meanderingemu Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 11 hours ago, Steve Tucker said: Thanks, not a term I had heard before and had to do a search. i had never heard of it either until someone had a licence with it and it was explained on the forum 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meanderingemu Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 (edited) On 14/01/2022 at 13:52, Alamy said: Hi All, Apologies on the radio silence up to this point whilst we investigate what's been happening with these sales via a Chinese distributor. The detail is more complex than it appears and we are still picking through the data to ascertain what’s involved and how it has come to pass. I'd also like to apologise for posting this on what is a Friday afternoon here in the UK. It's never the best time to post replies and I'm aware there will may be suspicions that this is some kind of deliberate tactic of waiting for a quiet period but I can assure you it isn't. I'll be back in touch next week to share more detail of what has happened with this flurry of sales through the Chinese distribution channel. week is almost over, so is there another late Friday afternoon post coming? I understand this might have been a big surprise for Alamy, but maybe just a quick update that you are still trying to gather information. Edited January 21, 2022 by meanderingemu 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cryptoprocta Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 19 minutes ago, meanderingemu said: week is almost over, so is there another late Friday afternoon post coming? I understand this might have been a big surprise for Alamy, but maybe just a quick update that you are still trying to gather information. Whose report will come first: Alamy's or Sue Gray's??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alamy Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 Hi All, The data has been pulled and looked at for the distributor in question and we can confirm they have operated within our agreement. The images were sourced from the pool of images opted into Chinese distribution and Novel Use. The usage confirmation report included a very small % of images that had opted out or had been deleted in the time between download and use, but the vast majority of images billed remain opted into both. The images selected have been used as part of a small business / personal template style application where users can quickly create small designs. The novel use pool was used for this as it covers low value / high volume style licence packages and our agreement with this distributor continues to limit them to the novel use pool, although there still may be some additional billing associated with images downloaded whilst opted in, that are now opted out. These deals are done based on the fact that they are additional streams of revenue that allow our reach to grow within the market and gain ground on competitors. The average licence price we sell for remains a significant indicator as to our approach to pricing, and the fact that it has remained stable over the last 3 or 4 years at $26-$30 in a difficult market shows a level of robustness. Competition is fierce of course and last year saw record levels of contributor registrations and image uploads. The photographers who are growing revenue on Alamy and having continued success are supplying a steady stream of fresh and on-trend content and are seeing year on year growth in earnings. Future growth opportunities are on the horizon across all areas of our business and we'll share them with you at the earliest opportunity. Best regards James Allsworth Head of Content 3 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radim Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 It's great to hear how we are doing, and the promising horizon of future growth, I probably live in a different bubble Radim 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan_Andison Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 (edited) 27 minutes ago, Alamy said: The images selected have been used as part of a small business / personal template style application where users can quickly create small designs. The novel use pool was used for this as it covers low value / high volume style licence packages and our agreement with this distributor continues to limit them to the novel use pool, although there still may be some additional billing associated with images downloaded whilst opted in, that are now opted out. Hi... I'm not in the Novel Use scheme yet I had more than 80 of these sales. Could you explain how my images are available in the Novel Use pool when they've never been part of the Novel Use scheme since April 2013?!? Edit. Also, I'm quite sure the majority of the sales we're of images that were submitted after April 2013 so would never of been part of it. Edited January 21, 2022 by Duncan_Andison 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabbro Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 "The images were sourced from the pool of images opted into Chinese distribution and Novel Use." -- I have NEVER been in Novel Use, but still got 15 of those sales! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alamy Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 43 minutes ago, Duncan_Andison said: Hi... I'm not in the Novel Use scheme yet I had more than 80 of these sales. Could you explain how my images are available in the Novel Use pool when they've never been part of the Novel Use scheme since April 2013?!? Edit. Also, I'm quite sure the majority of the sales we're of images that were submitted after April 2013 so would never of been part of it. 6 minutes ago, Gabbro said: "The images were sourced from the pool of images opted into Chinese distribution and Novel Use." -- I have NEVER been in Novel Use, but still got 15 of those sales! Thanks both - I'll ask the team to check these examples and will respond. Best, James A 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Pancaketom Posted January 21, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 21, 2022 I too have been opted out of Novel use (in 2008, I am pretty sure that all nearly all of the images bought under this price were uploaded after that) and got plenty of these 4 cent sales. also, as far as "Future growth opportunities" are concerned, please don't pursue any that result in sales for pennies. 