Understanding Exclusivity

[IanButty]

With Jame's announcement about 50% commission for Alamy exclusive images, we all need to get our heads round how to manage this.  I'm creating this thread to deal with those technical questions.  I really don't want it to be a thread about the rights and wrongs of what has been announced.

 

So here's some of my questions:

 

Is there a way to bulk change images to being exclusive?

 

Is setting an image as exclusive a 'once for all time' decision on the Alamy website (such as setting RM vs RF) - I'm more than happy to make my images exclusive (at least for a while) but at a later date I may decide that I'm better off switching to non-exclusive - can I switch images back?

 

I know I have some images currently set to exclusive - how do I search Alamy to find out which of my images are exclusive and which are not?

 

What really counts as 'Exculsive to Alamy'?  James mentioned we can still sell these images directly - what counts as a direct sale?  The grey area for me is "Photographers Direct" it's a site that puts people looking for images in contact with photographers who can supply images.  All sales are handled directly by the photographer and not by PD - do that still count as a direct sale?  (It may be academic for me as I haven't had a sale via a PD referral for years so I might just pull all the images off there anyhow to avoid any conflict)

 

If you have your own questions about exclusivity why not add them to this thread so we have one place as a point of reference?  And if you have answers to any of my questions I'd be grateful.

Ian.

[CandyAppleRed Images]

There is an option in AIM under Attributes to only show 'Exclusive Alamy' but nothing I can see to show the inverse.

 

I have about 90% set to Exclusive but in reality it is about 99.9% - I just need to find the ones I haven't flagged through forgetfulness!

 

Anyone any ideas?

 

Cheers

 

Dave

 

 

 

[losdemas]

Well done for starting this thread. Hopefully it will provide some clarification - from Alamy. 

 

What about the huge number of contributors who currently have work elsewhere? Deciding whether to remove those images from other libraries is going to have to be a decision for each individual contributor, but IF that decision is made, can those images deleted from other places be determined to be exclusive to Alamy? And if so, how and when? What about lax distributors working through other agencies (something Alamy will know all about) - what happens if they retain images, which a photographer, in all good faith, believes have been removed from all other locations?

 

How about agencies who upload here? Are they to be bound by different rules? 

 

Seems to me that - unless this 'exclusivity' applies only for images uploaded from now onwards, OR for those who have NEVER uploaded those images elsewhere - that this is just opening yet another can of worms. 

 

The answers to these questions must come from Alamy, we're all only guessing otherwise. 

 

 

[spacecadet]

16 minutes ago, CandyAppleRed Images said:

There is an option in AIM under Attributes to only show 'Exclusive Alamy' but nothing I can see to show the inverse.

 

I have about 90% set to Exclusive but in reality it is about 99.9% - I just need to find the ones I haven't flagged through forgetfulness!

 

Anyone any ideas?

 

Cheers

 

Dave

 

 

 

The inverse is.... don't tick the box, isn't it?

[Starsphinx]

24 minutes ago, IanButty said:

With Jame's announcement about 50% commission for Alamy exclusive images, we all need to get our heads round how to manage this.  I'm creating this thread to deal with those technical questions.  I really don't want it to be a thread about the rights and wrongs of what has been announced.

 

So here's some of my questions:

 

Is there a way to bulk change images to being exclusive?

 

Is setting an image as exclusive a 'once for all time' decision on the Alamy website (such as setting RM vs RF) - I'm more than happy to make my images exclusive (at least for a while) but at a later date I may decide that I'm better off switching to non-exclusive - can I switch images back?

 

I know I have some images currently set to exclusive - how do I search Alamy to find out which of my images are exclusive and which are not?

 

What really counts as 'Exculsive to Alamy'?  James mentioned we can still sell these images directly - what counts as a direct sale?  The grey area for me is "Photographers Direct" it's a site that puts people looking for images in contact with photographers who can supply images.  All sales are handled directly by the photographer and not by PD - do that still count as a direct sale?  (It may be academic for me as I haven't had a sale via a PD referral for years so I might just pull all the images off there anyhow to avoid any conflict)

 

If you have your own questions about exclusivity why not add them to this thread so we have one place as a point of reference?  And if you have answers to any of my questions I'd be grateful.

Ian.

I seem to be able to change my images between RM and RF - maybe its because none of them have sold yet?

[Stokie]

6 minutes ago, losdemas said:

How about agencies who upload here? Are they to be bound by different rules? 

 

Surely by definition any agency's images cannot be exclusive here! Unless they aren't going to sell them on their own site for 100% of the fee.............

[losdemas]

1 minute ago, Stokie said:

 

Surely by definition any agency's images cannot be exclusive here! Unless they aren't going to sell them on there own site for 100% of the fee.............

 

Quite. I would like to know that they're being bound by the same rules. And how is that to apply. My cynical view is that there will be different strokes for different folks. 

[Alex Ramsay]

30 minutes ago, IanButty said:

 

Is there a way to bulk change images to being exclusive?

 

 

 

Nothing could be simpler - it was clear this was coming, so I just emailed member services last night and asked them to switch all my images to 'only available on Alamy' - done by the next update

Alex

[spacecadet]

9 minutes ago, Starsphinx said:

I seem to be able to change my images between RM and RF - maybe its because none of them have sold yet?

You can, but you shouldn't if they're not eligible. It's nothing to do with sales.

