Alamy End of Year video

[meanderingemu]

49 minutes ago, Alamy said:

 

That is also - frankly - factually incorrect.

 

As I mentioned in the vid, we’ll share more info when we can on this but I firmly believe the steps we are taking next year to tackle infringements is something to feel very positive about.

 

James A

 

could you address your statement about the "What to shoot" I was told by contributors relation that many are not actually from customers, would it actually be possible to identify which one are actually from client requests, and which one are just Alamy thinks there is a gap?  this would be helpful for contributor in accessing what effort we should invest in said shoot, 

[losdemas]

51 minutes ago, Regis said:

English is not my first language, sorry for the spelling mistake.

It should have been :

Tough instead of though...

 Got it. Thanks for responding.

[sb photos]

2 hours ago, PAL Media said:

Not a single word about Alamy Live News 😒

 

Right, no mention of Live News. Emily stated that PA would supply news, sport, entertainment and assignment images. 

[sb photos]

58 minutes ago, meanderingemu said:

 

could you address your statement about the "What to shoot" I was told by contributors relation that many are not actually from customers, would it actually be possible to identify which one are actually from client requests, and which one are just Alamy thinks there is a gap?  this would be helpful for contributor in accessing what effort we should invest in said shoot, 

 

Good question. Whenever I view 'what to shoot' where If local I could shoot, I search to see what what is already available on Alamy, then make my decision.

[John Mitchell]

58 minutes ago, losdemas said:

 Got it. Thanks for responding.

 

Just wondering, what language are those Mersey lads in the video speaking?

Edited December 18, 2020 by John Mitchell

[sb photos]

5 hours ago, NYCat said:

For some reason Alamy never manages to get decent audio. At least this one was audible.

 

I watched it twice. The acoustics from wherever the video was shot weren't good, but it was quite understandable. There were some background noises that I doubt were in the original audio.

[sb photos]

1 hour ago, Bill Kuta said:

Thanks for the video, Alamy.

 

A couple of questions from Emily's presentation:

 

- a new search facility and filters:   Which AIM fields will be included in the new search functionality? Particularly, which "Optional" fields? Categories? Location? Or some new fields? Contributors need lead time if we need to fill in new or unused fields.

 

- getting customers to commit to Alamy:  I can't think of a way to do this except through something like a subscription scheme. Is this what you mean?

 

thanks

Bill Kuta

 

My feeling is that subscription schemes will be marketed to gain customers committing to Alamy, if so this usually means lower license fees, not good for contributors.

 

One positive comment that caught my attention was Alamy looking into accepting video content again. 

[Shergar]

2 hours ago, Regis said:

English is not my first language, sorry for the spelling mistake.

It should have been :

Tough instead of though...

 

I understood exactly what you meant Regis.

 

David Bailey is a English photographer who has dyspraxia. ... made to feel stupid due to his clumsiness and his problems with spelling and writing.

[meanderingemu]

31 minutes ago, sb photos said:

 

Good question. Whenever I view 'what to shoot' where If local I could shoot, I search to see what what is already available on Alamy, then make my decision.

i remember asking on one that felt extremely wide like "French events" and being told, not a client request, just something they felt was lacking.  fine if i fall on one, but i've not had any zoom on one, nor even hint of feedback on live news ones... 

 

 

on the video I was happy that they realise they need to push more out of UK

[Chuck Nacke]

I appreciated the video and the effort that Alamy made and presented

to us.

 

I do not understand why so many jumped up with negative

comments?

 

It has been a rough year for everyone, I would suggest giving

these people the benefit of the moment and season.

 

Chuck

[Shergar]

1 hour ago, Chuck Nacke said:

I appreciated the video and the effort that Alamy made and presented

to us.

 

I do not understand why so many jumped up with negative

comments?

 

It has been a rough year for everyone, I would suggest giving

these people the benefit of the moment and season.

 

Chuck

Great post Chuck you hit the nail on the head.

