones they use in print?”? The answer if
NO. Nobody had any idea, or is tracking, of how many images are used in this way compared to how many are actually used in delivered products. But, we do offer some related data of the loss through subscriptions compared to licensing based on use.
When I got into photography one of the strengths of the profession was that what a viewer saw in a picture really happened. When a reporter wrote a story the reader often could not be sure that what was described was an accurate reflection of the truth. The photograph provided a level of truth. The viewer knew that what they were seeing really happened. The photograph may have been out of context with the general tenor of the overall event, but at least it was an accurate reflection of what was happening in the instant it was created.
Thinkstock is officially closed. The closing was first
announced in April 2018. All the imagery is now available on
iStock or
Getty Images. Thinkstock annual subscribers will be offered a product that is made up of the same content that is currently available on Thinkstock, including the same iStock Essentials imagery.
Shutterstock announced yesterday that Co-Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer Steven Berns will depart from his roles at Shutterstock to pursue other opportunities, effective immediately to pursue other opportunities. Mr. Berns' departure is not due to a dispute or any matter relating to the Company's accounting and financial policies and operations.
Robert Kneschke’s story on
Unsplash last week got me thinking about trademarks and logos. Professional photographers tell me that the inspectors for the major stock agencies – Getty, Shutterstock, AdobeStock and iStock – are increasingly rejecting photos with any identifying brand marks for fear of legal action by the brands.
A while ago, I tried here to understand the business model of
Pixabay, who want to make money from free pictures. A similar company, but with greater international notoriety, is
Unsplash. In 2013, as a simple Tumblr blog, this company took the stage where 10 free pictures were shared. There are currently over 1,000,000 free images online, which have received a total of over 1,006,650,155 free downloads. These and many other exciting figures can be found here on the
statistics page of Unsplash.
The Copyright Alliance needs all image creators to help push the CASE Act – the bill to create a copyright small claims court for creators and small business owners – through Congress. On May 1, the
Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act (CASE Act) of 2019 (H.R. 2426 and S. 1273) was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate.
Next week a two-day Creative Marketplace event will take place in New York at the Midtown Loft, 267 Fifth Avenue (29th St & 5th Av.) from 9:30 to 5:30 each day. This event is designed to give image and footage buyers an opportunity to meet with creators and organizations that license creative content. There will be free seminars aimed particularly at the buyer, but which will also offer useful information for the creators.
The Texas Appeals court has ruled that the state can infringe upon copyright without risking punishment under the state’s or federal government’s “takings” clause. More than two years ago, photographer Jim Olive discovered that his aerial photo of the Houston skyline (titled “The Cityscape”) was being used by the University of Houston, a public university, on its website to promote its C.T. Bauer College of Business without requesting permission or making payment.
Robert Harding, CEO of
Robert Harding Picture Library, recently sent a message to picture buyers asking the question “Is picture research dead?” Image creators need to carefully consider the implications of this message.
A reader asked about un-vetted contributions to microstock sites. She has discovered that her work is widely copied on the Internet and says she was unaware that microstock sites allow people to post images that are not their own. She asked if I could provide a list of microstock sites that don’t follow up to determine if the person submitting images or footage really created what they are submitting. Finally, who should she chase up if there is an infringement?
A reader asked, “In the article written by Martin Lisius (
Microstock-The Dark Side Of Image Licensing) he refers to non micro agencies as a possible answer to the low prices that photographers receive. When I search under the heading of macro stock on your site about the only name that comes up is Getty. Do I understand this correctly?”
In an opinion issued June 5th federal Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted only one part of Google’s motion for partial final judgment on the pleadings regarding the breach of contract and breach of implied covenant claims by
Dreamstime.com that relate to a Google Play agreement.
A few months ago, I evaluated which countries most
Shutterstock providers come from. Today, there should be some similar analysis of Adobe Stock's data, or Fotolia, because although the portfolios on both websites are identical, Adobe Stock will unfortunately see less information about it.
A few weeks ago, the publicly traded image agency Shutterstock had released its
second-quarter 2018 business figures. Among those figures, there was also the remarkable 204.2 million images Shutterstock currently offers. 41% of these were added in the last year alone.
On my Facebook page there was a lively discussion afterwards, regarding exactly where these many millions of pictures come from.
PicRights, a global leader in copyright enforcement, has added a new partner in Johannesburg, South Africa to monetize copyright infringements for the world’s leading news agencies, stock image agencies and independent photographers. No other copyright compliance service offers its clients as much geographical coverage of key markets around the world.
The photo news agency
MAXPPP has selected two partner companies to monitor, recover and prosecute the use of its content on the internet, the newspapers and the magazines. The goal of the partnership: to increase by at least 50% its revenues related to fraudulent uses.
Shutterstock is officially rebranding
Rex Features as
Shutterstock Editorial today. The company says: “Since 2015, we have been working toward the goal of expanding our editorial collection and service to customers around the world. Over the past four years, our talented Editorial team has built a robust offering, becoming a premier source of editorial images for the world’s media.
There are often two sides to an industry. The side the customer sees, and the "inside" that industry people see. This article is about the inside of the stock image industry and how Microstock has changed. It also offers photographers and videographers some ideas how to deal with the issues.
Shutterstock, has announced that its free design application,
Shutterstock Editor, has surpassed more than 5 million users. The tool helps users, including creatives, designers, and marketers, to speed up their design workflow with easy-to-use, powerful editing functionality and customizable templates.
Getty Images, and
APO Group, a leading media relations consultancy and press release distribution service, have announced a wide-reaching collaboration to promote integrated text, photo and video solutions to organizations operating across Africa and the Middle East.