Ed Endicott Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 Not to promote other agencies...but I thought most folks here would be interested to learn that Getty's Chinese investment company has purchased Corbis as of this morning. This is being reported by the (U.S. Based) National Press Photographer's Association https://nppa.org/news/corbis-sold-gettys-china-based-investment-group Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alamy Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 Thanks Ed - but "Ask the Forum" is not a place to make announcements. Perhaps we can frame the discussion around what are people's thoughts on this news? Thanks, Alamy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Endicott Posted January 22, 2016 Author Share Posted January 22, 2016 Thanks Ed - but "Ask the Forum" is not a place to make announcements. Perhaps we can frame the discussion around what are people's thoughts on this news? Thanks, Alamy My apologies - I thought since the description of "Ask the Forum" is Need answers relating to Alamy or the stock industry?... and this is very relevant to the industry (or it's consolidation), it would be of interest to folks....at least it is to me. I will refrain from posting such nonsense in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alamy Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 Thanks Ed - but "Ask the Forum" is not a place to make announcements. Perhaps we can frame the discussion around what are people's thoughts on this news? Thanks, Alamy My apologies - I thought since the description of "Ask the Forum" is Need answers relating to Alamy or the stock industry?... and this is very relevant to the industry (or it's consolidation), it would be of interest to folks....at least it is to me. I will refrain from posting such nonsense in the future. It is of interest, but there was no question asked - we want to keep things on topic as best as possible. Thanks Alamy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 What do folks think about the sale of Corbis to Getty? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Baker Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 Yep, been waiting all week to hear the truth behind the rumours. I have 5k+ pictures with Corbis who make me more than the x3 here on Alamy and to be honest, this might have been worse - Shutterstock, for example. I think it was pretty inevitable that some large image corp would buy it and therefore, by default, one huge collection (read monster) would be created. A few years ago we might have said (and probably did) in this and other forums that large collections are a bad thing for the stock industry and largely, this has been the case. But now in 2016, this news doesn't sound that shocking any more, so used are we to the acquisitions and buyouts over the last decade. At least I'm a bit more comfortable in going ahead with a trip next month, rather than scrubbing it during the rumor-mongering. Have a good weekend, all. Richard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Brooks Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 Here is what I think. Manufacturing in China is getting too expensive, so China is diversifying by making investments in Intellectual Property and services. China is also not happy by the way they are being portrayed in western media, and IP deals give them more control of the portrayal. This is exactly what happened in the West in the 1970’s. Western manufacturing moved offshore, and was replaced with IP. There was an article in December in The Atlantic about China going Hollywood here: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/12/hollywood-on-the-yellow-sea/413185/ I think we have not heard the last of this. Who is buying who? Who owns who? I expect the Chinese are putting up the money, and will end up controlling all of both Getty and Corbus. It is being presented that the Getty majority owned partner in China is buying Corbus with Chinese money. How long will it take Chinese money to buy all of Getty as well? I think it is Chinese money entirely, and money calls the shots no matter who’s name is on the ownership. With Getty’s name on the ownership of the Chinese company it makes US government intervention in the deal difficult. Not surprising development, as Corbus in 25 years has never made a profit. At one time the CEO of Getty said that the Getty Family Trust looked to stay in the Stock business for 20 years. The 20 years are up. Corbus today, Getty tomorrow. That is what I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dustydingo Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 One immediate effect... which links into my thread about crowd sourcing. Citizen journalist site Demotix has disappeared. Gone. Foetsie. Disparu. Weg. Bugger! I was in the middle of compiling several "stories" for uploading to Demotix . . . dd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Robinson Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 One immediate effect... which links into my thread about crowd sourcing. Citizen journalist site Demotix has disappeared. Gone. Foetsie. Disparu. Weg. Yes, I found that. The photos are still there on the site, but the ultra-organised well-respected news-gathering agency seems to have gone. What will I do without that £20 a year??? From Alamy's point of view - and that of it's contributors (except those who also sold through Corbis) it has to be a good thing. Less competition obviously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Quist Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 One immediate effect... which links into my thread about crowd sourcing. Citizen journalist site Demotix has disappeared. Gone. Foetsie. Disparu. Weg. Bugger! I was in the middle of compiling several "stories" for uploading to Demotix . . . dd - and what will happen to images already there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giphotostock Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 Could that mean less of price wars? