Recent Stock Photo Industry Press Releases

Shutterstock On The Red Carpet Captures the Hottest Events in 2009

Program sees blockbuster growth - talented photographers cover top film premieres, fashion shows, sporting events, political appearances and concerts around the world

New York, Nov. 18, 2009. It has been an exciting year for Shutterstock, the world's largest subscription-based stock photo agency, thanks to the rapid growth of its innovative editorial photo program: Shutterstock On The Red Carpet.

In 2009, Shutterstock On The Red Carpet covered many notable events worldwide, including Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Madonna's Sticky & Sweet Tour, The Black Crowes Tour, the Major League Soccer Semifinal match between Chivas USA and the Los Angeles Galaxy, and the Tribeca Film Festival.

ImageSpan and Digimarc Partner to Deliver Complete Solution to Manage, Monitor and Monetize Valuable Image Assets

The Combined Solution Enables Stock Photography Agencies, Media Companies, and Museums and Archives to Communicate Copyright Ownership, Automatically Track Images Online and Make More Money from New and Existing Image Assets

Monterey, CA, Nov. 11, 2009. ImageSpan Inc., creator of the market-leading licensing and royalty payment automation platform for all media, and Digimarc Corporation (NASDAQ: DMRC), a leading innovator and technology provider that gives persistent digital identities to all forms of media content, today announced that they have partnered to deliver a complete solution to manage, monitor and monetize valuable image assets. ImageSpan and Digimarc made the announcement at the 6Sight® Future of Imaging conference in Monterey, Calif.

Digimarc for Images 4.0 Helps Enterprises Better Manage and Monitor Image Assets in the Digital Age

New enterprise solution addresses top customer requests for effective image management and tracking on the Web

Beaverton, OR, Nov. 09, 2009. Digimarc Corporation (NASDAQ:DMRC) today announced the release of its new Digimarc for Images - Enterprise Edition, giving corporations, media companies, stock photo agencies, museums and archives, and others the ability to embed digital information into photos and images to communicate copyright ownership and help locate where the content is being used online.

LTU technologies Announces Release of LTU engine/ON demand

Image recognition and search platform in the cloud - making it easier and more affordable to integrate image matching and similarity search into applications for mobile advertising, media, publishing, eCommerce and more

Paris/NY, Nov. 04, 2009. LTU technologies, pioneer of image recognition and search technologies, whose licensed software platform, LTU engine®, has been adopted by commercial and government organizations worldwide since 2000, today launched LTU engine/ON demand. This hosted version of LTU engine offers LTU technologies’ advanced image recognition and search capabilities at a flexible price that is directly linked to the usage of the platform.

liveBooks secures $5 million in funding from strategic and private investors

Company introduces subscription-based pricing and pre-designed websites delivered through SaaS; aligns strategic partners to expand into graphic design, interior design and other new markets

San Fancisco, Nov. 04, 2009. liveBooks, Inc., the leading provider of award-winning websites that allow creative professionals to promote and manage their businesses online, today announced that it has secured $5 million in funding from strategic and private investors. This allows the company to expand into new markets and create more flexible and affordable payment and design options for its customers.

The Flickr Collection by Getty Images Announces Call for Artists

(No real press release, but a notification from Getty Images today; Source of the quotation following, and core message).

It’s hard to believe that it has been over a year since Getty Images partnered with Flickr to launch the groundbreaking Flickr Collection (http://ycorpblog.com/2008/07/08/getty-images-teams-up-with-flickr/). We wanted to provide a quick update on how the collection has grown and some of the exciting new developments in our partnership.

When launching the Flickr Collection, our goal was to choose photos that created a commercially viable collection, while preserving the inspirational and unexpected nature of the images that are so prevalent on Flickr. We’re proud to announce that today the collection has grown to over 60,000 images, many of which have been licensed by Getty Images’ customers from around the world.

