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SAA reports ongoing issues with Index Stock royalty payments
After acquiring Index Stock Imagery in late 2006 PhotoLibrary of Australia made a pledge to Index Stock’s contributors to bring all payments up to date as quickly as possible. Two years later the company appears to have continued struggles sorting out royalties owed to contributors. Last year the company sent a letter to contributors stating that delays in payment were due to issues with Index stock’s accounting records, and the company hoped to complete the process by the end of 2008. Unhappy with the process, the photographer trade organization Stock Artists Alliance (SAA) has conducted its own investigation by contacting 116 of some 1,700 Index Stock contributors. In a recent release the organization stated “We can now confirm that Photolibrary scheduled payment of $560,000 in long overdue royalties due these artists. What troubles us is the vast majority of these payments came only after outside pressure and intervention - not from the company’s initiative”.
Compounding the issue last November Photolibrary’s then recently hired controller, Carlos Santos sent an email to contributors stating “the company still owes $2.2MM to photographers” - money the controller alleged the company had no plan to pay. At the same time, SAA claims to have received through a confidential source internal Photolibrary documents including a spreadsheet created from the original Index Stock accounting system, detailing individual photographer royalties owed, by month, from 2001 through 2006, along with a contributor contact list. According to the press release SAA has randomly contacted 93 Index Stock photographers who, according to the accounting records we’ve reviewed, were among 400 contributors owed between $1,000 and $23,000. Together, these 93 contributors represent $435,000 in past royalties owed and is reporting the following:
• All 93 contributors were easy to reach, using the company’s own contact records.
• Only six had been paid without contacting the company.
• 18 had received payments after complaining to the company upon receiving the “unauthorized” statements and/or after SAA’s public pressure.
• The remaining 69 had never received payments, schedules, nor any notice of past royalties due. Those who then contacted the company at SAA’s urging were all immediately scheduled for payment on a first-come, first-serve basis.
As a result the SAA is encouraging all Index Stock contributing photographers to contact Photolibrary in order to be sure their claims for royalties are resolved.
Web: www.photolibrary.com - www.stockartistsalliance.org/photolibrary-info
Posted in: News, Photographers, Stock Artist Alliance - SAA, Stock Photo Companies
