A Photographer Should Buy Alamy

[Bill Brooks]

Now would be a good time for a very wealthy person, with a interest in photography and an appetite for risk, to put together a small select group of like minded angel investors in order to make a friendly offer to buy Alamy.

 

This is not to have you lot running Alamy. It is to reward Alamy shareholders for 20 years of good works, and initiate a radical change of thinking in a very difficult market.

 

Bill

Check it out !!! https://www.alamy.com/portfolio/billbrooks/favourites.html
 

[KevinS]

Does Alamy have but one investor? 

[DJ Myford]

I'd better go buy a lottery ticket...

[KevinS]

Alamy is a cash cow;

 

Mike founded Alamy with James West in 1999, and it is this endeavour that now provides the bulk of SBL’s funding.

[wiskerke]

Maybe hire this guy:

https://petapixel.com/2017/05/12/earn-200000a-year-photography/

 

wim

 

 

[Bill Brooks]

Maybe this guy. He could  have the knowledge and raise  the financing based on his reputation alone.

http://arcurs.com/who/

 

Bill

 

Check it out !!! https://www.alamy.com/portfolio/billbrooks/favourites.html

[Martin P Wilson]

24 minutes ago, wiskerke said:

Maybe hire this guy:

https://petapixel.com/2017/05/12/earn-200000a-year-photography/

 

wim

 

 

 

Mmm. I don't think so ...

 

[Robert M Estall]

I've got some savings and some experience in running an (admittedly small) agency. How hard can it be?

[John Mitchell]

3 hours ago, Bill Brooks said:

 

... and initiate a radical change of thinking in a very difficult market.

 

 

 

Can you elaborate?

[Cryptoprocta]

4 hours ago, Bill Brooks said:

Maybe this guy. He could  have the knowledge and raise  the financing based on his reputation alone.

http://arcurs.com/who/

 

He was supposed to be 'sorting out' the big G.

He posted about how surprisingly 'agile' G was, and with him project managing the changes, everything there would be hunky dory in a very few months.

No idea what happened, but things continued to go downhill after his involvement.

http://www.microstockgroup.com/istockphoto-com/can-istock-turn-midstock-sales-around/msg382833/#msg382833

[Cryptoprocta]

But really, who would want all the work of sorting out the search engine and all the spammed and badly keyworded images, 'encouraged' latterly by the stupid discoverability bar.

[Bill Brooks]

2 hours ago, John Mitchell said:

 

Can you elaborate?

 

Some ideas would be to move Alamy over to a all RF exclusive microstock model at $1 per download flat rate.

 

Reduce photographers commissions from 40% to 30%.

 

Sell a select group of photographers top of the search order for a further reduction of their commission from 30% to 25%.

 

Better contracts for photographers who earn them.

 

Curate the present collection down to 50 million unique images.

 

Curate every submission.

 

Charge photographers for the use of Member Services.

 

Photographer payment threshold of $250.

 

Terminate any photographer with a low RPI, not submitting for 2 years, more than one failure in QC in a year, too many duplicates, too many rejects when submission curated, complaining on social media.

 

FTP only.

 

Require a photography style portfolio review before admission to the agency in the first place.

 

Alamy executives can dress any way they want, and should not waste money on videos. Email communication only.

 

No more mister nice guy.

 

Reinstitute the inquisition.

[John Mitchell]

Yikes! You've just blown the "nice Canadian" stereotype to bits, Mr. Brooks.

 

Perhaps you should start your own agency.

[John Richmond]

The roads to serfdom are many and varied.  Thanks for identifying a few more routes for our consideration.

 

44 minutes ago, Bill Brooks said:

removed point about sexual harassment

 

What, make it compulsory?

[Chuck Nacke]

7 hours ago, Bill Brooks said:

Now would be a good time for a very wealthy person, with a interest in photography and an appetite for risk, to put together a small select group of like minded angel investors in order to make a friendly offer to buy Alamy.

 

This is not to have you lot running Alamy. It is to reward Alamy shareholders for 20 years of good works, and initiate a radical change of thinking in a very difficult market.

 

Bill

Check it out !!! https://www.alamy.com/portfolio/billbrooks/favourites.html
 

Bill,

 

Alamy does not have "Share holders"  it is wholly owned.

 

I have been working on something, but it is very difficult to put

together and I do not believe it will happen, I am too busy doing

corporate photography.

 

I will also add that there is WAY TOO MUCH GARBAGE on Alamy.

Photographers need to know how to edit and Alamy has allowed

Amateurs to upload everything.  I will add that there are also many

exceptional images available on Alamy.  What is happening is SAD

very SAD and I am sorry that I feel the way I do towards a group that

I have respected for almost two decades.

 

Chuck Nacke

[Chuck Nacke]

8 hours ago, Bill Brooks said:

 

 

[Bill Brooks]

55 minutes ago, Chuck Nacke said:

Bill,

 

Alamy does not have "Share holders"  it is wholly owned.

 

I have been working on something, but it is very difficult to put

together and I do not believe it will happen, I am too busy doing

corporate photography.

 

Chuck

 

Its a small point Chuck but Alamy is a private company and I think they have a total of at least 3 private shareholders. One is James West, another James' uncle, and I think someone else.

I agree there are no public shareholders at this time. However maybe in the future they would go public with a large number of shareholders. Maybe today they are getting ready to either go public, or sell the company privately.

 

1 hour ago, John Mitchell said:

Yikes! You've just blown the "nice Canadian" stereotype to bits, Mr. Brooks.

 

Perhaps you should start your own agency.

 

And John I know I have blown the nice Canadian out of the water. I think we would be much better off with the nice British person presently running the company.

 

I was once involved in a group raising venture capital for a stock photo agency. The first question out of the venture capitalists mouth was "how can you either eliminate, or at least reduce the photographers commission?".

 

Don't be too hard on James W.  Sometimes it is better to deal with the devil you know, than the devil you don't know.

[John Mitchell]

7 hours ago, Bill Brooks said:

Don't be too hard on James W.  Sometimes it is better to deal with the devil you know, than the devil you don't know.

 

James strikes me as being a nice chap, certainly not a devil.

[Starsphinx]

10 hours ago, Bill Brooks said:

 

Its a small point Chuck but Alamy is a private company and I think they have a total of at least 3 private shareholders. One is James West, another James' uncle, and I think someone else.

I agree there are no public shareholders at this time. However maybe in the future they would go public with a large number of shareholders. Maybe today they are getting ready to either go public, or sell the company privately.

 

 

And John I know I have blown the nice Canadian out of the water. I think we would be much better off with the nice British person presently running the company.

 

I was once involved in a group raising venture capital for a stock photo agency. The first question out of the venture capitalists mouth was "how can you either eliminate, or at least reduce the photographers commission?".

 

Don't be too hard on James W.  Sometimes it is better to deal with the devil you know, than the devil you don't know.

My answer would have been you buy the photo off of them upfront before it has ever sold - at prices that will be in thousands because enough photographers know the value of their copyright .

[Martin P Wilson]

Any photographer, in fact anybody, who has the skills to make a success of Alamy is probably working hard making good money so why would they get involved with the stock photo market considering its current state. Better uses of money elsewhere, perhaps even the stock market after recent falls!