Several days ago, Getty Images announced that it was making a large portion of the creative work it represents “free” for certain “non-commercial” websites to use. While many bloggers applauded the move on Twitter, most photographers across the internet decried the move, despite Getty’s comment to the contrary. What should you know about this move and why should it matter to you, as a contributor or as a stock image user?
Recent events at iStockphoto and Getty Images have put iStock exclusive and non-exclusive contributors in a bind. They are tied, financially, to a company that they no longer wish to support. I’ve had some emails in my inbox with questions about the world outside of iStockphoto (for contributors). Let’s look at some things to keep in mind when you’ve had enough.
Good Monday morning to you! Let’s talk licensing today. As I’ve discussed before, when you go to a stock photo agency and make a purchase, what you are really doing is buying a set of rights to use the image you’re interested in. The image data is part of the package, sure, but the rights you purchase are what let you use the content without getting into trouble with the copyright holder. So make sure you are purchasing the rights […]
My business is licensing creative imagery to designers and other buyers that need content for their work. I don’t “sell pictures” – what stock photographers do is create a license, a set of terms, that grants certain rights to another to use a piece of content. Now, licenses to use my work are not free, despite the misleading catch-all title of “royalty free” for this general style of licensing. The royalties I receive for my work supports my business and […]
Stocksy is a new entrant to the wide, wide world of stock content agencies online. The content on Stocksy is sold with a Royalty Free License to buyers, who then use it in their projects. With the unique and interesting collection that is growing at Stocksy, there may be buyers who are not used to an RF license agreement, or who are interested in the details of this specific agreement. Lets take a look at the CLA (Content License Agreement)…
About a year or so ago, Pinterest and copyright issues became a topic of discussion. If you need more details on how Pinterest works and how it affects the photographer or stock contributor, you can read the aforementioned linked post. Long story short, a user “pins” (copies) any image they find on the internet to the Pinterest servers, for viewing, sharing and hotlinking by the site’s users. Yesterday, iStockphoto announced that they are going to officially maintain an active presence […]
In all the discussion regarding the current Getty Images/Google Apps situation, a subsidiary of Getty Images, PicScout and their ImageIRC program has come up several times. People are wondering whether this has anything to do with the Google licensing scheme, that PicScout is, in some way, protecting our IP by their “fingerprinting” of images, or that Getty is going to use the ImageIRC program as some way to go after people who use content outside of the Apps program, which, […]
Well, Happy 2013. The new year brings with it a situation that has iStockphoto contributors concerned, and actually this affects not just us, but stock contributors across the spectrum, including “traditional” shooters.
Surely you’ve heard of Instagram’s New Terms Of Service that will go into effect on January 16, 2013. That’s probably what brought you here. Let’s take a look at what it means. UPDATE: Backpedaling or clarification? http://blog.instagram.com/post/38252135408/thank-you-and-were-listening
Scams abound online. Sure, we all know the old Nigerian ones ( I didn’t know I had so many relatives there! ). Or simple fake email Paypal phishing ploys ( you’d think they’d at least spell correctly in those). Sometimes, however, you have to scratch your head and wonder. I’m talking about a current site out there that would appear, by the site name and the content within, to be associated with iStockphoto, licensing stock images. I’ll put a screen […]
