News
photolibrary awaits PACA’s assessment of the facts in commissions snafu
The Sydney-based photolibrary finds itself in an uncomfortable position over a November 11 email to Index Stock photographers from photolibrary’s then recently hired controller, Carlos Santos. In the email, Santos contradicts earlier claims by the company that it had paid all outstanding commissions to contributors of Index Stock, which photolibrary acquired in October 2006. In fact, Santos wrote, the company still owes $2.2MM to photographers. Santos has since lost his job, the Stock Artists Alliance is crying fowl, and the Ethics and Grievance Committee of the Picture Archive Council of America (PACA) has agreed to review the case.
For its part, photolibrary has stated that Santos was unhappy at his job and was looking for a way to spite his new employers. photolibrary’s Chairman, Tim Moore, has declined to comment further pending the conclusion of PACA’s review of the case. A close reading of the November 11 email from Santos, which PDN posted shortly after its distribution, reveals Santos must have known his employment at photolibrary would be short-lived. He asks the recipients not to contact him directly on the grounds that he could not handle 1500 emails, but he then advises them to contact the company’s Chairman, CEO and CIO about these issues and provides their names and email addresses. No one in their right mind who expected to keep their job would do this. Santos also appears to view himself as a whistle-blower, falling on his sword for a greater good. He ends the email with a quotation from Edmund Burke: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”
Whatever Santos’s motives, he has created a head-ache for Moore and the rest of the management team at photolibrary. The SAA has issued a press-release which raises pointed questions about photolibrary’s dealings with the Index Stock Imagery contributors. Meanwhile, those long-suffering contributors, who, for years, have had to cope with less-than-timely reports and payments from Index Stock’s previous owner, find themselves, once again, unsure of their collective position.
Posted in: News, PACA, Photographers, Stock Photo Companies