Turkey marks new Territory for Fotolia microstock

New York, NY, Nov. 03, 2009. The next wave of microstock continues as Fotolia becomes the first major microstock agency to launch localized web service in Turkey. www.fotolia.com.tr has affordable high‐resolution stock photographs, illustrations, vectors, and HD videos. Fotolia is the leading European resource for corporations, designers, editors, and not‐for‐profit organizations looking for high‐quality images for projects such as website design, brochures, promotional materials and products, as well as print, billboard, and television advertising.

Pond5 Turns Up the Volume with Audio Launch

Leading stock video marketplace adds music and sound effects to its royalty-free collection

New York, NY, October 28, 2009. Pond5.com, the fast-growing marketplace for stock video, has significantly expanded its offering by adding stock music and sound effects to it's collection of downloadable royalty-free stock media. This major addition provides media producers everywhere with instant access to the full array of stock content needed in today's production workflows.

The audio side of Pond5 launches with more than 15,000 sound effects and over 3,000 production music tracks, which will complement one of the leading stock video collections on the web. Pond5 now features over 240,000 royalty-free stock footage clips, with thousands more added each week.

Getty Images Appointed As Editorial Distributor for BLOOMBERG PHOTOS News Images

Increases Breadth, Depth, Reach and Quality of Editorial Imagery Available to Getty Images Customers

Seattle & New York, Nov. 03, 2009. Getty Images, Inc., the world`s leading creator and distributor of visual content and other digital media, today announced that it will provide customers around the world with access to the entire archive of BLOOMBERG PHOTOS images. For the first time, Getty Images will provide unrivalled editorial imagery coverage of the financial and business sectors, which complements its own focus on superior quality imagery of top news stories from around the world.

Dreamstime Ups Collection of Free Images

Several Thousands Of Free Stock Photos Added In First 24 Hours Of Enhancement

Nashville, TN, Oct. 29, 2009. Serban Enache, CEO of Dreamstime, one of the world’s leading digital image stock photography agencies, announced the company’s initiative to up the number of images made available ABSOLUTELY FREE.

In January 2007, Dreamstime made available an assortment of images under its FREE umbrella. The FREE selection—an original and revolutionary sector that has attracted bargain hunters from around the globe—is a successfully proven concept that has secured Dreamstime’s footprint in the industry as one-stop-photo-shop giant.

Gold Level Photographer Jim DeLillo Cancels iStock Exclusivity, First Stop ... Fotolia

New York, NY, Oct. 20, 2009. Jim DeLillo, a Gold Level contributor (10,000 downloads) has ended his exclusivity agreement with the microstock giant iStock. A New Jersey photographer, DeLillo is ranked 1267 worldwide by http://istockcharts.multimedia.de/ and is credited with over 11,000 downloads. He has uploaded his entire portfolio to Fotolia.

Full artist Exclusivity on iStock means images, video or audio files cannot be sold on other royalty-free sites or businesses, with the exception of Getty Images.

Shutterstock Announces New Plan to Protect Each Image and Footage Purchase

Largest subscription stock image site guarantees its entire library of more than 8.5 million images and 140,000 footage clips

New York, Oct. 20th, 2009. Shutterstock, the world’s largest subscription-based stock photo agency, announced today that it will legally guarantee every file in its vast library by providing up to $10,000 to cover legal costs and direct damages for claims arising from the use of an image or footage clip licensed through Shutterstock.

Dreamstime Debuts New Canvas and Poster Formats for Images

Nashville, TN, Oct. 14, 2009. Dreamstime, one of the world’s leading digital image stock photography agencies, has introduced a new service to deliver decorative display prints right to your door. The ultimate outlet for quality images (in all shapes and sizes, and for any creative purpose), Dreamstime photo-shoppers can now also purchase ready-made prints in poster and canvas format for home or office use.

From the platinum-selling agency that has revolutionized the industry during its five-year history, Dreamstime has elevated its services to offer images from its gallery of more than 6.5 million to enable purchasers to enjoy their photos in wall art form—a finished product ready to showcase.

