Archives: July, 2006
News
US Copyright office raises registration fees
The United States Copyright Office of the Library of Congress has adjusted fees for its services. The adjusted fees are intended to cover a significant portion of the costs to the Office of registering claims and provide full cost recovery for many other services provided by the Office. The proposed fee increase for pre-registration has been eliminated, and the proposed increase for group registration of photographs has been reduced to match the fee for basic registration ($45). Adjusted fees will be effective July 1, 2006.
News
SDA and Keystone Schweiz
The Swiss press agency Schweizerische Depeschenagentur (SDA) and the Keystone picture agency have set up Minds Media content GmbH. The Berne based joint venture will provide text and pictorial information and a platform for cellphone services. The mobile platform called MINDS (Mobile Information and News Data Services for 3G) will soon allow newspaper publishers to offer local to headlines, sporting event results, and classified advertisements by SMS or MMS to mobile phone customers. In addition readers will also be able to respond with text messages or contribute MMS pictures by mobile telephone. The two partners have brought their cellphone General News and People services into the new company, but will retain separate responsibility for the production of images and text. MINDS was funded by the European Commission through its eContent programme. Stefan Hartmann, VISUELL
Features
How many images before you finally turn a profit?
When photographers consider setting up their businesses online, the natural curiosity is wondering how many images do they need before the sales start trickling in. Then they consider their particular images, and wonder what the size of the market is (hence, the "opportunity" to make money). And, finally, if they believe they have "enough" images, and the market opportunity exists, what's the best way to market those images to the target buyer.
News
PACA publishes new Membership Directory
The Picture Archive Council of America (PACA) has published the 2006 print edition of their Membership Directory. This the is first print edition the stock photo industry trade organization has produced since 2000. The directory lists all 100 general members and 44 international members of the association. The publication serves as an invaluable reference tool for anyone seeking to license stock images as it includes a brief description of each company's archive, allowing art-buyers to find a wide variety of excellent resources they may not know about. In addition, the PACA Directory provides key information for image users including essential copyright guidelines, definitions of the various licensing models for Rights Managed, Royalty Free and Subscription, and a detailed list of properties and objects that require "special releases" prior to using their photographic likenesses.
News
Photojournalist Martin Adler shot in Mogadishu
The photojournalist Martin Adler working for the British agency Panos Pictures was shot in Mogadishu. During a film report on Muslim demonstrations in the Somali capital a sniper shot Mr. Adler in the back from close range. The murderer escaped in the crowd. Martin Adler was a distinguished photographer having worked in more than 30 countries during his career, including many war and crisis areas. in addition, Adler was filming video for Channel 4 News in the U.K. and reporting for the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet. Stefan Hartmann, VISUELL
News
Kursiv launches new subscription product
The Swiss photo agency Kursiv has launched a new image subscription service called Bilderstock. The new service includes the images from Ingram Publishing and Superstock with more than 100,000 images available at print resolution sizes (A4–A3). The pricing for the new service varies from 119,00 EUR for one month to 578,00 EUR for twelve months with access to download up to 1000 high resolution images per month.
News
Picturehouse announces date for NY 2006
Picturehouse, the annual stock photography tradeshow event for creatives, announced it will return to the Puck Building located in lower Manhattan this year on Wednesday, November 1st. This event, allows art-buyers, art-directors, editors, publishers, graphic and web-site designers to meet with the suppliers of stock imagery including a vast array of photo libraries from the smaller specialty boutiques up to the “big guys” from both the US and abroad.
Features
Royalty Free content proliferation
Observers of the stock photo industry can’t help but notice the increase in the numbers of new Royalty Free collections appearing in the market place. One might even say the rate of new RF brands coming on-line has accelerated to become an arms-race with producers stockpiling new content. A visit to the CEPIC Conference in Biarritz last month confirmed the trend. Several companies launched or began to promote in earnest their new RF brands at the Conference. The new collections come from both existing RM companies looking to get into the RF game and new production companies established for the sole purpose of creating RF content. To get a sense of what drives this RF production frenzy, we contacted a few of the industry veterans leading the charge.
News
Alamy seeking patent for new search technology
Alamy has announced that it is testing new search technology that will move images from the best collections to the top of search results. Alamy is calling the new technology AlamyRank and has applied for patents for two key technologies that make the new search approach unique in the stock photography industry. The new search engine will favor contributors who provide the best images and most accurate keywording and penalize those providing mediocre work or using inappropriate keywords, hoping their images will be seen more often. This new search addresses a key issue with the Alamy service where keywording is done by the contributors by providing an incentive to keyword appropriately.
Editorials
Editorial: Micro payment agencies - A force for good or evil?
It's very likely that most photographers have considered earning revenue from their pictures and placing them with a stock agency would seem a very lucrative method of earning additional income. Today's stock picture market is however, undergoing dramatic changes and so this may be a timely moment to write about the changing patterns of the stock photography industry and highlight some of the newer models that have appeared; especially the Micro Payment Agency.