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 One immediate effect... which links into my thread about crowd sourcing. Citizen journalist site Demotix has disappeared. Gone. Foetsie. Disparu. Weg. Yes, I found that. The photos are still there on the site, but the ultra-organised well-respected news-gathering agency seems to have gone. What will I do without that £20 a year??? From Alamy's point of view - and that of it's contributors (except those who also sold through Corbis) it has to be a good thing. Less competition obviously. This "citizen journalist" never made a penny on Demotix, so I won't miss them in that regard. However, I quite liked the site otherwise. First we take Corbis, then we take _________________. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dustydingo Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 One immediate effect... which links into my thread about crowd sourcing. Citizen journalist site Demotix has disappeared. Gone. Foetsie. Disparu. Weg. Bugger! I was in the middle of compiling several "stories" for uploading to Demotix . . . dd - and what will happen to images already there? Well, mine that were subsequently picked up by Corbis are still with Corbis, but the others? Who knows . . . ? dd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Crean Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 One immediate effect... which links into my thread about crowd sourcing. Citizen journalist site Demotix has disappeared. Gone. Foetsie. Disparu. Weg. Yes, I found that. The photos are still there on the site, but the ultra-organised well-respected news-gathering agency seems to have gone. What will I do without that £20 a year??? From Alamy's point of view - and that of it's contributors (except those who also sold through Corbis) it has to be a good thing. Less competition obviously. This "citizen journalist" never made a penny on Demotix, so I won't miss them in that regard. However, I quite liked the site otherwise. First we take Corbis, then we take _________________. I did quiet well out of Demotix for a while, some decent sales. But then images used in various publications which they admitted supplying but never chased up payments. At that point I decided never to use them again. However I did leave images there as a selection were appearing on Corbis and I did get the odd decent sale, last year brought in 2 sales which netted me €200. What happens now I don't know, my login is not recognised on corbis site, so I've sent them a message via their web contact asking for clarification. I'll post any response here. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 One immediate effect... which links into my thread about crowd sourcing. Citizen journalist site Demotix has disappeared. Gone. Foetsie. Disparu. Weg. Bugger! I was in the middle of compiling several "stories" for uploading to Demotix . . . dd - and what will happen to images already there? Well, mine that were subsequently picked up by Corbis are still with Corbis, but the others? Who knows . . . ? dd Same here. Just checked and the ones that drifted over to Corbis are still there. The others will probably disappear into the ether. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niels Quist Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 One immediate effect... which links into my thread about crowd sourcing. Citizen journalist site Demotix has disappeared. Gone. Foetsie. Disparu. Weg. Bugger! I was in the middle of compiling several "stories" for uploading to Demotix . . . dd - and what will happen to images already there? Well, mine that were subsequently picked up by Corbis are still with Corbis, but the others? Who knows . . . ? dd Same here. Just checked and the ones that drifted over to Corbis are still there. The others will probably disappear into the ether. Yes, most of mine are also there - but there were still sales from Demotix that wasn't paid for - and they paid you for images sold from Corbis as well. There may be some clearing away awaiting ahead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christian58 Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 Yep, been waiting all week to hear the truth behind the rumours. I have 5k+ pictures with Corbis who make me more than the x3 here on Alamy and to be honest, this might have been worse - Shutterstock, for example. I think it was pretty inevitable that some large image corp would buy it and therefore, by default, one huge collection (read monster) would be created. A few years ago we might have said (and probably did) in this and other forums that large collections are a bad thing for the stock industry and largely, this has been the case. But now in 2016, this news doesn't sound that shocking any more, so used are we to the acquisitions and buyouts over the last decade. At least I'm a bit more comfortable in going ahead with a trip next month, rather than scrubbing it during the rumor-mongering. Have a good weekend, all. Richard. Same here, I been with Getty since 95, came from Stones and Image-Bank. However I am not too sure about this? but it probably won't have any effect on photographers at all, good or bad. Todays Shutterstock sell an incredible amout of credit-sales and enhanced license sales, way over $. 