AudioMicro Launches The Premium Collection - Adds 13,000 Production Music Tracks to its Royalty Free Music Library

The Premium Collection Provides Access to 13,000 Music Tracks Traditionally Available Only to High End Buyers

Los Angeles, Oct. 13, 2009. AudioMicro.com, a crowd-sourced marketplace for royalty-free music and sound effects licensing, announces that its users can now download more than 13,000 new production music tracks from its online library. Consumers and professionals alike now have direct and immediate access to professional quality production music supplied by one of the largest production music libraries in Hollywood. The new offering is dubbed “The Premium Collection” and represents the first time that record label owned material has been made available for synch licensing to small independent video producers in a micro stock format.

PicScout Technology Supports Ubiquitous Online Image Accreditation and Transaction

Offers Industry-Wide Opportunity to Expose Every Licensable Image With Licensor Information at Real-Time Point of Encounter; Every Image Credited With Visible Source and Connected for Legitimate Use and/or Purchase

Silicon Valley, CA, Oct. 07, 2009. PicScout, the market leader in worldwide image services, today launched a services platform and a new product that enables client image monetization opportunities across the global landscape of the internet. For the first time, users of web-viewed images will be made immediately aware of images’ rightful owners or licensors and afforded an easy connection with them. PicScout is bringing both users and purveyors of images together online and on-the-fly to contract for legitimate image downloads for authorized usage on or offline.

PicScout Unveils Services Platform and Suite of Products to Enable Online Image Transactions for Users and Licensors

PicScout Image IRC™ Services Platform Equips ImageExchange™ to Identify, Credit and Connect for immediate Legitimate Use of Every Image

Silicon Valley, CA, Oct. 07, 2009. PicScout, the market leader in worldwide image services and enabler of client image monetization activities, today announced a strategic shift from a single source product company to a services company based upon the PicScout Image IRC. Image IRC serves as a fingerprinting index, metadata registry and API connection platform for agencies and image license holders.

WordPress.com Enables More Than 7.5mm Bloggers Access to Celeb, Sports, News Images via PicApp

San Francisco, CA, Oct. 06, 2009. WordPress.com bloggers searching for real-time photos of Juan Martin Del Potro, Rob Pattinson and Michelle Obama or looking for photos of a sunset in Yosemite Park, the Eiffel Tower, a wild flower, baby laughing, or an urban spa can now use PicApp to add relevant images to their posts. The content partners include, among others, Getty Images, Corbis, Newscom, Zuma Press, Image Source, Jupiterimages and Pacific Coast News.

Automattic, which leads the Open Source WordPress project and runs WordPress.com, announced today that it is enabling PicApp's embed code on its WordPress.com platform, allowing its millions of bloggers access to real time, premium, legal and free images provided by PicApp. WordPress has 7.5 million bloggers, 37 million posts and 1.2 billion page views per month, and is considered one of the most innovative and fastest growing blog platforms.

Fotoglif Expands Royalty-Free Online Image Site With Easy Upload for Photographers, Addition of Stock Photo Catalog

Web Service Gives Bloggers, Social Media Users and Other Online Publishers Access to More Than 3 Million Breaking News, Sports, Celebrity and Stock Images

Toronto, Oct. 05, 2009. Fotoglif today announced new features for its royalty-free online image service and licensing platform, which provides timely, professional-quality photos for use by bloggers, social media fans and other Web authors. Photographers can now add their own images to Fotoglif by using the new image upload feature. They can post photo albums or single images directly to the service for free, creating the opportunity to earn licensing fees from their images.

Fotoglif is also announcing the addition of a creative stock photography section to its site. The new collection starts with some 500,000 creative images from several participating collections.

Shutterstock Announces Acquisition of BigStockPhoto

Move signals Shutterstock's expansion into the credit-based stock photo market

New York, NY, September 23, 2009. Shutterstock, the world's largest subscription-based stock photo agency, announced that it has acquired BigStockPhoto, a leading credit-based stock photo agency, headquartered in Davis, California. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"With the addition of BigStockPhoto, one of the leading agencies for high quality, royalty-free stock photos, Shutterstock is able to expand into the global, credit-based market," said Adam Riggs, president and CFO of Shutterstock. "This move reinforces our leadership position in the stock photo industry, as it enables us to better serve the diverse payment preferences of stock photo buyers worldwide."

