Gorilla Dave Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 …and so, does anyone know (roughly) how much PA paid for Alamy. …and how much would we need to raise to put in a bid for a contributor buy-out ? GD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geogphotos Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 I've got a fiver spare.... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorilla Dave Posted July 19, 2022 Author Share Posted July 19, 2022 Very grateful for offers received so far ! but ! ...the one time i try to be serious and nobody takes me seriously !!! It was reported at the time that PA bought Alamy for an undisclosed sum - and i just wondered if any seasoned campaigners had their ears close enough to the keyhole to get some idea of what numbers were involved. Maybe the heat has affected my cogs (40 Centigrade here in sunny Yorkshire) but i just found myself wondering how much would it cost for the lunatics to buy out the asylum ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inchiquin Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 31 minutes ago, Gorilla Dave said: Maybe the heat has affected my cogs (40 Centigrade here in sunny Yorkshire) but i just found myself wondering how much would it cost for the lunatics to buy out the asylum ! In the current state of the market, what makes you think we cvould do any better? Alan 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nodvandigtid Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 5 hours ago, Gorilla Dave said: …and so, does anyone know (roughly) how much PA paid for Alamy. …and how much would we need to raise to put in a bid for a contributor buy-out ? GD £47.3 million There has been a wheelbarrow for sale since the deferred consideration was paid - contact "West Fischer Laffin Ltd" for more details. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nodvandigtid Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 (edited) Being a bit more serious (the £47.3m is correct by the way) - this is a long established multi-million pound business not a co-operative where everyone has a say (or thinks they should have), Edited July 19, 2022 by Nodvandigtid clarification on acquisition cost 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca Ore Posted July 20, 2022 Share Posted July 20, 2022 4 hours ago, Nodvandigtid said: Being a bit more serious (the £47.3m is correct by the way) - this is a long established multi-million pound business not a co-operative where everyone has a say (or thinks they should have), Even the famous cooperate founded by Henri Cartier-Bresson and others looks like it diversified from just licensing images to selling prints, teaching, having gallery show, and the founders were among some of the best photographers of the 30s through 1950s. They have 98 listed live photographers or estates (just counted). I don't think I could get in as they want people who've been full time photographers before applying. I don't think a coop is innately problematic (I've worked for a short time at a worker-owned software company, but wasn't there long enough to get vested). The trouble if PA is selling Alamy photos cheap (even beyond the cut) is could a coop have larger enough slices of the sale pie to pay off the £47.3m or whatever selling price? If prices are low across the whole market, then I think the answer is nope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stipe Posted July 20, 2022 Share Posted July 20, 2022 A contributor buy-out for a stock agency where more than half of photos should be thrown right in the garbage? Seriously? 1 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riccarbi Posted July 20, 2022 Share Posted July 20, 2022 (edited) A different possibility may be to create a collaborative website/marketplace where to showcase the members' photos. But to leave to each photographer all the commercial aspects (setting prices, collecting payments, pay taxes, invoicing, and the like). For a (reasonable) fee each member would get visibility, and (possibly) a number of additional services by "non-photographer" members, such as infringment chasing, tax consulting, legal support, printing services, etc. Edited July 20, 2022 by riccarbi 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted July 20, 2022 Share Posted July 20, 2022 OR all interested contributors could pull their images from alamy/pa and set up a co-operative. Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joseph Clemson Posted July 20, 2022 Share Posted July 20, 2022 Such a co-operative stock agency already exists, dating from the time some years ago when the writing on the microstock wall was becoming very apparent withc big fish swallowing smaller ones. I won't name it, in the hope the thread won't get pulled, but it was founded by the original founder of the daddy of all microstock sites and embeds the principles of fair prices and fair returns. From the beginning it was notoriously difficult to be accepted as a contributor and at times has gone for long periods of not accepting new contributors at all. As it happens, I don't necessarily think it would be a good home for many Alamy contributors - meeting the demands of content type and quality would be a real challenge. Perhaps most significantly for the likes of me, it doesn't do editorial. I think what they have done suggests a co-operative with high prices and high standards can be a success without challenging the big boys, but whether it could be replicated in the market sector Alamy occupies is another question altogether. We can dream, and maybe someone has the financial and managerial nous to issue a call to like-minded photographers to enter upon a journey to the promised land, but it is not a path to be undertaken lightly. Even participating in, let alone setting up such a venture, is certainly a long, long, long way outside my comfort zone. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geogphotos Posted July 20, 2022 Share Posted July 20, 2022 (edited) 15 hours ago, Gorilla Dave said: Very grateful for offers received so far ! but ! ...the one time i try to be serious and nobody takes me seriously !!! It was reported at the time that PA bought Alamy for an undisclosed sum - and i just wondered if any seasoned campaigners had their ears close enough to the keyhole to get some idea of what numbers were involved. Maybe the heat has affected my cogs (40 Centigrade here in sunny Yorkshire) but i just found myself wondering how much would it cost for the lunatics to buy out the asylum ! Have a look at Photoshelter Brands - there are already groups of photographers working together using that platform. Unfortunately the standard photographer Photoshelter deal does not permit the hosting of other photographers images. They used to have a pooling system called Virtual Agency but it died of death and was never really all that good. But that old phrase 'herding cats' comes to mind. Edited July 20, 2022 by geogphotos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arch White Posted July 20, 2022 Share Posted July 20, 2022 here's an extract from the PA Media Group accounts up to the 31 December 2019. “In February 2020, the Group purchased 100% of the share capital in Alamy Limited, a provider of stock images. Cash consideration paid on acquisition was £32.6m. Deferred consideration of £9.2m to be paid in February 2021 and £4.6m to be paid in February 2022” 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Hatton Posted July 20, 2022 Share Posted July 20, 2022 19 hours ago, Alexander Hog said: I've got a million spare Can I send you a friends request! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted July 20, 2022 Share Posted July 20, 2022 10 minutes ago, Alexander Hog said: I do wish I had that much Lottery? Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted July 20, 2022 Share Posted July 20, 2022 The lucky winners here might be able to at least make a down payment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert M Estall Posted July 20, 2022 Share Posted July 20, 2022 (edited) If I had just won £195 million I might just be focusing my gaze in a few other directions. Hopefully in a generous way! Edited July 20, 2022 by Robert M Estall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimba Posted July 21, 2022 Share Posted July 21, 2022 (edited) 17 hours ago, riccarbi said: A different possibility may be to create a collaborative website/marketplace where to showcase the members' photos. But to leave to each photographer all the commercial aspects (setting prices, collecting payments, pay taxes, invoicing, and the like). For a (reasonable) fee each member would get visibility, and (possibly) a number of additional services by "non-photographer" members, such as infringment chasing, tax consulting, legal support, printing services, etc. I have thought of adding photographers to IMAGES.ARTIST-AT-LARGE.COM, my own stock web site. In my head it's all clean and easy - site members add their own images, set their own prices, and I just take 10% to pay for web/hosting fees. But in reality, it's way more convoluted than that. I don't know that I'll ever take on other folks. Also, I'm shit at marketing. Edited July 21, 2022 by kimba Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted July 21, 2022 Share Posted July 21, 2022 7 hours ago, kimba said: I have thought of adding photographers to IMAGES.ARTIST-AT-LARGE.COM, my own stock web site. In my head it's all clean and easy - site members add their own images, set their own prices, and I just take 10% to pay for web/hosting fees. But in reality, it's way more convoluted than that. I don't know that I'll ever take on other folks. Also, I'm shit at marketing. Thanks for the offer but I do not think my images would be of interest on your side of the pond.😉 Allan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Rooney Posted July 21, 2022 Share Posted July 21, 2022 (edited) If I had the investment capital, buying and running a coop stock agency would be the first thing I would do -- after flying to the moon without the aid of a spacecraft. Edited July 21, 2022 by Ed Rooney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarloBo Posted July 21, 2022 Share Posted July 21, 2022 (edited) I'm a contributor since early days of that coop stock library, fair prices and fair returns are possible. Sadly Alamy has chosen a different route, my last 10 sales are about 1$. Edited July 21, 2022 by CarloBo spell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted July 21, 2022 Share Posted July 21, 2022 1 hour ago, Ed Rooney said: If I had the investment capital, buying and running a coop stock agency would be the first thing I did -- after flying to the moon without the aid of a spacecraft. GOSH! Can you do that? Without permission. Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorilla Dave Posted July 21, 2022 Author Share Posted July 21, 2022 2 hours ago, Ed Rooney said: ... flying to the moon without the aid of a spacecraft. Could somebody PLEASE mention this idea to Elon Musk ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert M Estall Posted July 21, 2022 Share Posted July 21, 2022 2 hours ago, Ed Rooney said: If I had the investment capital, buying and running a coop stock agency would be the first thing I would do -- after flying to the moon without the aid of a spacecraft. Very nice to hear from you Edo, I was worried a little that we haven't heard from you for quite a while. For quite a few years I augmented my own collection of stock photography by a few like-minded photographer pals who shot in a similar style and offered them 60%. It wasn't a fully functioning coop but it was in that direction. It kind of worked and I already had a reasonable base of publishing customers. But the industry went for size and I moved to Alamy. OK for about ten years, but things have changed; not for the better 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimba Posted July 21, 2022 Share Posted July 21, 2022 12 hours ago, Allan Bell said: Thanks for the offer but I do not think my images would be of interest on your side of the pond.😉 Allan What does "the pond" have to do with where to post stock images for sale? I live in California and only post to my own site and Alamy. I would think that me being a shit at marketing would be more of a downsale than anything! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now