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3 minutes ago, Starsphinx said:

I know with a micro stock site I have submitted to in the past there was a box you could tick saying an image could be provided free - so if you had a photo not being looked for or whatever you could choose to let it be used free - but if you did not tick the box the image had to be paid for.  I would suggest something similar for Alamy

 

Are you high? Used for free? Why would you do that? It's your work for goodness sake. Do you think that it's acceptable to work for free? Yes we may all do 'charitable works' for no recompense, financial anyway, but many of us on Alamy are professional photographers trying to earn our living. 

 

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16 minutes ago, ManWay said:

Are you high? Used for free? Why would you do that? It's your work for goodness sake. Do you think that it's acceptable to work for free? Yes we may all do 'charitable works' for no recompense, financial anyway, but many of us on Alamy are professional photographers trying to earn our living. 

 

 

We can only hope Starsphinx was being facetious. :o

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28 minutes ago, ManWay said:

Any comment on the points made ?

Little has changed since I (perhaps blindly) signed up. I'm not aware of any of my images having been given away for free. Perhaps we wouldn't have been advised of such an event if so, and only time will tell on whether that happens in the future. I wasn't happy being one of the many that suffered a NU sale a short while ago but have to accept that was part of my agreement with Alamy. There aren't many industries left that aren't being driven into the ground so why should this one be any different? If I had my time again I'd go into banking where you're rewarded for success, failure or downright criminal irresponsibility.

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16 minutes ago, Avpics said:

Little has changed since I (perhaps blindly) signed up. I'm not aware of any of my images having been given away for free. Perhaps we wouldn't have been advised of such an event if so, and only time will tell on whether that happens in the future. I wasn't happy being one of the many that suffered a NU sale a short while ago but have to accept that was part of my agreement with Alamy. There aren't many industries left that aren't being driven into the ground so why should this one be any different? If I had my time again I'd go into banking where you're rewarded for success, failure or downright criminal irresponsibility.

Fair point Avpics. But since advertising on the web is experiencing all-time high revenues we should expect an increasing revenue for our work? But we are seeing an downward trend in revenue per image license - well at least I am. I'm making more licenses but increasingly less money for each one. Don't get me wrong, I like Alamy, but the trend is not just a 'market thing'. It is a 'greedy grab' from most of the 'Picture Agencies' making out that the low prices are just part of the market trend. This is false. disingenuous.

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I agree with what everyone has said, especially Richard in that our images shouldn't be used for free, etc.  However, how many of you will leave Alamy because of images being given away for free?  None!  My reaction to this is to simply work harder to make more sales and just accept the fact a tiny percentage of our pics will be used without payment.

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9 hours ago, ManWay said:

Are you high? Used for free? Why would you do that? It's your work for goodness sake. Do you think that it's acceptable to work for free? Yes we may all do 'charitable works' for no recompense, financial anyway, but many of us on Alamy are professional photographers trying to earn our living. 

 

 

9 hours ago, John Mitchell said:

 

We can only hope Starsphinx was being facetious. :o

Uh, I think my point came across wrong.  According to posts in this thread, Alamy reserves the right to allow our work to be offered without payment (free) under certain circumstances.  People understandably are not happy with this.  On a microstock site with a similar scheme whether your work was included in this scheme was dependent on a box tick - if you did not tick the box your work could not be offered on the scheme.  The microstock site did give some encouragements to tick the box - like promoting your port specifically to anyone using your "free" picture in the scheme - but I never ever ticked the box.  I would not tick the box.  I would prefer if Alamy wishes to use such a scheme it also provided a box that I could also not tick.

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Has anyone else reflected on the compete removal of clause 27 from our contract? The one which begins

 

27. Infringements 
27.1. Alamy reserves the right to pursue Infringements (where the Image has been sourced from Alamy or its System, including where the Image is exclusive to Alamy and where an Alamy credit is present). You agree to Alamy pursuing these Infringements either itself or using third parties.

 

I may be getting this completely wrong, but it appears Alamy are removing any commitment to chase third party infringments.

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22 minutes ago, Joseph Clemson said:

Has anyone else reflected on the compete removal of clause 27 from our contract? The one which begins

 

27. Infringements 
27.1. Alamy reserves the right to pursue Infringements (where the Image has been sourced from Alamy or its System, including where the Image is exclusive to Alamy and where an Alamy credit is present). You agree to Alamy pursuing these Infringements either itself or using third parties.