Vivozoom: Online Theft Costs Photo Industry up to $10 Billion

In contrast to illegal film and music downloads, file sharing of copyrighted images goes largely unchallenged

Chicago, IL, Sept. 17, 2009. Vivozoom, the microstock business with the first and most extensive image warranty, has announced that the tacitly accepted practice of stealing stock and microstock images adds up to as much as $10 billion annually. While the entertainment industry targets the worst violators who share music and movie files online, the practice of image theft rages at the expense and embarrassment of stock and microstock customers unknowingly using unauthorized images, and of photographers whose revenues are cannibalized. This cycle is something Vivozoom is aiming to end by setting a standard for protecting both purchasers and photographers by legally defending any of its customers for damages and costs totaling up to $25,000.

Getty Images Announces Partnership with Daylife

New York, Sep. 16, 2009. Getty Images, Inc., the world's leading creator and distributor of visual content and other digital media, announced today a strategic investment in Daylife, a leading content services company. Additionally, Getty Images and Daylife signed a commercial agreement to create new "SmartMedia" products that will allow customers to more easily and effectively incorporate imagery on their websites.

Through this partnership, Getty Images SmartMedia products powered by Daylife will offer digital media and publishing solutions opportunities for substantial cost savings, audience generation and increased revenue. The first product, SmartGalleries, provides a comprehensive photo publishing toolset, including photo gallery pages and widgets, drawing from the award-winning editorial imagery from Getty Images.

iStockphoto Legally Guarantees All Image, Video and Audio Files in Five Million-Plus Collection

Industry pioneer formally protects customers from copyright, moral right, trademark and other intellectual property and rights of privacy disputes up to $250,000

Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Sept. 16, 2009. Starting today, iStockphoto becomes the first micropayment royalty-free image, video and audio provider to legally guarantee all files in its collection – at no cost to the customer. iStock promises that files purchased and used in accordance with the iStock license, will not breach any trademark, copyright or other intellectual property rights or rights of privacy.

The iStock Legal Guarantee provides that, if a customer receives a claim, iStock will cover the customer’s legal costs and direct damages to a combined total of $10,000. iStock customers looking for additional peace of mind can also purchase an extension of the Legal Guarantee for 100 iStock credits, increasing iStock’s coverage for legal fees and direct damages up to a combined total of $250,000.

Deutsche Telekom Launches Polylooks Online Photo Agency in UK

New Microstock Site Offers Wider Exposure for Professional Photographers and Talented Amateurs

London, September 15th, 2009. German online photo agency Polylooks, which is backed by Deutsche Telekom, has launched its service in the UK. Polylooks.co.uk enables professional and talented amateur photographers to sell their images to publishers, advertisers and creative agencies. Polylooks will provide content with a unique European flavour required by creatives and businesses operating in the UK.

Polylooks already contains more than 35,000 UK-generated images alongside its extensive European portfolio and the site is looking to expand its British photo collection, including 20,000 from its UK partner Monkey Business Images.

PantherMedia: New Microstock Subscriptions For Web And Print, No Daily Download Limit; New Corporate License

Munich, September 14th, 2009 (PR-Inside). PantherMedia, the leading and rapidly growing marketplace for royalty-free photography with over one million images and illustrations, today introduces its new image subscription plans for web- and print usage which start at $39.00 per month and offer images for as low as $0.13. PantherMedia unveils also the novel Corporate License, adapted to meet the specific needs of major enterprises.

No More Daily Download Limits!

The outstanding feature of all new microstock subscriptions of PantherMedia: in opposite to all other models which have a daily download limit and heavily restrict the freedom of the user, due to customer request the new microstock subscriptions of PantherMedia were created with no daily download limits.

Shutterstock Launches Shuttertweet

A New Way for Submitters to Showcase their Stock Images and Footage on Twitter - Shuttertweet instantly sends out tweets when new images and footage have been added to submitters' portfolios

New York, NY, August 19, 2009. Shutterstock, the world's largest subscription-based stock photo agency, announced today the launch of Shuttertweet, a new tool for Twitter that empowers stock image and stock footage submitters by instantly sending out messages (or "tweets") announcing when new images and footage clips have been added to their Shutterstock portfolios.

Shutterstock Affiliate Marketing Program Earns High Marks

New York, Aug. 12, 2009. Shutterstock , the world's largest subscription-based online stock photo agency, is emerging as a leader in one of the key areas for making money online in today's Web marketplace: affiliate marketing.

As bloggers look for new and effective ways to generate additional revenue online, many are joining Shutterstock's affiliate marketing program to refer both buyers and submitters of stock images and stock video to Shutterstock.

Dreamstime Announces New Promotion Tool Using Facebook® Platform

New Application Allows Dreamstime Users To Network Portfolios And Invite Friends

Brentwood, TN, Aug. 11, 2009. Dreamstime.com, a global photo community and worldwide leader in the stock photography industry, has introduced a new Facebook® application that allows members to connect their portfolios directly to their Facebook accounts. With more than 250 million* active Facebook users, the application creates a new market for Dreamstime members’ sales by making their photography accessible to millions of potential users of the feature.

With a reputation that includes the superlative of “friendliest,” Dreamstime’s initiative and objective has consistently been in support of social networking technologies; several months ago their content was chosen for greeting cards orders on several major social websites. The famous stock agency now has the widest exposure and recognition with a massive diffusion on a variety of Internet planes.

PhotoXpress.com Becomes Largest Online Provider of Free Images

Hartford, CT, Aug. 04, 2009. Since its inception 3 short months ago, PhotoXpress.com has flourished into the online global leader of stock photography. Exclusively offering over 400,000 free professional high-resolution images and illustrations, PhotoXpress.com has officially become the largest online supplier of free stock imagery.

"The success of PhotoXpress.com is paramount and speaks to what the industry is thirsting for," says Oleg Tscheltzoff, co-founder and president of Fotolia, LLC. "Both independent and corporate professionals are developing products in an easy-to-use, affordable way by relying on PhotoXpress.com."

Betta than Vetta – Cutcaster’s Untapped Photo and Vector Collection

August 04, 2009, San Francisco, CA. From their new headquarters in foggy San Francisco, Cutcaster is proud to introduce its much-ballyhooed “Betta than Vetta” (BTV) photo and vector collection to creative professionals today. Take a sneak peak at ‘Betta than Vetta’ by going to www.cutcaster.com/Betta-Than-Vetta.

“Creative professionals deserve a better experience when searching for and purchasing content. What Cutcaster provides is better search, better results, better rights offering and all at better market prices,” Cutcaster founder John Griffin explained. “We introduced ‘Betta than Vetta,’ our first premium collection, to highlight the amazing quality of work in our marketplace and show buyers how easy the website is to use.”

iSyndica Revamps Its Pricing and Introduces New Affiliate Program

Reduced pricing will augment the adoption of iSyndica's fast-growing distribution platform. The new prices, which start at $4.99, complement the introduction of iSyndica's new affiliate program

Nashua, NH, July 31, 2009. iSyndica announces today that it has reduced its subscription prices. The new prices, which start at $4.99/month, will help attract even more customers to iSyndica's growing distribution platform. To date, iSyndica has already distributed more than 110GB of photos and 60GB of videos to stock photography and footage sites. As a complement to its new pricing, iSyndica has also introduced an affiliate program designed to encourage existing users to promote iSyndica to their friends and colleagues.

AudioMicro Adds The Hollywood Edge Collection to its Online Stock Music and Sound Effects Library

Licensing Deal Provides Instant Access to 55,000 Professional Quality Sound Effects

Los Angeles, July 28, 2009. AudioMicro.com, a crowd-sourced marketplace for royalty-free music and sound effects licensing, announces that its users can now download more than 55,000 sound effects from The Hollywood Edge, the world’s most widely used sound effects library. Consumers and professionals alike now have direct and immediate access to professional quality sound effects created by the Academy Award-winning sound studio Soundelux, whose credits include such films as Kill Bill, Braveheart and Fast and Furious. The Hollywood Edge and Soundelux are part of the CSS Studios group of companies.

New Fotoglif Service Delivers Royalty-Free Images for Bloggers, Social Media Users and Web Publishers

Business Model Built on Revenue Sharing for Photographers, Image Users and Advertisers; Company Also Secures Capital from Sun Wah Hi-Tech Group

Toronto, July 08, 2009. Fotoglif today launched a new service that makes it easy for bloggers, social media fans and other Web publishers to add high-quality, royalty-free and timely images to jazz up their written content.

The beta version of the Fotoglif image-sharing community and licensing platform is available now at www.Fotoglif.com. The site features more than 3 million images, with thousands of new ones from professional photographers and respected news agencies added each day from global breaking news, entertainment and sports stories. Traditional stock photos and images of everyday life will be added over time

Dreamstime challenges community with new feature - Stock Rank

New Flash-Interactive Feature Announced Simultaneously With 6 Million Image Benchmark

Nashville, TN, July 01, 2009. Dreamstime.com, a global photo community and worldwide leader in the stock photography industry has introduced Stock Rank - a new “photo-review tool” to enable members to test their photo IQ in comparing and ranking images.

The new imaginative flash-interactive tool pairs two images on the screen and challenges the contestant to select the best photo - the photo most worthy of purchase or download - based on concept, subject, aesthetics, lighting, composition, etc. This feature was initially established as a quality assurance system utilized primarily by the agency's editors as part of their training to review the commercial aspects of stock submissions.

AlwaysHD Teams Up with Stock Footage Search Engine Footage.net

Partnership Provides New Distribution Channel for AlwaysHD.com

Mobile, AL, June 24, 2009. AlwaysHD, the online marketplace for high-definition (HD) stock footage, this month became an official supplier for Footage.net, the premier stock, archival, and news footage search engine. Through the partnership, select footage from AlwaysHD's contributing cinematographers and computer graphics artists now is available to be searched alongside clips from Footage.net's 30 other stock footage suppliers, which include ABC News, BBC Motion, and Getty Images.

AudioMicro Upgrades Music Licensing Platform; Teams with SlideRocket

[StockPhotoTalk readers are in for a treat today: the first 20 readers to sign up for the service using the promotion code “PHOTOTALK2” get access to 2 free downloads credits (an $8.99 value). The code is valid for 20 uses and will be active until 7.31.09]

AudioMicro upgrades its music licensing platform with a cleaner, smarter interface, and improved search tools; brings stock music and sound effects to the SlideRocket marketplace

Los Angeles, CA, June 24, 2009. AudioMicro.com, the web's largest micro stock music and sound effects licensing destination, has launched a new version of its website, targeted at purchasers of royalty free music and sound effects. New visitors to AudioMicro.com will find a completely revamped user interface and design, making it a rich and simple destination for discovering and licensing stock audio.

Visitors to the new AudioMicro homepage experience improved utility and design, including:

iStockphoto Debuts Best of Breed Search Technology and the Vetta Image Collection

Highly Relevant Results Cut Search Times By Up to 50 percent

Calgary, Alberta, June 24, 2009. A recent survey of more than 28,000 iStockphoto customers found that search and quality of collection are two of the top reasons for choosing iStock. Enter Best Match 2.0 and the Vetta™ Collection. The Best Match algorithm provides more relevant results and saves people time when searching. Seventy-eight percent of customers found it reduced search times - 20 percent of those said search times were reduced by more than 50 percent. Vetta is a collection of top-quality iStock images hand-selected for exquisite art direction and intelligently executed concepts.

In War On Web Piracy, Creators Say “Play Nice or Pay The Price”

C-Registry.us tracks web pirates who prefer stealing to dealing while enabling users to find and contact owners for permission to use their “orphaned works”

New York, NY, June 22, 2009. A new technology suddenly makes it possible for amateur and professional photographers whose work gets stolen online to track down the Madison Avenue ad agencies and Internet businesses that are ripping them off. Empowered with visual recognition and bulk upload capability, creators and rights holders now have both a stick and a carrot for web users of their copyrighted content.

Millions of times every day, people find images online they want to use, but there’s no photo credit and no way to contact the photographer.

Blend Images Announces the Launch of Rights-Managed Flex Packs

Seattle, WA, June 18, 2009. Blend Images, the world’s leading multiethnic stock photography agency, announced today the launch of Flex Packs, a new way of licensing rights-managed imagery on www.blendimages.com.

The new RM Flex Packs offer customers the ability to license the same rights-managed image for multiple usages at competitive rates. It’s a simple and flexible way to license rights-managed imagery for broad commercial use.

Filmmaker-Driven Footage Collection Framepool Gaining Momentum in All Facets of North/South American Visual Media Industries

New York/Hollywood/Paris/London/Munich, June 15, 2009. Framepool, the footage collection run by filmmakers, is making great strides within all facets of the visual media industries in North and South America, reports the company's founder and CEO, Dr. Stephan Bleek.

Over the past year, Framepool's newly-opened subsidiaries across America have fulfilled custom footage requests for major projects in advertising and entertainment. Highlights include JWT's most recent Microsoft campaign and Mother’s latest KY campaign, plus work with a number of agencies in South America; original documentaries for cinema and TV (including "Betty Ford: The Real Deal", "Build It Bigger: Abu Dhabi", "Act of God", "End of America"); dramatic TV series (including Fox's "Fringe" and ABC's "Castle"); nonfiction entertainment (including several Animal Planet series); and ...

Snapixel: Flickr Meets iStockphoto

Snapixel combines Flickr and iStockphoto to make it easy to sell and share photos

San Francisco, CA, June 10, 2009. Say goodbye to the old photography stock houses and say hello to Snapixel.com. Photographers and enthusiasts can get paid a fair price for what they already love to do and stock users have a fresh new resource to fulfill their creative needs.

Created by three photographers who were fed up with the current photo stock offerings, Snapixel offers photographers more than the traditional stock photography house. How much more? Well to start with, compared to the 20% photographers get from the sale of their photos from most other stock houses, Snapixel pays 60% to the photographer. That’s a huge difference.

Corbis Now Offering Retna’s Celebrity Photography

The latest coverage from the red carpet, film, music and fashion now at Corbis

London, UK, June 10, 2009. Corbis, a leading visual media provider for the creative community, and Retna today announced a new agreement to make Retna’s celebrity and entertainment photography available through Corbis.

With the new partnership, Corbis is in the process of adding 250,000 images from the Retna archive and will be adding thousands more of the freshest images every week from Retna’s comprehensive red carpet and breaking news entertainment coverage.

In Tough Economy, New Survey Shows Design Professionals Use More Stock Photography to Cut Costs

Over 40 percent say they are using more stock photos this year compared to last year, according to the survey by International Communications Research, sponsored by Shutterstock

New York, June 09, 2009. In an economic climate where graphic designers are often asked to produce more with fewer resources, a new survey by International Communications Research (ICR) shows that over 40 percent of designers are using more stock photography to lower costs in 2009 compared to last year.

Designers today have responded to the economic downturn in a myriad of ways, according to Ami Brophy, CEO of The Art Directors Club in New York, a top organization for art directors and designers in the U.S.

iSyndica Releases Video Syndication to Complement Microstock Photo-distribution Service

Sellers of videos on stock footage sites such as Fotolia® and Revostock® can now syndicate their content through iSyndica's patent-pending virtual distribution server

Nashua, NH, June 08, 2009. The lives of videographers seeking to sell content via the Web just got easier, now that iSyndica's revolutionary virtual-distribution server supports video syndication. iSyndica provides a single platform through which users can sell their videos on six different Web sites, saving hours of work spent uploading, tagging and submitting content to different sites. With iSyndica, users upload their content once and then choose the channels over which they want to distribute it.

Veer Marketplace opens for image submissions

Calgary, June 08, 2009. Veer, a producer and provider of visual elements and design-related products, today opened the contributor section for Veer® Marketplace, a new low- priced image resource on veer.com. Photographers and illustrators from anywhere in the world can now create accounts and begin submitting their work to Veer Marketplace.

The Veer Marketplace site now provides these innovative features for contributors:

Options for fast image upload

• Contributors can upload images via their preferred FTP client or through an advanced web-based upload tool
• Contributors can submit many images simultaneously through a bulk upload system

Image Source announces the launch of ‘Cross-Media Pack’

A new product category within the visual content industry

London, UK, June 04, 2009. Image Source, the world’s leading producer of royalty free stock imagery, today announces the founding and launch of a totally new product category, known as ‘Cross-Media Pack’, at the annual CEPIC congress in Dresden.

The ‘Cross-Media Pack’ delivers a new concept to the visual content industry, offering customers the ability to purchase matched high-end stills and motion using the same premium models, styling and location all under one simple, royalty free licence.

Corbis Introduces Refreshed Web Site and New Photography Collections

Updated web site with more customer-friendly interface and new collections helps clients find the right images for their projects

Seattle, WA, June 01, 2009. Corbis, a leading visual media provider for the creative community, today announced it has refreshed its web site at www.corbis.com and launched several new rights-managed photography collections. The enhancements make finding and licensing images from the Corbis web site easier and more convenient for customers.

Alamy launches free Find a Photographer service

Oxfordshire, UK, 28 May 2009. Alamy is launching a free service to allow picture buyers to directly contact photographers for commissions and assignments. Alamy Find a Photographer uses an interface based on Google maps to provide up to the minute contact details and locations for photographers who sign up to the service.

It is open to contributors who have more than 100 images and more than 10 sales with Alamy. They must also be experienced in conducting assignments and/or commissions and have a website showcasing their work.

Global ImageWorks to Make Footage Database Searchable through Footage.net

New York, May 26, 2009. Global ImageWorks, a boutique full-service stock footage company, and Footage.net, the stock footage search engine, announced today that Global ImageWorks is adding its entire database to the Footage.net search platform.

"We are extremely pleased to have Global ImageWorks on board," said Footage.net president Domenick Propati. "At Footage.net, we're focused on making footage research as simple and efficient as possible. The addition of this unique, high-quality collection to our search platform will greatly enhance our ability to help footage users discover the best motion content as quickly and easily as possible."

Blend Images Expands Distribution of Rights-Managed Image Collection

Seattle, WA, May 21, 2009. Blend Images, the world’s leading multiethnic stock photography agency, announced today the continued expansion of its rights-managed distribution network, making the collection available in major image markets.

The Blend Images rights-managed collection is available non-exclusively in the U.S., U.K., Europe, Japan, and Asia through select distributors. Rights are cleared through Blend Images upon request for exclusivity.

Fotolia Launches PhotoXpress

Microstock photography pioneer Fotolia launches free, premier-quality RF image bank

Hartford, CT, May 21, 209. Today, PhotoXpress announced the launch of the world's largest free, premier-quality image bank, offering creative professionals Royalty Free image licenses for personal or professional use -- from Web site design and brochure illustrations to advertisements and editorial imagery.

"Small businesses, home businesses, consultants and students need images to help improve the look of their marketing campaigns and presentations. They struggle to find high-quality, affordable images for their company brochures, Web sites, advertising and newsletters. Today, the struggle is over," explains Patrick Lor, President, PhotoXpress North America.