ExtortionLetterInfo Forums
ELI Forums => Getty Images Letter Forum => Topic started by: Mulligan on August 15, 2012, 09:11:38 AM
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Well, our pals at Getty Images are now owned by the Carlyle Group.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/1343682c-e6d2-11e1-965b-00144feab49a.html#axzz23cV3U6Dy
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The Carlyle Group plans on "harnessing" its financial resources and global network "to help take Getty Images to the next stage of product innovation and global growth," says Eliot Merrill, managing director of the Carlyle Group.
In a prepared statement, Klein says: "This partnership with The Carlyle Group reflects and bolsters our ongoing strategy, strong management team and the talent of our dedicated employees. We are delighted to collaborate with Carlyle, with its formidable pedigree and success, and take the business into its next phase of development and growth."
Mark Getty adds: "In seventeen years, we have built a business that has revolutionized the industry, with innovation at its core. I am confident that the partnership between Getty Images and The Carlyle Group will see the company's success continue."
Can't help but wonder if carlyle knows what they are getting into..
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I was just going to post this, you beat me to the punch... :)
So what do you think this will mean for all the extortion letter recipients... We know Getty has been lax a pursuing cases against "infringers" but where will we stand with this new owner...
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I was just going to post this, you beat me to the punch... :)
So what do you think this will mean for all the extortion letter recipients... We know Getty has been lax a pursuing cases against "infringers" but where will we stand with this new owner...
I don't see any changes coming, after all they generate a good amount of revenue from the letters...they'll keep coming..by all appearances the management "team" will stay in place..as for them being "lax" this will continue as well, as the majority of their images are not registered and those that are may very well be improperly registered..even more so now, with the recent Masterfile loss..
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As I have discussed prior, the stock photo industry (as with most traditional media companies), their power continues to diminish as more users come online and become content creators. This tsunami of content creators produce far more content than traditional media can every hope to control.
Getty's ongoing approach (as with several other stock photo companies) has been to continue acquiring more portfolios in an effort to prop up the value of their existing imagery. The problem is there is a flood of digital photography being pumped and dumped out for very low and near free prices.
The days of most photographers trying to squeak out a living because someone wants to buy a photo for a high-dollar amount or agree to some all-controlling rights-managed agreement is over. Only the large traditional media companies agree to such nonsense. Everyone else will insist in low-cost imagery with unlimited time, royalty-free use. IStockPhoto continues to be the wave of the future which is one of the smart things Getty has done in the acquisition strategy.
There is a rush away from high-cost media produced by high-overhead media companies.
Traditional book publishers have long poo-poo'd independent publishers such as myself. They have a HUGE problem now that many high profile authors have figured out they don't need the publishers to take a big piece of their pie. Authors are taking the cutting edge ideas straight to the marketplace.
So many alternative news sites now exists replacing antiquated newspapers and their sites.
Stock photo companies continue to blame piracy for their problems justifying their extortion letter programs. The reality is most people won't pay more than $20/image anymore. With the exception of specialized imagery, most people simply don't value images anymore. There is an overabundance of images with more being pumped out everyday by people with portable digital cameras.
Getty Images and their ilk cannot face the fact that they are middle-men that provide less value-add with each passing day. Power continues to shift to content creators.
I am going to enjoy watching Getty Images go the way of so many media dinosaurs as I have enjoyed watching book publishers continue to fall away as Amazon help trounced them.
One day smart photographers will figure out a new model of working to make money as many independent publishers/authors have begun to figure it out. I have many ideas on the subject to help independent photographers but until one approaches me with some money, I won't be doing too much talking on the subject. I am currently on the side of bringing down traditional media dinosaurs and empowering the little guy.
The days of so-called professional photographers snapping 1,000 photos and dumping them out for sale in hopes of making big royalties are over. Very few people care about the photographers. People only understand one image is one image, no matter how much it might cost to produce that image. That is the cold hard truth that they don't want to hear or accept as reality.
Mr Getty and Mr Klein founded Getty in 1996 with aims to bring the fragmented stock photography business into the digital age. Though valued below its peak last decade, the company has continued to prosper by diversifying into video and music licensing, even as many of its traditional clients, including newspapers and magazines, have suffered.
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I see no change in Getty's operations from this, except that they may intensify their efforts with new cash. Don't forget Carlyle Group has to be fully aware of their settlement letter program so they know exactly what they are buying for their $3.3 billion. These guys are big players - world political manipulators- and George Bush the First was very involved with them before during and after his presidency. This is pocket change to them and considering they are war profiteers I don't think they will be upset over extortion letters.
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The Carlyle Group? This is a surprise.
As Oscar mentioned , many consider them to be "war profiteers". They're not without controversy.
Let's see where they take this...
S.G.