1 2 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Crean Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 4 minutes ago, Pancaketom said: also, as far as "Future growth opportunities" are concerned, please don't pursue any that result in sales for pennies. Absolutely 100% in agreement with this! Phil 3 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.Chapman Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 (edited) 17 hours ago, Alamy said: The average licence price we sell for remains a significant indicator as to our approach to pricing, and the fact that it has remained stable over the last 3 or 4 years at $26-$30 in a difficult market shows a level of robustness. Competition is fierce of course and last year saw record levels of contributor registrations and image uploads. The photographers who are growing revenue on Alamy and having continued success are supplying a steady stream of fresh and on-trend content and are seeing year on year growth in earnings. If average earnings are being maintained (excellent news), why on earth sell images for such a pittance? Shooting oneself in the foot comes to mind. Mark Edited January 22, 2022 by M.Chapman 2 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 I opted out of NU in 2012 and had three of these sales. The images were taken in 2016 and 2018, so no way they were connected to NU. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meanderingemu Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 2 hours ago, Alamy said: Hi All, The data has been pulled and looked at for the distributor in question and we can confirm they have operated within our agreement. The images were sourced from the pool of images opted into Chinese distribution and Novel Use. The usage confirmation report included a very small % of images that had opted out or had been deleted in the time between download and use, but the vast majority of images billed remain opted into both. Best regards James Allsworth Head of Content Thanks James. I opted out of Chinese distribution when Alamy opened the opt out with the contract change, so I guess this confirms that a significant number of these sales happened in the first half of the year, and that I guess Alamy is fine with distributor taking over 6 months to report them, and why wouldn't they since they pocketed 20% more in doing so. This will be even more so this year, where potentially an estimated half the contributors would get 50% drop in what they were owed with timely reporting. 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meanderingemu Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 3 hours ago, Alamy said: These deals are done based on the fact that they are additional streams of revenue that allow our reach to grow within the market and gain ground on competitors. The average licence price we sell for remains a significant indicator as to our approach to pricing, and the fact that it has remained stable over the last 3 or 4 years at $26-$30 in a difficult market shows a level of robustness. Competition is fierce of course and last year saw record levels of contributor registrations and image uploads. The photographers who are growing revenue on Alamy and having continued success are supplying a steady stream of fresh and on-trend content and are seeing year on year growth in earnings. Future growth opportunities are on the horizon across all areas of our business and we'll share them with you at the earliest opportunity. Best regards James Allsworth Head of Content If the idea is future growth and new opportunities for your contributors, why restrict access to existing one. Still can't understand being told i had to fail QC a few times before being given access to Reportage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regis Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 (edited) 5 hours ago, Alamy said: Hi All, The data has been pulled and looked at for the distributor in question and we can confirm they have operated within our agreement. The images were sourced from the pool of images opted into Chinese distribution and Novel Use. The usage confirmation report included a very small % of images that had opted out or had been deleted in the time between download and use, but the vast majority of images billed remain opted into both. Hi Alamy/James, I opted out of Novel use in 2008. I had one photograph made in 2018, sold in these $0.15 gross / $0.4 net at the end of December. Did the photographs had to be into Chinese Distribution AND Novel Use, or just one of these was enough to be part of these sales? Regards, Regis Edited January 21, 2022 by Regis 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobD Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 6 hours ago, Alamy said: Hi All, The data has been pulled and looked at for the distributor in question and we can confirm they have operated within our agreement. The images were sourced from the pool of images opted into Chinese distribution and Novel Use. The usage confirmation report included a very small % of images that had opted out or had been deleted in the time between download and use, but the vast majority of images billed remain opted into both. The images selected have been used as part of a small business / personal template style application where users can quickly create small designs. The novel use pool was used for this as it covers low value / high volume style licence packages and our agreement with this distributor continues to limit them to the novel use pool, although there still may be some additional billing associated with images downloaded whilst opted in, that are now opted out. These deals are done based on the fact that they are additional streams of revenue that allow our reach to grow within the market and gain ground on competitors. The average licence price we sell for remains a significant indicator as to our approach to pricing, and the fact that it has remained stable over the last 3 or 4 years at $26-$30 in a difficult market shows a level of robustness. Competition is fierce of course and last year saw record levels of contributor registrations and image uploads. The photographers who are growing revenue on Alamy and having continued success are supplying a steady stream of fresh and on-trend content and are seeing year on year growth in earnings. Future growth opportunities are on the horizon across all areas of our business and we'll share them with you at the earliest opportunity. Best regards James Allsworth Head of Content Can you please tell me how one of my images were sold via this distributor when I have been opted out of ALL distributor sales for over 7 months? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobD Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 My last 4 sales. $1.15, $0.94, $5.42, $0.15. I am now teetering on the brink of calling it a day. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meanderingemu Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 30 minutes ago, BobD said: Can you please tell me how one of my images were sold via this distributor when I have been opted out of ALL distributor sales for over 7 months? see my post, seems likely this was a one year dump of sales. If not we would have had a trickle of posts throughout the year, like for the UK $0.17. of course this would mean Alamy pocketed an extra 20% on All these licences by not applying the pre-July contract. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meanderingemu Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 (edited) 35 minutes ago, BobD said: My last 4 sales. $1.15, $0.94, $5.42, $0.15. I am now teetering on the brink of calling it a day. let me take my calculator, assuming 60% commission, hold the 2 remainder, divide by circumference of Neptune, Yep $30 average 😀 it is getting pretty discouraging. I have 4 sales now found, not reported yet and i dread the reporting now. Edited January 21, 2022 by meanderingemu 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taina Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 Hi James, thank you for posting, but can you please explain this: I opted out Novel use in April 2017. Those 16 images that netted me 0.04 were created and uploaded both before and after that date. One image included was interestingly a 2020 remake of a July 2017 photo which I uploaded April 3, 2020. Why was this image in the pool? When I opted out the Novel use scheme, I understood that opting out would remove ALL of my Alamy content from the Novel Use scheme within reasonable time, like a couple of weeks maybe. Now it's soon 5 years. And ALL means each and every photo on my portfolio, past, present, future. Is there a connection between the Distribution scheme and Novel Use? I'm with distribution (maybe foolishly so) and opting out of it should be possible throughout the year. Before opting out China I don't feel my work is safe. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meanderingemu Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 Quote The data has been pulled and looked at for the distributor in question and we can confirm they have operated within our agreement. Have been thinking about the reply, and this is the part that bothers me the most. I don't think many of us thought there was any fraud involved, so fact it was "within agreement" was not really the highest concern. I think what many of us reacted to was the impact of said agreement, written by Alamy, with this partner selected by Alamy, and what Alamy's position was going forward. I guess from the reply I understand that 5 cents commission (60% of the net) is now part of Alamy's business, that mass annual untimely reporting is also contractually stated- contract written by Alamy and this makes me sad. This is not the first business disagreement I have had with what Alamy seems to have written in the agreements with Distributors, as recently as October contributor service told me the 90 day policy for timely reporting usages does not apply to these agreements and that basic rights management did not keep with RM expectations. I have in my work career written agreements that did not end up as expected, you review and then make decision going forward. I guess this one is just within Alamy's acceptable range. To me this is my take away today. I had already excluded most Distributors last year-Including China- and will exclude the rest in April. I understand this is shooting myself in the foot since some of them actually bring in decent Gross amount, and therefore help towards threshold meeting, but I have now lost fate that these agreement are written with any interest in protecting the work of contributors, even beyond the price issue. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cryptoprocta Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 3 minutes ago, meanderingemu said: To me this is my take away today. I had already excluded most Distributors last year-Including China- and will exclude the rest in April. I understand this is shooting myself in the foot since some of them actually bring in decent Gross amount, and therefore help towards threshold meeting, but I have now lost fate that these agreement are written with any interest in protecting the work of contributors, even beyond the price issue. This is the basic problem. We know that copyright isn't taken very seriously in China. Many of my found unpaid uses are in China, and Alamy won't pursue, as they know it won't be cost-effective. Yet they are selling work for peanuts directly into that market. Where is the sense in that? 2 1 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geogphotos Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 Thanks for the Friday update. I'm very much looking forward to finding out about these new potential sales opportunities. Just what is needed right now. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cryptoprocta Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 On Twitter: "Alamy Content Team @AlamyContent The place for inspiration, tips & trends. Join our contributor hub and give your passion a platform. Why? Because all photographers deserve to be seen." 'Seen', not 'paid for', far less 'properly paid for'. That's a poor rallying call from Alamy Content Team. We usually don't even get a personal credit for files bought and used. 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobD Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 14 hours ago, meanderingemu said: see my post, seems likely this was a one year dump of sales. If not we would have had a trickle of posts throughout the year, like for the UK $0.17. of course this would mean Alamy pocketed an extra 20% on All these licences by not applying the pre-July contract. That's probably true but according to Alamy these have been novel use sales, I have been opted out of novel use since day1, so that makes it a double WH-ALAMY. 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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