News
PACA releases metadata standards
The President of the Picture Archive Council of America (PACA), Roger Ressmeyer, has published a letter to its membership concerning Metadata Standards. The new metadata standards, if they are widely accepted, would aid anyone involved in stock image licensing (Stock Photography Agencies, Photographers, Art Buyers, Etc...), to manage their image licensing activities more efficiently. In addition PACA hopes the new standards would prove beneficial for those who wish to submit their work to any of the anticipated global image registries intended to protect the copyright owner in the event that Orphan Works legislation is enacted. Ressmeyer’s letter, in its entirety, follows:
News
German press boycotts pop musician Robbie Williams
The feud between the German press and Pop Star Robbie Williams which began last year during the 2005 tour has escalated to a boycott over what the press is calling an immoral contract for photojournalists. The disputed contract requires that all photographs taken during concert coverage become the property of Robbie Williams and makes the photographers responsible for any errant use of the images that may conflict with the stringent terms of the contract. As a result many prominent news agencies are boycotting the concerts, refusing to print photos, and in some cases, refusing to cover the events in any way.
News
PLUS Coalition endorsed by Getty Corbis and Jupiter
The PLUS (Picture Licensing Universal System) Coalition has announced that Getty Images and Corbis have joined the coalition as Charter Sustaining Members, along with Jupiter Images who has committed to a second year in the PLUS “Leadership Circle.” The new endorsements from Getty and Corbis is an achievement that many speculated would be required for the coalition to have any success with its mission to implement international licensing standards. Other PLUS Sustaining Members include Adobe, Pentagram Design, Digital Railroad, PicScout, NewsCom, Belay Development, and PACA (Picture Archive Council of America).
News
Jupiter launches micropayment stock photography site in Japan
Jupiter Media (Nasdaq: JUPM) a leading source for subscription and micro payment stock photography has announced the launch of a Japanese language micropayment site called Photos.jp. The new site was developed and built in Japan with Jupiter Media's partner Aeria, Inc. and has incorporated software from Stockxpert.com, a leading micropayment stock photography site. Stockxpert was acquired in part by Jupiter in January 2006 along with the popular Stock.xchng site with a 49.7% equity investment in the Hungarian based Haap Media.
News
Anarchy Images launches site
A new photojournalism agency based in New York City has opened it doors with the launch of its new site. The site located online at anarchyimages.com features dozens of full photo essays complete with stories and images available for licensing. The force behind the new agency is Jason Pagan a former Archive Director of the Black Star Photo Agency who started Anarchy Images in order to offer in-depth focused photojournalism that tells a unique story.
News
NBC Universal partners with Digital Railroad
NBC Universal has selected Digital Railroad to launch its new stock photography website for the studio’s new Digital Media Distribution Group. The online archive is called NBC Universal Photo Bank and is located at www.nbcuphotobank.com. Last June NBC Universal announced the creation of the new business unit and has become the first major film studio to launch its own photo licensing business rather than work with an outside agency. NBC Universal’s photo archive includes millions of images, dating back to the 1940s up to and including current images from The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
News
Mirrorpix unveils new site
Mirrorpix the photographic archive of the Daily Mirror newspaper and its sister titles The Daily Herald, Sunday Mirror, The People, Daily Record and Sunday Mail, has unveiled a new website located online at www.mirrorpix.com. The new site allows buyers to download hi-res images dating back to 1903 from its archive covering every major personality and event since that time.
News
Getty releases 2nd quarter 2006 financials
Getty Images Inc. (NYSE: GYI) has announced the financial results for the second quarter of 2006. The company continues to be plagued by weak volume in the royalty-free image business. According to Getty CEO Jonathan Klein "We have not yet turned around royalty-free volume to our satisfaction in the United States," and further indicated that royalty-free volume for 2006 has been and may continue to be lower than the company had projected in the past. Shortly after the announcement Getty's stock price dropped 5.20 (9.42%) to 50.00 in after-hours trading; down almost 30 percent since the April 20th announcement of the Q1 2006 results.
News
Heinrich Heidersberger dies
The famed German photographer Heinrich Heidersberger died recently in Wolfsburg just before his 100th birthday. He originally wanted to become a painter and studied under Ferdinand Léger in Paris. Later, however, he turned to advertising, industrial and architecture photography. His much admired shots of architecture and industry were not only published in magazines but could also be seen in famous museums around the globe. In 2002, the Heidersberger Institute, which is run by his grandson Benjamin Heidersberger, took on the task of appraising and publishing his life’s work. Stefan Hartmann, VISUELL
Features
Interview with Evan Nisselson of Digital Railroad
In recent years several companies have begun to offer technology services to photographers that were previously only available to large stock agencies with large IT departments. Evan Nisselson the Founder and CEO of Digital Railroad has been one of the pioneers seeking to bridge the technology gap by offering an online storage and marketing solution connecting photographers and image buyers with all of the convenience of a large stock agency or newswire service. Evan Nisselson, has worked in the photography industry for 14 years and has experience as a CEO, VP, photo editor, software developer, lecturer, moderator, contest judge, published photographer and digital imaging consultant. Recently Chris Ferrone caught up with Evan and asked him the following questions.
News
Erich Salomon Prize goes to Martin Parr
The British photographer Martin Parr is to receive this year’s Erich Salomon Prize, which is sponsored by the German Photographic Society (DGPh). Parr, who is a full member of the agency Magnum, will be presented with the award at September’s photokina in Cologne. An exhibition devoted to his work will be shown in the "Visual Gallery". Stefan Hartmann, VISUELL
News
Index Stock partners with Cellfish Media
New York City based Index Stock Imagery has announced a new partnership with Cellfish Media LLC, a division of Lagardere Active, to provide images to be downloaded as cell phone wallpaper. Index Stock will supply up to one hundred new images per month. “We’re constantly looking to bring our customers the most compelling content available. Simply, Index Stock brings us an exhaustive catalog of the highest quality,” says Jonathan Dworkin, VP of A&R for Cellfish Media.