[spacecadet]

3 minutes ago, Alex Ramsay said:

 

Nothing could be simpler - it was clear this was coming, so I just emailed member services last night and asked them to switch all my images to 'only available on Alamy' - done by the next update

Alex

I explained how to do it in AIM on the other thread. Selecting "newest 500" now appears to select all images in "all submissions" view. Then tick the box. It takes a while to process a large collection

[Tony]

It's quite clear that some of you don't understand what exclusive means:

 

It's very simple... do not upload identical or similar shots to other outlets.

 

You can speculate on a million conflicting scenarios, but it up to us a professionals to play ball.

 

 

[IanButty]

Just now, spacecadet said:

You can, but you shouldn't if they're not eligible. It's nothing to do with sales.

In days gone by once you had set a licence type you couldn't change it via the interface.  The only way to change it was to delete the image and upload it again.

 

Also looks like the images I thought were exclusive to Alamy no longer are.  They were set to have a licence of "RP" (Rights Protected) which meant the image was exclusive to Alamy.  It appears that at some point in the last 15 years (they were some of the very first images I submitted, set with that licence in error) the licence has been changed, scrapped and they aren't tagged as exclusive either!!

[Starsphinx]

4 minutes ago, spacecadet said:

You can, but you shouldn't if they're not eligible. It's nothing to do with sales.

I had some on here RM that had never sold with the right boxes ticked for people and property which have now gone elsewhere RF editorial and I have changed the images here to match that.

Again nothing has sold (yet she adds hopefully) so trying to make sure everything stays the same

[Bryan]

I've asked contributor whatsits to mark all of my images as being Exclusive. Hoping that I don't have to go through each one myself. 

 

Closed down my POD membership elsewhere, it never did bring in any cash.

[spacecadet]

14 minutes ago, spacecadet said:

I explained how to do it in AIM on the other thread. Selecting "newest 500" now appears to select all images in "all submissions" view. Then tick the box. It takes a while to process a large collection

I wish to contradict myself- this doesn't work. MS did it for me- they sent round an invite on the 3rd. October offering to mark all images as "exclusive" and I consented.

Sorry.

 

[Vincent Lowe]

I think all mine are already marked as exclusive but what would be useful would be a 'not Alamy exclusive' option in the AIM search filters.  This would make it a lot easier to find any I might have missed.

[John Mitchell]

13 minutes ago, Bryan said:

I've asked contributor whatsits to mark all of my images as being Exclusive. Hoping that I don't have to go through each one myself. 

 

Closed down my POD membership elsewhere, it never did bring in any cash.

 

Has James said that images on POD sites count -- i.e. do we have to take them down if we want to make the same images exclusive on Alamy?

[spacecadet]

Just now, John Mitchell said:

 

Has James said that images on POD sites count -- i.e. do we have to take them down if we want to make the same images exclusive on Alamy?

Check the vid, I think he said POD was exempt.

[John Mitchell]

1 hour ago, IanButty said:

 

What really counts as 'Exculsive to Alamy'?  James mentioned we can still sell these images directly - what counts as a direct sale?  The grey area for me is "Photographers Direct" it's a site that puts people looking for images in contact with photographers who can supply images.  All sales are handled directly by the photographer and not by PD - do that still count as a direct sale?  (It may be academic for me as I haven't had a sale via a PD referral for years so I might just pull all the images off there anyhow to avoid any conflict)

 

 

As you say, photographers Direct, as the name implies, is a way of selling images directly to buyers. It's not a stock agency, so I don't see how having low-res images posted on the PD site would interfere with exclusivity here. Plus, I'm not even sure that PD is still operating.

[John Mitchell]

17 minutes ago, spacecadet said:

Check the vid, I think he said POD was exempt.

 

I just had another listen to the video and didn't hear mention of POD sites. Alamy needs to clarify this as many contributors have images on PODs. They aren't stock agencies, so I don't see how they could be considered Alamy competitors.

[spacecadet]

Too bad. Just something non-specific about selling direct then.

1 minute ago, John Mitchell said:

 

I just had another listen to the video and didn't hear mention of POD sites. Alamy need to clarify this as many contributors have images on PODs. They aren't stock agencies, so I don't see how they could be considered Alamy competitors.

 

[John Mitchell]

10 minutes ago, spacecadet said:

Too bad. Just something non-specific about selling direct then.

 

 

James sort of mumbled through that part of the video, but I couldn't make out any reference to POD websites. BTW, I didn't receive this e-mail announcement. Was there any statement in the e-mail that Alamy would be providing us with further info soon?

[CandyAppleRed Images]

35 minutes ago, Vincent Lowe said:

I think all mine are already marked as exclusive but what would be useful would be a 'not Alamy exclusive' option in the AIM search filters.  This would make it a lot easier to find any I might have missed.

That was the point I was trying to make earlier. A lot of Attribute search options are binary, i.e. Model Released/Non-model released and the same for property.

 

But there is no inverse for exclusives - it either shows all images or exclusives, but not non-exclusives. Makes it hard to find the 200 or so I have not flagged and also highlight the very few I need to leave as non-ex.

 

 

[spacecadet]

3 minutes ago, CandyAppleRed Images said:

That was the point I was trying to make earlier. A lot of Attribute search options are binary, i.e. Model Released/Non-model released and the same for property.

 

But there is no inverse for exclusives - it either shows all images or exclusives, but not non-exclusives. Makes it hard to find the 200 or so I have not flagged and also highlight the very few I need to leave as non-ex.

 

 

I see what you mean. You can't search on it. But if you let MS change them all, you can then single out the ones you need to and change them back.

[CandyAppleRed Images]

1 hour ago, spacecadet said:

The inverse is.... don't tick the box, isn't it?

No - that shows all images irrespective of exclusivity.

 

(and the red arrow wasn't mine!)