chris_rabe Posted July 20, 2021 Share Posted July 20, 2021 Now down to 4 days, and not sure what to do. I have scouted a bit of the official thread on contracts, but I'm looking for something that has a specfic breakdown on particulars that I should be worried about. What happens with all outstanding money owed by Alamy if I were to drop out? I have an outstanding balance of $300, some of which I have probably been waiting over a year for... This is supposed to be a relaxing side project that I work on, not something that stresses me out. All the talk of liability has me concerned though - shouldn't liability come down to usage? I.e person using should know if they need a release or not? Basically nothing in my port is released... Is it time to move away from stock? Start my own site again, focus on fewer hopefully better images, rather than the general content I throw up because I can? Sigh, better squeeze some time in today to read that contract.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve F Posted July 20, 2021 Share Posted July 20, 2021 Chris, there was an unbelievable amount of (mostly useless) rhetoric on the contract changes. To the very best of my understanding, there are actually no changes at all, they've just tightened up some of the wording. All the things people were getting worried about were already in previous versions of the contract, except most people (myself included) hadn't bothered to go through in detail the contract we signed up to. Any outstanding balance is still owed whether you are a contributor or not. The commission change is a blow. I am looking at diversifying myself, but I suspect it's getting harder to make money with photography generally across the board, whatever you do. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve F Posted July 20, 2021 Share Posted July 20, 2021 On termination Alamy will: delete from the Alamy Websites any Content provided by you under this Contract; continue to report to you in respect of Licences granted prior to the date of termination of this Contract or Licences granted after the date of termination of this Contract as permitted herein; not return to you any data, of whatever kind, relating to any Content or the Content itself. The termination of this Contract will not prejudice any Licences in existence prior to the date of termination, any negotiations in relation to the Content which Alamy has properly entered into with any third party prior to the date of termination, or the grant of Licences for Content already downloaded by a Customer prior to the date of termination. Any provision of this Contract which expressly or by implication is intended to come into or continue in force on or after termination of this Contract will remain in full force and effect. Termination of this Contract will not affect any rights, remedies, obligations or liabilities of the parties that have accrued up to the date of termination, including the right to claim damages in respect of any breach of the Contract which existed at or before the date of termination. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joseph Clemson Posted July 20, 2021 Share Posted July 20, 2021 The trouble with responding to this query is that it risks reopening the contract changes thread and, therefore, the instant deletion of this thread. However, I have to say that I disagree with Steve that there are no changes at all. In the changes to the contract wording I have looked at. I believe I see an increase in exposure to the risk of legal action and also the range of third parties for whom I would need to bear the costs of such action. True, there were risks before, though not so explicit, but I feel a sense of greater risk. The problem which worries me most is the possibility of an image of mine being perceived to breach someones copyright or IP rights, even inadvertently and even where the case is without merit. I would still need to defend the action and bear just about everyone's costs. None of Alamy's 'clarifications' have dissuaded me of this view. Therefore the actions I am taking (not wishing to leave Alamy, though it has been a close run decision): 1. Take out Professional Indemity insurance (yes, I know I should have had it before). 2. Delete the (few) images I have where the primary focus may be copyright material. 3. Set all images (except a few innocuous landscapes) to be explicitly 'Sell for Editorial Only' 4. Disable Personal Use on all images (except a few innocuous landscapes). Chris, at least you are asking the question. I wonder how many other contributors will drift past the 24th July in blissful ignorance? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted July 20, 2021 Share Posted July 20, 2021 (edited) 46 minutes ago, Joseph Clemson said: Take out Professional Indemity insurance (yes, I know I should have had it before). A couple of contributors were told by insurers that their PII would not cover the sorts of instances that were most of concern in the new contract. No point paying over a huge slice of my income from Alamy for useless cover. 46 minutes ago, Joseph Clemson said: Delete the (few) images I have where the primary focus may be copyright material. If there have been no issues with my images over the past 12 years, the contract changes don't make them any more troublesome as such, they only change the possible consequences. The risk has not increased. Edited July 20, 2021 by spacecadet 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Douglas Posted July 20, 2021 Share Posted July 20, 2021 1 hour ago, Steve F said: Chris, there was an unbelievable amount of (mostly useless) rhetoric on the contract changes. To the very best of my understanding, there are actually no changes at all, they've just tightened up some of the wording. All the things people were getting worried about were already in previous versions of the contract, except most people (myself included) hadn't bothered to go through in detail the contract we signed up to. Any outstanding balance is still owed whether you are a contributor or not. The commission change is a blow. I am looking at diversifying myself, but I suspect it's getting harder to make money with photography generally across the board, whatever you do. That was not the case for the 17 May version, in particular clauses 4.1.6 and 5.1. These clauses were subsequently amended by Alamy in the 9 June version after many postings on here about how they shifted liabilities onto the contributor over which the contributor had no control. 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_rabe Posted July 20, 2021 Author Share Posted July 20, 2021 Thanks guys - and Steve for pointing out the "outstanding" stuff. I think if I stay, I'll be altering pretty much all my RM images to "editorial only", even though all will indicate "property" + "release" states. My sales are generally doing ok that I shouldn't need to worry about falling into "silver". If I left here, I'd be running out of places to sell. I dropped SS when they changed their payment structure. AS doesn't make much for me, nor does DT. I am a little tempted to just remove everything from all though. Processing and key-wording is time consuming stuff, so I have to work out if it's worth the time, and maybe figure out some other way to monetize. Joseph, as for them closing contract related threads/posts, I find that a bit ridiculous personally. It sends a message of "we've had enough of listening to you all". I don't have the time with Alamy that some of you have, but even when I joined not so long ago, there was a very positive attitude from and towards them. I have seen that drop drastically in little time. Which makes me wonder, how long before the next thing that gets even my back up? 1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve F Posted July 20, 2021 Share Posted July 20, 2021 3 minutes ago, chris_rabe said: I think if I stay, I'll be altering pretty much all my RM images to "editorial only", even though all will indicate "property" + "release" states. Chris: https://discussion.alamy.com/topic/14386-contract-change-2021-official-thread/?do=findComment&comment=291423 As long as you haven't marked that you have releases when you don't, or you've left whether or not you have releases blank, you don't need to put editorial only. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Douglas Posted July 20, 2021 Share Posted July 20, 2021 (edited) I am still trying to decide what to do as well, although I'm leaning towards leaving Alamy. A static portfolio with no additions sees a decline in revenue year on year. My sales numbers have remained relatively constant over the last few years but fees overall have declined. The only way for me to maintain the revenue is by adding about 15% more images each year. If I look at the time required to do that I'm working at an effective rate of £1-£2 an hour. It's just not viable for me other than as a hobby. I made more money helping out at an event last weekend than I will receive from Alamy for the whole of this year. It was a long weekend, quite tiring but very enjoyable and I don't need to spend hours in front of the computer processing images, writing captions and keywords and trying to improve my search ranking! Edited July 20, 2021 by Keith Douglas 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alamy Posted July 20, 2021 Share Posted July 20, 2021 https://discussion.alamy.com/topic/14386-contract-change-2021-official-thread/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts