Monday, October 27, 2008

Corbis Lines Own Pockets On Backs of Photographers



Yes, let's call it what it is. Corbis, not content with taking 50% of a stock sale for housing images on it's servers, has decided that that's not enough, and they now want another 10%. What with Bill Gates having retired from Microsoft, he's likely paying more attention to his other daliances, and now his attention is directed more towards Corbis, which he wholly owns.

This won't happen overnight, but when a Corbis photographer's contract comes up for renewal, they'll get a letter dictating that they'll be earning less during the next contract cycle. As laughable as it sounds, the man charged with delivering the news, Don Wieshlow, conveyed, as reported by PDN's Daryl Lang (Hard Times for Stock Continue: Corbis to Cut Royalty Rate, 10/25/08):

... he {Wieshlow} stressed that royalty rates are not the same as revenue. He said Corbis hopes the change will eventually lead to higher payouts for photographers – as Corbis invests in growth, expands its market share, and earns more revenue.

(Continued after the Jump)

I wish I had been inside the room where that sentiment was conveyed. Anyone I spied nodding their head in agreement to that malarky I would have shared with them my super-secret deal on Florida Wetlands, before loading those bobble-heading onto a bus so I could show them what piece of the Brooklyn Bridge I was offering for sale as well. Other than preserving their own salaries and bonuses, what goes through these executives' minds when they decide to take more money from their content producers?

The one upside is that the contracts were fortunately written so that the percentage was not changable during the duration of the contract. So, those of you who have 6 months to three years to get out better start looking for other platforms to license your work. Hopefully, in a year or two those platforms will mature more and produce substantive revenue for stock sales.

Then, as Lang reports, Corbis CEO Gary Shenk said “This is not our company” and gestured to the four other Corbis execs. He then gestured to include the audience. “This is our company together.”

Actually, no, it's Bill Gates' company. More specifically, it's Gates' servers, desks, and chairs, and the valuable content is owned by the photographers. Unless, of course, the new contracts will actually give photographers an equity stake in the company. That remark was an attempt at a kumbayah moment that really sounds more like psyco-babble. Paul Melcher has a comparable take on Shenks remark that's worth a read here.

I call shenanigans on this one folks. Be thankful that Corbis' legal department was incompetent enough to write a contract that precluded them from lowering these percentages during the term of the contract, or you'd all be stuck with a change effective immediately. Get while the gettin's good folks.

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8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love hearing like it is. I am not able to keep up with everyhing in the indusry but love that I've found one place that has much of it all in one place.

Anonymous said...

No photos, No sales.

If photographers realized how badly they are being scalped they would say "No thanks" and just like the oil business, the images they held in their personal "Copyright Owned" archives would skyrocket.

Once old timers, magazines, newspapers, their photographers and hobbiests start showing some backbone and support each other by saying no to free images for access, times will change and so would everyones bank accounts.

Call it shooting on spec or whatever you wish. Those oldtime ways of being at the big game in exchange for images takes on a whole new meaning in this digital age.

It's a whores market and just like we see on the street, it's lack of self respect and making good decissions that drives it.

Many say its lack of business acumine to me it's a lack of respect or integrity from the top down imho.

If this were the military, the only men deserving of a medal of honor imho would be the newspaper editors who have sacrificed their jobs in defense of their staff not the photographers shooting the war.

Start thinking about yourselves. No one else gives a hoot about you.

By the way, put me on any black list you want. "NO" is a badge I'm happy to wear.

Steve said...

Unfortunately I fear that there will always be enough "photographers" who won't care about the details of the contract and continue to provide images to Corbis.

Anonymous said...

Well,

When you posted about Alamy John there was a so called photographer shouting about the poor Alamy manager whos family has to move to another city just for members' sake or something like that. I wonder if another paid "photographer" will come praising the effort made by poor Bill Gates for the community.

Anonymous said...

The Internet and digital photography brought about a huge opportunity for consolidation, efficiency of distribution and efficiency of scale of stock imagery. It should cost much less to acquire, search for, distribute and maintain photographs than in the old days of slide film archives. So why is it that the old royalty rate of 50% has -decreased- to 40%, or even 20% as is the case for RF? And how is it possible that a company like Corbis, with such a huge, wide array of imagery, can lose money? I really don't understand this.

In any case, if the industry is unable to show healthy profits despite all the consolidation and efficiencies made possible by the Internet revolution, and is unable to pass some of that efficiency gain back to the photographer in the form of a higher royalty rate, I see no reason to trust the large stock libraries at all, especially Corbis, who can't even turn a profit.

Unknown said...

This is typical and why I left Getty/Stone in the late 90s- if more of us don't stop this, you'll be getting 10% and happy for it.

It was 75% to photogs in the 70s, when I came out in '91 it was 50%, when I left Getty they were down to 35% yet making the biggest profits ever.

I'm tired of hearing photographers say they enjoy what they do- so did Michael Jordan, and he was paid millions- just because you enjoy your back-breaking stressful photo job doesn't mean you shouldn't demand proper income.

This coming for an 18-year full time pro who has turned many a non-profitable job away.

Say no, leave the agency, fight to teach others (although that seems to be a losing battle). It's our fault- we lost control of our industry because more of us don't run it like a business.

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