 

I may be getting this completely wrong, but it appears Alamy are removing any commitment to chase third party infringments.

If I read this correctly, by removing the clause, we are now free to chase as the first party, even if an alamy credit is present. I for one will be much happier chasing infringers down as I can prove higher sales rates in court when claiming directly. It will be interesting to understand Alamy's view on how long is acceptable to wait for a sale to show up before contributors start hounding Alamy customers for infringement (from publication/use online), one month, three months? Also will Alamy agree  once notified of an infringement and that we are chasing it, that they will not retrospectively sell a license at a lower price than rate card following this notification.

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22 minutes ago, Gordon Scammell said:

Maybe - just maybe Alamy are changing the contract to make the company more attractive to a potential buyer...........  

 

I'll leave my tin foil hat now.

Now Getty is back in family hands, who knows........

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14 hours ago, ManWay said:

Any comment on the points made ?

It's been clear to me for several years how little the contributor is regarded here. After an unpleasant interchange with management I'm left with a low opinion, but leave my images on anyway. My expectations for improvement are near zero, despite changes at the top.

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16 hours ago, Starsphinx said:

I know with a micro stock site I have submitted to in the past there was a box you could tick saying an image could be provided free - so if you had a photo not being looked for or whatever you could choose to let it be used free - but if you did not tick the box the image had to be paid for.  I would suggest something similar for Alamy

 

 

This is not such a bad idea. An opt out box would at least enable the photographer to opt out of Alamy giving away images for free. To be honest I think it's outrageous that Alamy have this in the contract unless it's for promotion of Alamy and it's services. 

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The method of the free image (I get emails from other sites on what is free this week etc) is that it gets you to the site and you will see the non-free along with the free.  Like lost leaders in grocery stores.  The specials get you in, and hopefully you will spend more than you thought. Age old marketing.  And it works. 

 

Many sites offer free images and vectors, but on a lot of them, there are severe restrictions on the use of the free stuff.  I don't know if Alamy will have any restrictions, and from the sound of the contract, it doesn't seem to be something that will be advertised but something that they may offer a client in the background.

 

Jill

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44 minutes ago, Jill Morgan said:

The method of the free image (I get emails from other sites on what is free this week etc) is that it gets you to the site and you will see the non-free along with the free.  Like lost leaders in grocery stores.  The specials get you in, and hopefully you will spend more than you thought. Age old marketing.  And it works. 

 

Many sites offer free images and vectors, but on a lot of them, there are severe restrictions on the use of the free stuff.  I don't know if Alamy will have any restrictions, and from the sound of the contract, it doesn't seem to be something that will be advertised but something that they may offer a client in the background.

 

Jill

This works well in a face to face retail environment where a supplier gives samples/tastings, but they will then get repeat sales for more of that product that benefits them, not a competitor supplier. Lets face it we are all competing suppliers. Once a user has used the image of a flower pot, thats it, they are not likely to use that image again and then pay for it are they? Personal use could not be policed effectively, so I guess any restrictions on use for free/sample images will likely not receive the required compliance checks and importantly follow on billing for breach of restrictions.

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7 minutes ago, isphoto said:

This works well in a face to face retail environment where a supplier gives samples/tastings, but they will then get repeat sales for more of that product that benefits them, not a competitor supplier. Lets face it we are all competing suppliers. Once a user has used the image of a flower pot, thats it, they are not likely to use that image again and then pay for it are they? Personal use could not be policed effectively, so I guess any restrictions on use for free/sample images will likely not receive the required compliance checks and importantly follow on billing for breach of restrictions .

 

I wasn't specifying the free samples, but the low prices sale items that get people to come in to the store.

 

No type of use can be policed effectively any more.  The ease of digital is a double edged sword.  The supplier no longer has to spend buckets of money on film, chemicals and paper.  Can take thousand of images to be sure to get the right one. But the down side is it is easier for people to steal your work.  One of the costs of doing business in a digital world.  Have to take the bad with the good.  Any time you give a client the full res image, it is a risk you are taking.

 

Many sites offer free shipping.  Of course the shipping isn't free.  I have offered it.  It gets people on to your website and hopefully come back.  I eat the cost of the shipping to develop a long term relationship with a client. 

 

Alamy has not specified on how or when they will be offering images for free.  I certainly don't think it will be an advertised gimmick, but something to attract some clients away from competition.  Get them to look at Alamy's unique collection.  We really can only wait and see on this one.