 

[Panthera tigris]

8 hours ago, Bill Kuta said:

.........

 

- getting customers to commit to Alamy:  I can't think of a way to do this except through something like a subscription scheme. Is this what you mean?

 

thanks

Bill Kuta

 

That bit caught my attention as well. 

[AlexH]

Re the quality, I think it has to be judged in context; ie it is a video from a relatively large media related company. So, despite the fact it's aimed at contributors it has to be said the production quality is frankly appalling. There are children producing far superior work on YouTube every day. If any of the hoped for new customers stumble across they would not be inspired to work with Alamy.

 

Re the content, the trouble with the point about updating existing content in an increasingly competitive environment is that the decimated level of fees being secured means we will effectively be in a rabbit hole of a work for hire (without being hired) type of existence for in all likelihood terrible returns. Running to stand still at best. This isn't Alamy's fault, just a reality of the industry now.

[Edd Westmacott]

Thanks Alamy 

 

It’s great to hear from you! More communication and videos in the future please. I was happy to hear that the PA collection wasn’t being prioritised with a priority ranking. I would have generally liked more details rather than a summary

 

Happy Christmas! 

[geogphotos]

11 hours ago, Alamy said:

My comment: "Alamy do not know the ISBN/ISSN numbers of images used in books/magazines. They have to use a special team to do research on this for DACs claims at high cost each year. "

That is also - frankly - factually incorrect.

 

 

 

James A

 

 

"We can't provide the ISBN / ISSN's for a whole range of reasons - some for confidentiality but mainly because we don't always have them or have them in a format where it's easily shareable. Lots of the admin cost that goes into claiming those who are opted in is taken up by researching and trying to obtain this info." Alamy on DACS = accurate information please thread

 

Apologies if I misinterpreted this statement 

Edited December 19, 2020 by geogphotos

[Alamy]

11 minutes ago, geogphotos said:

 

 

"We can't provide the ISBN / ISSN's for a whole range of reasons - some for confidentiality but mainly because we don't always have them or have them in a format where it's easily shareable. Lots of the admin cost that goes into claiming those who are opted in is taken up by researching and trying to obtain this info."

Research, grouping, collating and putting into a suitable format for a DACS claim is a very different situation than “Alamy don’t know what they are”. 
 

This would have absolutely no bearing in any case on our infringement operation so we won’t derail the thread any more by discussing further.

 

James A

[Russell]

OK it wasn't a slick Hollywood presentation, but some credit must surely go to Alamy for trying to open up the conversation with contributors. Some points of interest were raised, and I look forward to a developing warm and open future relationship.

 

Best wishes to Alamy and all forum participants for Christmas and 2021.

 

Russell

[Inchiquin]

Good and bad.

 

Good: a dedicated infringements team. About time too, as long as it does the job properly.

 

Bad: "Talking about rankings, I want to let you know about some improvements we want to make to our search algorithm" followed by another 10 minutes without any mention of rankings at all. So we still have no idea how ranking works these days and as far as I'm aware, no-one has seen any evidence of a re-rank for at least two years.

 

Alan

[Ed Rooney]

8 hours ago, Chuck Nacke said:

I appreciated the video and the effort that Alamy made and presented

to us.

 

I do not understand why so many jumped up with negative

comments?

 

It has been a rough year for everyone, I would suggest giving

these people the benefit of the moment and season.

 

Chuck

 

Chuck and I seem to be agreeing on a lot. 😉

 

I can't see why Alamy contributors feel that Alamy should be knowledgeable about the future when we can't get any solid information from the NHS, Boris, the EU, the White House, or anywhere else. The pandemic has control of us all. The bottom line for me is I trust Alamy based on how they've treated me in the past. 

[Allan Bell]

9 hours ago, Chuck Nacke said:

I appreciated the video and the effort that Alamy made and presented

to us.

 

I do not understand why so many jumped up with negative

comments?

 

It has been a rough year for everyone, I would suggest giving

these people the benefit of the moment and season.

