Way too many unreported usage

[Ilanphoto]

Hi All
My question is, what can we as contributors do in order to get paid for the usage of our images. It seems that more and more of our images are used without them being reported to us - Self billing scheme 
Point at hand. I just sent this off to Alamy
--------------Quote------------------------

Good morning Alamy

I am very disappointed with the way you do business and I am loosing trust in you and your useless self billing scheme 

As usual I have just come across at least 4 on my images that have been used by the Sun in October 2018 and do not appear in my sales report

This is not a way to earn the trust of your contributes 

the images are 
M15MAY  M53H62  M15MAH  M15MAH 

The website is 
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7417499/incredible-images-of-endangered-hunter-gatherer-hadza-tribe-looming-over-dead-baboon-as-they-butcher-it-for-dinner/

 

 

1. I really want a finders fee as finding unreported usage is not part of my job description 
2. Please let me know how we avoid this lack of transparency in the future 

 

---------------------------End of Quote ------------------------------------

Should we contact the offenders directly and sue?

Should we sue Alamy for breach of contract?

Any other thoughts 

 

[Joseph Clemson]

It really isn't acceptable. Perhaps an ongoing thread of unreported usages, say of six months and over, might alert contributors over serially offending publishers. It might also help unearth other unreported usages. Maybe it might just shame Alamy into doing something more about it. An enhanced licence fee for unreported usage would be a start.

[Mr Standfast]

Yes this is frustrating.

 

Many people on this forum are vociferously searching for useages, and are finding them a bit sooner than 8 months. Alamy ask that we do not chase them until three months.

I have always found that Alamy have reacted to a three month chase and the licence usually arrives in the next billing cycle.

 

As for sueing? A dialog between parties is usually recommended first, anyway even the small claims court online fee is £25 so your breakeven point is unsure.

As for contacting the Sun? That would be a breach of your Alamy contract.

 

As contributors we really should be keeping the pressure on Alamy.

 

 

 

[Phil]

Chasing unreported sales/infringers isn't worth the return on time/trouble given the current state of low image license pricing IMO.

 

The crux of the issue is Alamy's inadequate invoicing / accounts receivable business systems that are losing Alamy and it's contributors substantial $$ in lost revenues.  Thats a big problem IMO.     

[Chuck Nacke]

10 hours ago, Phil said:

Chasing unreported sales/infringers isn't worth the return on time/trouble given the current state of low image license pricing IMO.

 

The crux of the issue is Alamy's inadequate invoicing / accounts receivable business systems that are losing Alamy and it's contributors substantial $$ in lost revenues.  Thats a big problem IMO.     

Phil,

 

I strongly disagree, it can be well worth a photographer's time.  I bought my wife a 2kt diamond ring with part of the proceeds from chasing down one stolen image.  Most illegal usages are not worth following, a few are.  I always let the thief know and take action to protect my copyright.  NOTE TO ALL: always be very careful who you accuse of theft and accusations are a last resort.

 

To the OP:  I would be very unhappy if I felt that Alamy did not follow up on any well documented "unreported" usage of one of my images.

 

Chuck

 

[Phil]

15 hours ago, Chuck Nacke said:

Phil,

 

I strongly disagree, it can be well worth a photographer's time.  I bought my wife a 2kt diamond ring with part of the proceeds from chasing down one stolen image.  Most illegal usages are not worth following, a few are.  I always let the thief know and take action to protect my copyright.  NOTE TO ALL: always be very careful who you accuse of theft and accusations are a last resort.

 

To the OP:  I would be very unhappy if I felt that Alamy did not follow up on any well documented "unreported" usage of one of my images.

 

Chuck

 

 

Chuck -

Point taken. There certainly will be instances when chasing an unreported usage/infringer is productive.  

 

However, my dismay is based on the issue of why chasing unreported usages/sales/infringements should be needed and commonplace. 

 

Why is the problem as pervasive as it appears to be?   Why should it be on the image suppliers shoulders to find many of Alamy's sales and revenue leaks? 

 

Granted there's always a few that slip thru.  But based on the frequency of reported instances here in Alamy's contributor forums by a few and then extrapolate that to all Alamy's many thousands of contributors - the problem must be substantial.  If it is - then there's a substantial leakage of lost revenue for both Alamy and it's contributors.

 

This is 2019  not 1959.   There surely is technology and business systems to deal with the needed download-tracking/sales/invoicing/accounts receivable that should be able to reduce this revenue loss instead of suppliers being compelled to onesie-twosie track the leakage down themselves.        

 

 

[Starsphinx]

15 hours ago, Phil said:

 

Chuck -

Point taken. There certainly will be instances when chasing an unreported usage/infringer is productive.  