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I have no false notions that Carlyle Group would give a damn about anything except the money. Having said that, this only strengthens my resolve to do my part to help accelerate the demise of dinosaur media. This is not an impossible dream. Just look back at the last 10 years and see how the Internet continue to decimate huge conglomerates.
There is also the trend of "accelerating acceleration" of "faster change" that dinosaur media have difficulties in grasping. The only thing they have on their side (for now) is deep pockets to ride out the storm. Inescapable trends always win over companies unable to change.
Even the great and invincible Microsoft is worried about their own relevance given the beating it has taken from the various Internet upstarts.
I am very optimistic we will see Getty Images and their ilk take a pounding due to social, economic, and technological forces that very much transcend ELI but where ELI also very much rides these waves of change (as long as I have anything to say about it.)
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Matt's certainly made some good points here. I think that he's right on the money.
I recently bought some royalty-free images online.
I was really impressed by the selection and the great quality that's available.
It's as good as what's available from the large rights-managed stock image houses.
For most online use, the images only cost about 1 dollar and change. If some larger size is needed, it's about 3 or four dollars.
Compare that to several hundred dollars yearly from the rights-managed operations.
I can certainly take some of my own photos and create my own graphics.
However, with the royalty-free imagery that's now available, it's so affordable that it's cheaper to just buy what I need. Time is money.
While free images are available, I do avoid those as I wouldn't receive any license with them.
Additionally, these sites often have a disclaimer that the end user is responsible for any issues arising from use.
For those that use right-managed stock imagery, and their license is coming due on those images, I'd strongly suggest looking to affordable royalty-free imagery.
I don't feel sorry at all for "greedy" photographers. However, I do hope that talented photos/artists that are creating modern royalty-free imagery will be successful on volume sales.
These are just my opinions, but my point is that there are options from ethical companies in the marketplace.
I haven't mentioned any company names here, or compared actual images. But, I encourage consumers to shop around and see what's available.
S.G.
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Carlyle Group is very well connected politically, both in the US and abroad. They have inspired all kinds of conspiracy theories because of their global connections and octopus-like structure. They have huge investments in national security, but also invest in other things.
For example, they own the corporation that owns Dunkin' Donuts.
As Matt says, I don't see much of a future for the Getty game plan, so maybe this is one Carlyle Group investment that REALLY has a hole in it.
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Maybe they were just looking for a tax loss ;D
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The Carlyle Group has a plan to make money with these images, have no doubt of that.
Indeed, my sources tell me they're going to license the one million lamest images to the military who will then subcontract back to one of the Carlyle Group's subsidiaries the job of reproducing ten thousand copies of each of those million images on heavy stock paper.
A second Carlyle Group company will then airlift the images to our bases around the Middle East where a third Carlyle Group contractor will distribute the "GI 'Roids" (as they've been named by a Carlyle Group marketing firm) to our troops who will then throw them like Ninja Stars at terrorists and other evil doers who hate freedom.
Any terrorist who duplicates the image on the Internet on a website will then be contacted by the license compliance department for the usual round of letters... BUT in addition to that, the new Carlyle Group owned Getty Images will also sell the names of those infringing on the GI 'Roids to the CIA, NSA, and other agencies and independent contractors.
Lose money on this deal... no way in hell. Not the Carlyle Group.
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Wow, that is quite a plan! Will this launch Timmy's new career as an International Copyright Compliance __________? You all can fill in the blank.
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Wow, that is quite a plan! Will this launch Timmy's new career as an International Copyright Compliance __________? You all can fill in the blank.
"Douchebag!"
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Can't think of a better organization to buy Getty.
(http://www.eyezopen.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/hat-man-300x179.jpg)
S.G.
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That's true, S.G. You can't make this shit up, it's like a Coen Brothers script or something.
Mulligan makes a very good point. I don't think Carlyle intends to lose money with this acquisition. They may just find a way to monetize Getty by mixing its operations with some of the other Carlyle holdings, including defense contracts and other media holdings.
Why not? The C.G. has a long track record of squeezing profits from government contracts. It will be interesting to see how the C.G. manages to pull that off.
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If CG is used to the government contracts paying $500 for a single hammer they certainly must like the idea of $500 for single image. While my comment of CG buying Getty as a tax loss was made in jest I do feel along the same lines as Matthew, that unless the stock image companies radically change their operations they are doomed to failure just as the dinosaurs were doomed. The days of people willing to pay $500 for an image they can get on I-stock for just a few dollars are pretty much over.
As others have said and I agree with them, the photographers will need to change as well. It used to be you had to know what you are doing to take and develop professional photographs but the technology has changed such that even people like myself that know absolutely nothing about photography can now take very nice pictures. I recently purchased a very nice digital camera to take pictures of my remodels to post on my website and when I go back and compare older photographs I have taken with some of my recent pictures the difference in quality is amazing. So the photographers will need to understand and change with the times as well.