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RANDOM THOUGHTS 60
February 6, 2003
Grey Worldwide Wants Exclusive Rights To ALL Stock Images
The lawyers at Grey Worldwide evidently don't have enough to keep them busy.
Stock agencies have just started receiving notices from Grey Worldwide that: "...the
terms and conditions on the Art/Photography Purchase Order form shall be applicable to
all purchases/licenses of stock photography that we obtain from you on behalf of our
clients or ourselves. No changes, deletions or amendments to these terms and conditions
will be accepted or enforceable. In addition, notwithstanding any terms to the contrary
contained in any other documents submitted by you, the attached terms and conditions
shall govern. Fulfillment of the orders by you shall constitute your acceptance of said
terms and conditions."
The first term on the back of the form says: "1. Supplier hereby conveys all rights,
title and interest, including the copyright in and to the Material to Grey, as agent for
Client. Such rights include, but are not limited to: (a) the right to use, publish,
display or reproduce the Material in advertising or for the purposes of trade or for any
other purpose whatsoever; (b) the right to alter, retouch, or crop or simulate the
Material in any way; (c) the right to secure copyright in the Material anywhere
throughout the world; (d) the right to license, exploit, sell, assign, or otherwise
dispose of the Material or any of the said rights included therein for any purpose which
Grey, Client and their assigns and licensees may see fit, and; (e) any and all subsidiary
rights in the Material including characters or parts which are contained in the
Material."
The good news is that Grey art directors are now prohibited from ever using any Royalty
Free material because no Royalty Free supplier can offer the above rights no matter how
much Grey is willing to pay.
For Rights Managed suppliers who get a call from Grey it doesn't make any difference what
the intended usage is because every usage will now be quoted at a Buyout price. The price
for even the smallest of usages will be tens of thousands of dollars.
We must assume that Grey is giving up the idea of using still pictures for any small,
targeted campaigns for their customers, or they intend to only use images produced on
assignment for such campaigns. Otherwise customers would certainly complain about the
high cost of imagery for these small projects. Grey's competitors who are willing to
consider stock photography for certain projects will certainly have a great advantage
when bidding future work.
Maybe the only thing Grey intends to handle in the future is major worldwide advertising
campaigns for very large corporations. Companies with smaller reach and smaller goals
must go somewhere else for their advertising services.
In any event, if an organization gets a call for Grey Worldwide for a stock image it
should be prepared to offer a buyout price or nothing.
One problem that is likely to arise is that a Grey art buyer, or art director will tell
some stock agency or stock photo seller that its OK to modify one of the clauses for a
"specific sale or usage". If that should happen, the stock photo seller should insist on
a written agreement to the modified terms from Grey's corporate legal department before
allowing their stock image to be used. Otherwise, given the public position Grey
Worldwide has taken on this issue, the stock seller could be at great legal risk.
We suspect that after the lawyers spend a lot of billable hours this position will be
modified, but because written statements of this type carry a lot of weight in any legal
proceeding, no one should sell anything but a total buyout to Grey until they put out
something in writing that clearly countermands this decision.
StockPhotoRequest.com To Launch In March
StockPhotoRequest.com has announced that it will launch a matchmaking service for stock
photographers and photo buyers in March. The service was created to help stock
photographers market their images to a broader client base. Photographers will pay a flat
annual subscription fee of $300 and retain 100% of any fee they negotiate with the
customer. StockPhotoRequest.com
will take no commissions on sales.
When buyers post requests subscribing photographers will receive a copy of the request by
e-mail, or they simply access the web at their convenience to check on requests. If the
photographer has images that fit the request they respond by uploading their images to
the requester's online light table. Each photo buyers will be assigned one URL which
allows them to see all images from multiple photo sources. Each photo will be linked to
the photographer's contact information. The photo buyers will contact the photographer
directly to negotiate licensing of the image.
The service will always be free to photo buyers. A free three month trial (until June
2003) is available to all photographers.
When photographers upload images they can see what their competition is offering. Even if
the photo buyer doesn't select one of the photographer's images they will be seeing the
photographer's name and a great picture advertising the photographer's business every
time an image is uploaded. Marketing experts say that it is important for your target
audience to see your name repeatedly. The next time the photo buyer sees your name they
will have the feeling they know you and your work.
To maintain a level of quality StockPhotoRequest is only accepting professional
photographers with a minimum of five years experience. They require the photographer to
list at least ten publication credits and may ask the photographer to submit image
samples or tear sheets prior to approval as a subscriber.
StockPhotoRequest.com only offers Rights Protected images. They will not offer Royalty
Free.
