PhotoNetCast #57 – TwitPic and Getty: not agreeable agreements

TwitPic changes Terms of Service, Getty changes contract to contributors. Who loses with all this? The photog.

Episode 57 of your favourite photography podcast is here.

On this one, besides the now regulars Sean and Dave, we were joined by Brian Matiash and Bob Lussier. Thanks to everyone for joining.

Lots of discussion and exchange of ideas going on, namely on the latest TwitPic Terms of Service “blunders”. Does TwitPic really want to make money from users’ photos?image While sustaining a service like TwitPic through advertising alone is almost impossible, having ambiguous terms of service does not give assurance to users and can result in mass exodus.

Mass exodus is what Getty Images might be facing soon from its contributors. Recently, Getty sent a new contract agreement to imagecontributors with, amongst other changes, prevents them from having their images included in subscription packages and, probably more damaging, requires that images in Rights Managed licencing not sold for more than 3 years be placed under Royalty-Free. Will a new or existing player in the market come up with more amenable terms for photographers and be able to compete with the Getty giant? PhotoNetCast Images was suggested Smile

The discussion was going long and I’ve decided to break the conversation into two episodes. Over 110 minutes seemed a bit too much. So, join us also on PhotoNetCast #58. The video version, if you ever decide to watch it, will come with #58.

As always, your comments and feedback are very much appreciated.

For now, enjoy the show…

 

 

Show Notes

 

TwitPic ToS

TwitPic competitors ToS Pages

Getty’s new contributor contract

PhotoNetCast #21 – The Flickr/Getty Partnership

In this episode we discuss the Flickr-Getty Images partnership and what it means for photographers.

The Flickr/Getty Images Partnership

In July 2008 Flickr announced that they would start a partnership with Getty Images in order to ease the process of creating a Flickr Collection on Getty containing only images from Flickr users. This move, either by Flickr or Getty, generated quite a buzz in the stock photography world. On January 21, Flickr made a second announcement stating that invitations to Flickr users to start submitting the “chosen” images to Getty were being sent en masse.

What does this all mean to photographers, either pros or amateurs, and specially to those that are not so much into the photography business and want to get a foot on the door?

In this episode we try to approach the issues and look at the pros and cons of accepting such invitations.

Jim published on his blog his own view where he mentions that he is not going to accept the Flickr/Getty invitations. To provide some balance to the discussion, we have the pleasure of having as guest Dave Wilson, a serious amateur who wants to start monetizing his work and sees the Flickr/Getty invitations a good opportunity.

NOTE: While the show was being edited we got a reply from Getty mentioning that they would probably be interested in having someone on a future show. Let’s see where it leads and if we are able to having someone from inside addressing some of our questions.

We have a poll open asking whether you’ll take the Flickr Getty invitation if you get it. Don’t forget to vote.

And again, a big thanks to Dave for having joined us. You can also follow him on twitter.

For now, enjoy the show…

 

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Show Notes

Links mentioned

Discussion group on Flickr

FAQ on Flickr

The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions: Getty Images Buys JupiterImages

Karma’s a (rhymes with witch)

There’s a sucker born every minute – Getty Images For Sale!

BusinessWeak – Amateur vs. Pros?

Getty Web Use (now discontinued)

Once You License Your Work with Creative Commons, the Cat’s Out of the Bag