 

And to be honest, where else can a photographer go to earn a decent commission?  Alamy is the only game in town online.  There are boutique sites, but not really for the general stock photographer.  Unless I am missing some that I am unaware of.  Could be.

 

Jill

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15 hours ago, Colblimp said:

I agree with what everyone has said, especially Richard in that our images shouldn't be used for free, etc.  However, how many of you will leave Alamy because of images being given away for free?  None!  My reaction to this is to simply work harder to make more sales and just accept the fact a tiny percentage of our pics will be used without payment.

Yeah, I doubt many will leave based on this. Which stock agency has better terms? The sad reality is that there is a serious supply and demand imbalance with stock photography. 

 

Not that we shouldn't gripe or push back on changes, but photographers are not strong negotiating position these days. 

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There's been a lot of talk here about the rights and wrongs of giving images away. But, given that Alamy shares the proceeds of any direct sales on a 50/50 basis, they loose revenue as well. So I feel that they won't just "throw image sales away" but may need to occasionally use such promotional offers selectively with a view to obtaining further sales or customers in the future that they otherwise wouldn't have obtained. This seems reasonable given that it's a tough market out there. Whether this strategy is misguided is another matter.

 

Instead of discounting prices I'd rather Alamy tried harder to improve the quality (rather than the quantity) of their collection. This race to grow the collection at an ever increasing rate whilst dropping prices moves them "downmarket" with a "pile 'em high sell 'em cheap" strategy. It's also slowing down the search engine. If customers can find good quality images they want more quickly on Alamy, they will pay more for the privilege. Time is money. There are a few things that could perhaps help here.

  • Sort out the current category mess where contributors specify categories in AIM that don't match those on the home page, and issue some guidance on category usage
  • Start doing some QC on tags and captions by checking the tags on a few images from each active contributor and "encouraging" those who are using inaccurate or spammed captions and keywords to improve
  • Remove or change the "Discoverability" indicator in AIM so it doesn't encourage keyword spamming.
  • Search and remove any exact duplicates from the collection on a first upload wins basis. Also stop exact duplicates from being added. Software could easily do this.
  • Improve the search algorithm so that a partial match to words in a tag phrase aren't displayed.

Mark

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On 15/10/2018 at 17:52, Travelshots said:

Personally I would like to be able to opt out of any use of my images as a free promotion or anything that gives client my images for free. 

From what I understand this clause is only relevant if you are opted in to Novel Use. You can opt out of that.

  1. Novel use licences {participation in novel use is optional}

    If you grant novel use rights;

    1. In addition to the promotion rights set out in 8.3 above you grant Alamy permission to sell your Images at any price and by any method we feel appropriate and to supply Images to third parties without Alamy having to consult you, including but not limited to trials with new Customers, prototypes/proof of concept and high volume low unit price licences. Where Alamy does not make a charge to these third parties, you will not receive payment.
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1 hour ago, funkyworm said:

BTW I am still paying this by ear having not received any notification of contract changes and not finding any reference to them on blog. And I am probably not alone in that. Are contract changes valid if one party isn't party to them?

Edited 29 minutes ago by funkyworm

I've heard nothing either.

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On 10/15/2018 at 15:14, Matt Ashmore said:

I find this part interesting to...

 

12.2. As soon as a licence is purchased by a Customer we will report to you online the relevant details of such licence. We may round fractions of a cent up or down at our discretion. Licence Fees charged to Customers in currencies other than US Dollars will be recorded on your statements in US Dollars. The exchange rate used will be reviewed and adjusted in line with exchange rate fluctuations.

 

They seem to have removed the need for an invoice to be raised or for payment by credit card before reporting.... does this mean they will be reporting sales quicker?

 

Agree, that's the first thing that caught my eye, too. It will be interesting how that is going to look in practice. In an ideal case scenario, it would allow for more transparency. 

 

As to free images - we'll just have to wait and watch that one very closely. It's so far never happened to me, as far as I'm aware (good point to watch out for might be if and how those 'free usages' will be reported!). But I've had plenty of those lovely <5 $ gross sales to newspapers. Makes you feel great when the net payment doesn't even pay for the coffee you had to purchase to file your images somewhere dry, after having spent 3hrs in the rain getting your equipment wet, sitting on pavements, crouching on the floor to get that funny/unusual/pov angle. 

 

 

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