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.
Topic: Getty Images Sold! (Read 9884 times)