While photographers have found many request services to be of little value,
StockPhotoRequest does offer some unique features and the three month free trial allows
the photographer to check out the service to see if it generates enough viable requests
to justify continued participation.
TrendWatch Says Specialization Is The Key
In a new report TrendWatch Graphic Arts (TWGA) predicts that specialization will become a
critical business strategy as a result of technology changes and pressure on clients to
reduce spending. They point out that this may be an advantage for small firms that have
the flexibility to react quickly to market dynamics and which are able to provide
tailored, specialized services.
TWGA says the creative markets are largely saturated and grew only 3% from 2002 to
2003. As a whole they are expected to continue to experience marginal growth over the
next five years.
Co0lor digital printing and on-demand creative services are on the rise while
traditional offset jobs are on the decline. E-mail campaign design is also on the rise.
This signals a trend toward more targeted and focused direct-marketing projects which
will escalate as we move toward 2007.
Workflows that increase productivity and enable flexible use of content will be the
nucleus of design and production activities in the coming years.
For more information about "The Design & Production 2007" report go to:
www.trendwatchgraphicarts.com .
PictureArts Launches Botanica Brand
PictureArts Corporation has announced the creation of a new brand called Botanica. This
new, rights-managed collection of licensable images is envisioned to be much more than
just a flower and garden, academic or scientific catalog. Botanica will feature human
lifestyle mixed with flora in a contemporary, high-end and exceptionally usable picture
collection.
PictureArts has recently acquired some of the assets and images of gardenImage, a flower
and garden specialty agency that closed its doors in December 2002. With the help of
gardenImage's previous management, Botanica has begun contacting many of that company's
former contributors.
Botanica is already accepting image submissions, and will begin selected subagent sales
in the summer of 2003. "Photographers and illustrators wishing to contribute images to
the collection can contact Amy Osburn, Director of Imagery for Botanica at
amy@botanicapictures.com. A major brand launch is slated for early 2004.
PictureArts other two brands are FoodPix a leading collection of food and beverage
imagery and Brand X Pictures is a rapidly growing collection of Royalty-Free images that
covers all subject matter.
"With the proven success of FoodPix, the PictureArts team has been looking for another
opportunity in the stock picture industry that would allow us to benefit from what we've
already built," said PictureArts President Jeffrey Burke. "We have a solid production and
management infrastructure, a strong distribution network, and an understanding and
involvement with the stock picture industry. The best way to put those assets to use is
with another, related collection of images."
Ms. Osburn was most recently Senior Photo Editor for House and Garden Magazine and has
worked for Conde Nast Traveler, Gear Magazine, Los Angeles Magazine and ABC
Television.
"Amy's familiarity with the subject matter, coupled with her contacts in the industry
will prove invaluable to Botanica as we go forward," said PictureArts Creative Director
Lorraine Triolo.
Getty Gives Photographers Reuse Revenue
By turning re-uses over to its photographers, Getty is doing them a big favor and helping
them learn a lot more about its pricing strategies. For many months now most
photographers have been receiving occasional requests to price re-uses for images that
"Getty no longer represents". Getty has returned over 20 million images that were
formerly in the files of Stone, TIB, FPG, Liaison and other acquired brands. This results
from their strategy to go all digital and to no longer support analog files or analog
requests.
Some photographers argue that this doesn't seem to be an intelligent move on Getty's
part, but let's forget about Getty motivations for the moment and look at how it benefits
photographers.
I recently had a request for a re-use of an image that was published two years ago in a
brochure. The customer wanted to print the image 1/4 page in 400,000 copies of the
brochure, the same use as the original sale. I was able to get $450 for the second use
and was able to keep 100% of that, rather then the receiving only 40% of Getty's fee if
they had made the sale. Getty probably gave the company such a good price because mine
was one of a volume of images that were included in their sale. I wasn't benefiting from
volume so the company agreed to my higher fee.
Lessons Learned:
I can get more money than Getty charged, even on re-uses. I don't have to agree to
the Getty price.
Always point out to the customer that the reason Getty's price is so much lower
than yours is that they gave the customer a volume discount.
I now know a lot more about a particular use than the information provided on the
Getty sales report, and I know that the customer is willing to pay more than they paid
Getty.
Many of the images Getty is no longer willing to represent will still generate good
revenue.
Digital Vision Closes Offices
Digital Vision has closed their offices in Germany and France. Sources tell us that DV
intends to support these markets from their headquarters in London. There are also
indications that their sales through Gettyimages.com are rapidly expanding and they
may have less need to make direct sales in these countries.