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Et tu, Getty?

Posted by: Rachel Hulin Posted date: July 9, 2008 | 11 Comments

photo by myron watamaniuk

Some rather interesting news about a Flickr/Getty partnership has hit the presses today. From PDNOnline:

“Getty Images says it will launch
a collection of stock images by photographers recruited from the Flickr
photo-sharing site. The Flickr-branded collection is the fruit of a
strategic partnership between Getty Images, the biggest stock picture
agency, and Flickr, a Yahoo!-owned
site frequented by millions of digital photo enthusiasts. Over the next
several months, Getty editors will invite select Flickr
photographers to contribute some of their work to a new collection that
will be available on gettyimages.com. Flickr will not be a party in the
licensing and will not take a cut of the fees.”

So Flickr isn’t becoming a licensing site, rather, Getty will simply cherry pick some of its photographers. Here’s the PDNPulse parse:

“So who wins? Getty Images. It gets a source of pre-shot, exclusive,
“authentic” imagery that it can plug into its tried-and-true stock
site. It gets an edge over any competitor who might try to do the same.
It gets to introduce its licensing process to thousands of novice
photographers as the standard way things are done in the business.“

I think that’s the kicker. Getty’s licensing process is famously photographer-unfriendly. I thought I’d ask some of PhotoShelter’s own photographers whether they’d be interested in such a deal. Specifically, photographers that came to us through our own Flickr research.

First, Elizabeth Weinberg, who has some really amazing work, and has been doing some great editorial stuff. Here are two of her images from the collection:

Here’s what Weinberg says about how she’d feel about working with Getty:

“I don’t think I’d license Flickr images with Getty because their 70/30 commission split simply wouldn’t be profitable enough to be worth the hassle of acquiring model releases for older images, adding metadata, getting drum scans done to yield high res files, etc.; from what I’ve read of Getty’s terms, they have extremely stringent image quality requirements. Not to sound like a total Photoshelter ad here, but you just can’t get the same commission rate at any other agency that has as excellent a measure of photographic quality control as well as the resources to market their photographers’ work to high-end buyers.”

Next: Peter Baker, whose work has always been some of my favorite in the collection. Check it out:

Baker had a lot to say about the Getty deal. Here are the nuts and bolts:

“Ultimately I think it’ll be pretty nice for a few photographers that suddenly make fifty bucks off a photo for the first time, and really great for Flickr because they now make everyone think they can be commercial photographers if they use Flickr. But it’s a huge win for Getty, as usual, who suddenly has a gigantic pool of photos to pick through, with likely a super eager contributor willing to accept just about any terms, which you can bet are weighed heavily in Getty’s favor.

I probably wouldn’t license anything to Getty, whether it was through Flickr or not. Too many times Getty has used their clout to exploit photographers and turn their photos into a commodity. Clearly the industry is now supporting a wide array of imagery, but photographers ought to look out before their images are taken for a ride, with little revenue or control in return. It’s clear that Getty is largely concerned with freezing out more photographer-friendly agencies (ie: PhotoShelter).”

What do the rest of you think?

About the author

Rachel Hulin

11 Comments

Ryan McGinnis 7-9-2008

I won’t be taking them up on this for two reasons: one, I want to see where PSC goes (and I think it will go far), and two — Getty usually want exclusivity, which I wouldn’t be willing to supply, unless I were certain they’d sell the hell out of my images. I think given a couple years, PSC will be selling the hell out of my images. Getty also gets their pants in a bunch about file size; most ad clients are happy with 8MP images, whereas Getty prefer everyone run out and shoot with 1Ds Mk2s. I’ve had enormous success with my camera/lens combos, and have no desire to change.

peteg 7-9-2008

Could this be why Flickr pulled the plugged on the PhotoShelter/Flickr import/export function? Is that ever going to come back online?

Ziv 7-9-2008

I’m a huge PSC fan, but if Getty can sell 6-8 images at 30% and PSC can sell zero images at 70%… well, you do the math.

Fabian Gonzales 7-9-2008

I’m with Ziv. Getty does something Photoshelter does not: sell my work. Anyone focusing on the 40%/60% split (get it right, people!), is looking at the wrong measure.

briancorll 7-9-2008

But when PhotoShelter begins selling your work at a 70% commission, you’re going to be awfully upset with yourself over that exclusive low commission contract……

rolo 7-9-2008

When Getty comes a knockin’ ’round my Flickr stream (yeah, fat chance of that), I’ll say “no” and then use their brilliant judgment as leverage with someplace else. $50 doesn’t cover film, processing, gas, etc.

rbl 7-9-2008

In the past there has been a lot of talk about Flickr licensing photos but Flickr has a problem. If they want to sell photos they lose their status as just a host and become liable for infringements. Since there is so much misappropriated work on Flickr they probably perceive that they would be sitting ducks for intellectual property lawyers. And they are right, they would be. However, Getty will pick and choose and most importantly vet work to make sure that it’s the owner selling it. So Flickr picks up some cash somewhere along the line and doesn’t lose any of it’s indemnity. And of course, as previously mentioned, Getty has incredible market penetration. they’re still licensing work of mine that was contributed 8 or 9 years ago.

Gavin 7-10-2008

I’ve got to agree with Peter here. I had the good fortune of meeting and sitting by him when the Photoshelter tour rolled through Chicago last year. He’s a swell guy who’s got his stuff together. I’ve been following his photos and blogs for a few years now – dude’s genius.

eek 7-14-2008

i am with both getty and psc and getty bugs the f**k outta me. their submission process is byzantine, just talking to my rep on the phone is near impossible and it takes forever to get feedback. plus i don’t see their content as so much better than psc’s. i think with a little more time and marketing psc can easily overtake getty’s market share. i hope they do and i hope i am there when it happens.

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