Sultanpepa Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 "We now have over 395,000 images on our site from photo agency Corbis!" http://www.facebook.com/Alamy?fref=photo I don't suppose this will help my already floundering sales of this year. I can't keep up with the crowd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chester_Brown Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 I am confused. Is Alamy and Corbis merging or something. I thought they competed against each other. I understood Demotix was owned by Corbis. Just confused. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 I guess that eventually everyone will be on everyone else. It'll just be one big happy stock photo family. Perhaps that's a good thing on one level, although it inevitably means an even smaller slice of the pie for photographers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 Searching for photos in the papers, Tineye will typically find three or often more more agencies offering the same image. Whether this is due to individuals submitting to a number of agencies, or due to some sharing, takeover, or distribution arrangement I cannot say. Not infrequently I see an image sold via Alamy, that was also once available on big G, but has been withdrawn from sale there, very curious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabbro Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 The most puzzling one is "dijitalimaj.com". I was told it is Alamy distributor in Turkey. I've seen lots of my photos listed on their website. Yet I have never sold one single photo to Turkey in all these years. Go figure... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travelshots Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 I looked at dijitalimaj.com and found many shots from AGE that belong to me ... none from Alamy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiskerke Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 Are these the same 350.000 that Corbis previously had on Alamy? wim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Brook Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 Mostly Corbis budget material. Even some marked 'Premium RF' appears as 'Super Value' at Corbis. A lot of this will be either old, dated, second rate or else there is just too much of it. Alamy probably needs it more than Corbis as it struggles to bring in more commercial buyers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arletta Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 So, Corbis is not a competitor to Alamy anymore? And we may talk about it here on the forum? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Brook Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 As far as run-of-the-mill editorial sales go, Corbis, with its subscription deals, certainly is a competitor, and one with very sharp elbows. But C/G subscription is common knowledge. At the macro end, these two global media companies dominate the market (well everyone knows that), followed by many small/medium sized, niche agencies (perhaps less well known). If Alamy really wants to be a player at this level then setting itself up in opposition isn't likely to achieve much beyond a dose of hubris. Yes, it has been a pioneer in many ways, but what worked so well for secondary editorial hasn't achieved much beyond that, and the story is told every month here on this forum. Even textbook sales aren't particularly numerous, against those agencies that specialise in providing academic content. And Corbis too has a collection devoted to that market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DHill Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 Hmmm. Does it also work the other way around - do Alamy images get onto Corbis? And if they did, would that be a good thing (access to high-end buyers?) or a bad thing (just buy from whichever is cheaper?) ... Food for thought! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Brook Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 Hmmm. Does it also work the other way around - do Alamy images get onto Corbis? And if they did, would that be a good thing (access to high-end buyers?) or a bad thing (just buy from whichever is cheaper?) ... Food for thought! Alamy would need to bring in a team of editors first to create a meaningful collection (meaningful size as well as content). That means investment. Which means reduced profits. Which means reduced funds for the other operation, and reduced end-of-year take home pay. Very unlikely, but If they did do that, and did it well, it would be a great boost for the company. Why stop at Corbis? They could, like all the successful independent commercial agencies, distribute it widely. The question is: would it be open to all contributors, or a hand-picked selection? If the former, it would be good for contributors too, who, potentially (it all depends on the image, as someone said), might see their earnings shoot up. As things stand: the firm is badly in need of any edited commercial collections it can lay its hands on. It seems to have just lost one of the best mainstream collections it had, from the famous multi-ethnic agency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christian58 Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 Makes me laugh! so what are they going to do? team up and tackle the big boys? not a chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DHill Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 Edit: whoops! see below ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Brook Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 Makes me laugh! so what are they going to do? team up and tackle the big boys? not a chance. As the saying goes: "If yer canna beat 'em ... " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DHill Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 Hmmm. Does it also work the other way around - do Alamy images get onto Corbis? And if they did, would that be a good thing (access to high-end buyers?) or a bad thing (just buy from whichever is cheaper?) ... Food for thought! Alamy would need to bring in a team of editors first to create a meaningful collection (meaningful size as well as content). That means investment. Which means reduced profits. Which means reduced funds for the other operation, and reduced end-of-year take home pay. Very unlikely, but If they did do that, and did it well, it would be a great boost for the company. Why stop at Corbis? They could, like all the successful independent commercial agencies, distribute it widely. The question is: would it be open to all contributors, or a hand-picked selection? If the former, it would be good for contributors too, who, potentially (it all depends on the image, as someone said), might see their earnings shoot up. As things stand: the firm is badly in need of any edited commercial collections it can lay its hands on. It seems to have just lost one of the best mainstream collections it had, from the famous multi-ethnic agency. I wonder if what you suggested, Robert, was part of the intent behind the "creative" filter ... It's a pity that an agency like the one you mention (presumably the photographers' collective known for featuring a blend of people from different cultures) would leave Alamy. It would be interesting to know why that would happen. I'd hate to guess ;-) David. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Brook Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 I wonder if what you suggested was part of the intent behind the "creative" filter ... It's a pity that an agency like the one you mention (presumably the photographers' collective known for featuring a blend of people from different cultures) would leave Alamy. It would be interesting to know why that would happen. David. It was stated at the time: to 'attract the kind of buyer who pays more' or something meaning the same. And they brought in editors. Where did they go? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DHill Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 I wonder if what you suggested was part of the intent behind the "creative" filter ... It's a pity that an agency like the one you mention (presumably the photographers' collective known for featuring a blend of people from different cultures) would leave Alamy. It would be interesting to know why that would happen. David. It was stated at the time: to 'attract the kind of buyer who pays more' or something meaning the same. And they brought in editors. Where did they go? Yeah, I know the stated intention was to attract a different kind of buyer to Alamy, but there's likely to have been other ideas bubbling away as well. All I know is that the only four-figure gross sale I had on Alamy (well over $5k, actually) was well before 'creative'. I do hope that buyer (I was told it was an advertising agency) is still around ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 Searching for photos in the papers, Tineye will typically find three or often more more agencies offering the same image. Whether this is due to individuals submitting to a number of agencies, or due to some sharing, takeover, or distribution arrangement I cannot say. Not infrequently I see an image sold via Alamy, that was also once available on big G, but has been withdrawn from sale there, very curious. With agencies having such extensive distribution networks, there must be a good deal of overlap. Lord knows how they keep track of who is licensing what where and for how much to whom. I imagine that a lot of shuffling of the various decks goes on behind the scenes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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