100 per sale. They are a much more modern company, modern outlooks etc not stuck in the same old lane where nothing ever happen and their premium Offset for RM/RF is second to none. Could have been a good move? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Brooks Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 The same Chinese company that “joint ventured” Corbus today “joint ventured” 500PX about 3 months ago. Here is some explanation of their set up for 500PX. http://resourcemagonline.com/2015/10/500px-expands-into-china-with-localized-site-gets-hit-with-backlash-from-community/59324/ I think there is a Chinese law that says anything on the internet in China has to be run off a server located in China. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 The same Chinese company that “joint ventured” Corbus today “joint ventured” 500PX about 3 months ago. Here is some explanation of their set up for 500PX. http://resourcemagonline.com/2015/10/500px-expands-into-china-with-localized-site-gets-hit-with-backlash-from-community/59324/ I think there is a Chinese law that says anything on the internet in China has to be run off a server located in China. It's starting to sound like one of these, which I loved playing with when I was a kid. Any guesses as it what's inside the box? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Brook Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 Bill has got it right. It's not about Getty buying Corbis, but - Visual China is itself a giant supplier of imagery - about the Chinese buying Corbis, and eventually Getty, which is also struggling. It looks as if we are going to end up with just two giant suppliers of imagery: Visual China and Shutterstock, which now owns Rex Features, and also has Offset – just had my first sale of the year there with just a handful of images, and it was certainly more than $1, in fact I would say more than £300 gross. Smaller, but not too small, general stock agencies are going to have some serious thinking to do. As far as Corbis is concerned, this deal opens up an enormous and growing market for their content. Currently contributor commission is more generous than Getty’s, so let’s hope the Getty bean counters don’t get their paws on the new contributor contracts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Brooks Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 I think it will lead to even more consolidation. Visual China VS Shutterstock. Both have money, and both will need to buy market share. Anything is for sale if the price is high enough. Look for those smaller libraries to be bought up as well, because most of them are already for sale. Same feeding frenzy consolidation happened from 1996 to 2004. Main buyers then were Getty, Corbus; Jupiter Images, and VCG (Visual Communications Group owned by the Daily Telegraph) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Brook Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 Klein's happy: "Almost 21 years but got it. Lovely to get the milk, the cream, cheese, yoghurt and the meat without buying the cow" (Twitter feed) And I think this makes it clear: Getty didn't buy Corbis. They do get to distribute the collection outside China, VCG within. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Brooks Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 A little more about position of Corbis photographers from the Photo District News. "For Corbis contributors, the VCG/Getty distribution deal means wider distribution, as well as a chance—but not a promise—to become contributors to Getty, according to an FAQ that Corbis sent to its contributors. Getty will be going through the Corbis files to determine which photographers it would like to represent directly, Corbis says. Corbis contributors will be notified over the next several weeks about whether they will be invited to sign contracts with Getty. Meanwhile, those not invited to join Getty--or those who are invited but don't want to join--will continue being represented by VCG under the terms of their Corbis contracts. At VCG's discretion, those contributors may be "offered" termination, according to Corbis". - See more at: http://www.pdnonline.com/news/Getty-to-Distribute-Corbis-Images-for-New-Corbis-Owner-15566.shtml#sthash.jIRRbVjd.dpuf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Brook Posted January 23, 2016 Share Posted January 23, 2016 Deleted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted January 23, 2016 Share Posted January 23, 2016 It looks as if we are going to end up with just two giant suppliers of imagery: Visual China and Shutterstock TWO??!! What is Alamy????? Specs of dirt on bottoms of VC&S shoes??? The answer, Jeff, lies inside that Chinese puzzle box that I linked to above. Problem is, we have to figure out how to open it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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