 

However, my dismay is based on the issue of why chasing unreported usages/sales/infringements should be needed and commonplace. 

 

Why is the problem as pervasive as it appears to be?   Why should it be on the image suppliers shoulders to find many of Alamy's sales and revenue leaks? 

 

Granted there's always a few that slip thru.  But based on the frequency of reported instances here in Alamy's contributor forums by a few and then extrapolate that to all Alamy's many thousands of contributors - the problem must be substantial.  If it is - then there's a substantial leakage of lost revenue for both Alamy and it's contributors.

 

This is 2019  not 1959.   There surely is technology and business systems to deal with the needed download-tracking/sales/invoicing/accounts receivable that should be able to reduce this revenue loss instead of suppliers being compelled to onesie-twosie track the leakage down themselves.        

 

 

Don't forget there will be people who for whatever reason do not chase or even check in the first place.  I am guilty of this - by the time I have got through things I HAVE to do it is not unusual to be left struggling to find the resources to process and upload yet alone go searching around.  There will be new contributors - or even people who have contributed for years but who do not visit the forum, who simply do not realize the need to do it.  They will assume Alamy takes care of such things.  For those not on the forum if they do trip over an incidence they will imagine it to be a rare one off.

[IanDavidson]

I have been working with Alamy over three live news images used by a newspaper in February and not invoiced.  It is concerning that images marked as from Alamy need to be chased up by photographers.  

 

I find less than one in three images that I sell so the chances of finding uninvoiced images is limited.  As stated the prices paid do put in the balance the amount of time and effort that can economically be expanded.

 

The reverse of that is I have a photographer acquaintance who tell me that 25% of his income is from chasing up image theft, and it runs into thousands of pounds... 

[Starsphinx]

1 hour ago, LawrensonPhoto said:

I can understand how difficult it must for Alamy to chase up 'certain' usages for example:

The Sun downloads 3 images of mine from the live news feed, The Sun then use two of those images repeatedly over several days in numerous articles, How do they keep track of this?

I guess that's why the honesty system exists, it would be pointless and time-wasting for the newspaper to repeatedly download the same image over and over again.

From what I make out reading a significant number of unpaid usages involve images clearly used and never paid for even once - it is not a case of checking the terms of the licence for the number of uses but of the fact the things have been used at all.

[Pete Snelling]

2 hours ago, LawrensonPhoto said:

I would add that checking for usages in all of the newspapers is a part of my routine now.

 

I was alerted by alamy of 3 print usages this month

I found the other 26 online usages

 

Snap , although i also use Pixsy to keep track. Very worthwhile, had 2 images used by Yahoo News which were taken from my Twitter , still waiting for the £££ to land for those as they were clear infringments. So far have 14 matches online, just a shame when a sale lands we're not informed by whom so we can match keep track.

 

[M.Chapman]

3 hours ago, Pete Snelling said:

 

Snap , although i also use Pixsy to keep track. Very worthwhile, had 2 images used by Yahoo News which were taken from my Twitter , still waiting for the £££ to land for those as they were clear infringments. So far have 14 matches online, just a shame when a sale lands we're not informed by whom so we can match keep track.

 

It would also be useful if Alamy provided download data (in addition to zooms and views) so we could focus our efforts on looking for usages of images that have been downloaded.

 

I also use Pixsy and have had one major success with them (£££ settlement) but their user interface is IMHO rubbish and full of bugs making it extremely tedious to work through the matches they claim to have found, so I’ve now virtually given up on them.

 

Mark

[Scott Gese]

On 28/06/2019 at 02:27, LawrensonPhoto said:

I would add that checking for usages in all of the newspapers is a part of my routine now.

 

I was alerted by alamy of 3 print usages this month

I found the other 26 online usages

How do you go about tracking down unpaid usages?

[Allan Bell]

58 minutes ago, LawrensonPhoto said:

Very few go 'unpaid' of mine, a few slip through the net so I do a reverse search on all my zoomed images once in a while. Some crop up and I just email alamy. Expect fly by night websites to steal your images, you won't get paid.

Most of my images are for live news, so checking all the newspapers with Pressreader can be done on a daily basis.

I also keep 6 different tabs open all the time for the websites most likely to use my images. The Sun, The Times, Mail, etc.

And checking the images found thread...

But I'm mostly out there taking pictures.

 

After reading all you are doing to keep track of images nicked Paul I wonder how you find time to get out and take them.🤔

 

Allan

 

[Allan Bell]

1 hour ago, LawrensonPhoto said:

And I look after my 4 kids!

I try to go out every single day of the week and always carry a camera (1DX with 24-105)

 

 

WOW! Good on yer mate.

 

Allan