 

Chuck

 

Also bearing in mind it is not been that long since the major shakeup in the higher echelons.

 

Allan

 

[NYCat]

Well now I feel bad. I like communications from Alamy and always think they are nice, nice people. I understand that they can only deal in generalities about the future. I'm not sure what I expected but felt I didn't learn much about specifics. An infringement team sounds great. Widening the effort to get more customers sounds great. I hope 2021 gets better and better in many ways.

 

Paulette

[geogphotos]

It is good news about chasing infringements. Unreported legitimate uses is also a big problem - where the client or distributor just doesn't report the sale but Alamy has a download record/knows about it. It shouldn't be necessary for the contributor to track these down and report them six months or more after publication. And how many do we miss and they never get reported and paid?

 

My current example is a online magazine in Spain in April which I found, reported to Alamy who told me they would seek payment, and as yet nothing. Part of the problem is that the actual value of these sales is so low that chasing them is a disproportionate expense. I only know about it because somebody kindly reported it on the forum.

Edited December 19, 2020 by geogphotos

[Chuck Nacke]

2 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

 

Chuck and I seem to be agreeing on a lot. 😉

 

I can't see why Alamy contributors feel that Alamy should be knowledgeable about the future when we can't get any solid information from the NHS, Boris, the EU, the White House, or anywhere else. The pandemic has control of us all. The bottom line for me is I trust Alamy based on how they've treated me in the past. 

Happy Holidays to you as well Ed,

 

I agree with "I trust Alamy based on how they've treated me in the past."  

 

Both of us have worked with more than a few agencies, libraries etc. in the

past.  I just ended a 30+ year relationship with a group that you know well, but

I'm still with Alamy.

 

Chuck

[geogphotos]

I don't really see the need to be posting comments about how much we appreciate Alamy. It is self-evident that we wouldn't be here if that wasn't the case. But going on from that basis it is perfectly legitimate for contributors to raise problems, make comments even if not always totally positive, make suggestions, express disappointment, take the Mickey a little, have a laugh, and so on. 

 

Of course it is difficult when everybody is at home trying to make a really great video - and personally I don't care less about the production quality etc. I could hear what was being said - it seemed more a case of what was being read out actually - and it is always interesting to hear from Alamy. But since there was a preparatory  thread on what contributors wanted covered, and that received lots of comments and suggestions, I think it is fair to say purely and simply that the presentation was short on detail.

 

And not all of this lack of detail is about the future, there is a lot of uncertainty about the current system and operation that could and should be clarified, it was asked for, but didn't happen. The information given was fairly general and non-specific. That doesn't mean I don't appreciate Alamy and think it is the best thing since sliced bread. 

Edited December 19, 2020 by geogphotos

[meanderingemu]

53 minutes ago, geogphotos said:

I don't really see the need to be posting comments about how much we appreciate Alamy. It is self-evident that we wouldn't be here if that wasn't the case. But going on from that basis it is perfectly legitimate for contributors to raise problems, make comments even if not always totally positive, make suggestions, express disappointment, take the Mickey a little, have a laugh, and so on. 

 

Of course it is difficult when everybody is at home trying to make a really great video - and personally I don't care less about the production quality etc. I could hear what was being said - it seemed more a case of what was being read out actually - and it is always interesting to hear from Alamy. But since there was a preparatory  thread on what contributors wanted covered, and that received lots of comments and suggestions, I think it is fair to say purely and simply that the presentation was short on detail.

 

And not all of this lack of detail is about the future, there is a lot of uncertainty about the current system and operation that could and should be clarified, it was asked for, but didn't happen. The information given was fairly general and non-specific. That doesn't mean I don't appreciate Alamy and think it is the best thing since sliced bread. 

 

 

this i agree, however i still can't believe people still care what people wear in 2020- i guess i have worked in enough corporation where the fancier the suit, to higher the incompetence, and background, and production. 

I want that money to be spent on solving the Database problem, not on fancy decor, things that affect My revenue.