The beat goes on...

The 1950s and early 60s, known as the beat generation, were filled with artists, musicians and poets such as Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, and others. These creatives chronicled their lives through books, poems and music. Smoke, Jazz and open mic poetry filled rooms with music and tales of love, lust and dreams. Although some today still collaborate in those artsy little rooms, more often than not, the internet is the new 'cafe' of choice. We want to recreate a creative haven, a place where you, the artist, can go and relax, hang out with old friends or meet new ones. So get a cup of coffee or hot tea and take a moment to read the following and give us your thoughts. We want this to be your community. Please help us define an "internet cafe" for artists and bohemians to interact as well as post their poems, art and music.

Coming Soon: The MYspin Directory

What is the MYspin directory?
• A comprehensive list of creative resources.
• A portfolio showcase for designers, ad agencies, photographers, illustrators, fontographers, production companies, and printers.
• A community for creative professionals.


Why The MYspin Directory?
• With over 1,000,000 visitors and 18 million page views so far this year, we wanted to offer you, our customers and potential customers, a way to get noticed and be seen on the internet.
• The listings will allow you to create ads that advertise your talents and services, a great new way for you to connect and interact with your peers in the industry.

Cost, what cost?
• If you are an active PhotoSpin subscriber you get a full color ad and listing absolutely FREE.
• Not a PhotoSpin subscriber? We still offer you a FREE listing without the full color ad.

As the community grows you can have live chats with other artists, both show and sell your work (you set the price) and, in the future, have access to your own blog. Think of it as a modern day coffee shop, complete with an open forum and microphone. All you'll have to do is supply the artwork.

Take a ride on Valueline

Looks like the photo stock industry is about to launch a new roller coaster called Valueline. But, before you jump on board, or jump overboard, let’s take a closer look at what’s going on.

As most of you are well aware, the photo stock industry has been changing for a number of years – rights managed vs. royalty free, subscription services, micro payment options, mergers, acquisitions and consolidation of companies. These have been the trends for the last 10 years. In response to these trends, innovative entrepreneurs have developed business models to create new ways of offering their products to accommodate the buying habits of new and existing customers.

Among these emerging models is the micro-payment sites, including the Getty owned, iStock, which in part is possibly responsible for its recent price slashing. On the surface, these sites seem to be the better value, pushing a trend for all companies to launch their own micro-payment option. This is evident in the recent proliferation of new micro-payment sites popping up in the industry, like weeds after a spring storm. However, when you factor in the higher resolution images and large quantity of image downloads that a subscription service allows, the lately overlooked subscription service is a much better value.

In Getty’s own micro-payment site, the price for a high resolution image is $10.00. Using simple math, the advantage greatly shifts to support the subscription model. If the subscription customers download just 30 high-resolution images in one year, they far exceed the cost of the subscription. For these customers, the benefit lies in downloading whatever they need whenever they need it without the worry of how many credits they have available. I think that one dollar downloads are a great option for the customer that needs a small quantity of low-res images. But, if the customer needs images for print or a large quantity of images at a great value- under a dollar per day, not a dollar per download-then the subscription model is well worth considering.

As Getty releases its new site, Valueline, take a moment to remember gettyworks.com, a product released by Getty in early 2001 and dropped a little after a year of operation. Getty, like all companies, is concerned with the bottom line and will use its large customer base to test new products and services as they have done in the past. Will this new venture succeed? Who knows. Right now it’s 100,000 mostly outdated images. These images might be over priced at $19-$49 per image. But, with Getty’s marketing muscle and position in the industry, all I can say is fasten your seat belts and get ready for a ride.

Why pay for an image when there are millions of free images on the web?

With all the availability of content on the web it’s important to know what you are getting and how the choices you make affect you and your customer. Today just downloading any image can get you and your client in BIG trouble. As the saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words”. Or, if you’re not careful, a picture may be worth thousands of dollars in legal fees.

Recently I attended a conference where the principle speaker was using PowerPoint to help convey his message. Several of the slides in the presentation included images that still carried the watermarks of the stock agencies that sold them. After the presentation I had time to ask the presenter where he acquired his images. He proudly explained to me that his designer found them during several photo searches on the web and that the images were available for free. I then took the time to explain to him that the images included in his presentation may be protected by a copyright and that the watermark displayed on the images is the owner’s or legal distributor’s way of protecting the images. I also pointed out that if he put them on his website, as he stated that he was planning to do, he may be liable for fees and damages.

Know your image source! Whether you use PhotoSpin or another royalty free image provider, the most important thing to know is where the images come from. Your customers are counting on you to not only provide a quality piece, but also a finished project without the possibility of negative repercussions that can damage both of your reputations.

Paying a little today may save you thousands tomorrow.

A Shameless Plug…
A few weeks ago in this blog I spoke with Glen Wexler about how to land a big account. He mentioned his newest project; a book entitled “The Secret Life of Cows”. Well it’s now available. If you want to see the true genius of Glen’s work check out his book: http://www.secretlifeofcows.com

What’s the better value for images: Micro-payments or Subscriptions?

Recently I spoke with a customer who called to renew her annual subscription and she was wondering if we were going to offer a micro-payment style site. I was fortunate that this particular customer had downloaded well over her $299.00 subscription price at even $1.00 per image. So it got me thinking. As a CEO of a subscription site you might expect this to have a certain slant. Truth be told, it does, but not one you would expect.

To gather my data I reviewed about 500 download records from a random list of PhotoSpin subscribers. On average, our typical subscriber downloads about 200 images per year. Viewing that data, micro-payment sites that charge $1.00 per image appeared to be a better value. But, after digging a bit deeper, I discovered that over 30% of the images downloaded from the PhotoSpin site were high-res files. At the most popular micro-payment site the price for the highest resolution image is $15.00. Using simple math, the advantage greatly shifts to support the subscription model. I also found that several of our customers only download high resolution images. For them, the micro-payments are not a value at all. If they download 20 high resolution images in a year, they exceed the subscription price. For the subscription customers, the benefit lies in downloading whatever they need whenever they need it, without the worry of how many credits they have available. I think that one dollar downloads are great if what you use are a small quantity of low-res images. But, if you need images for print or a large quantity of images at under a dollar per day (not a dollar per download), then the subscription model is well worth considering.

CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT!

In case you were wondering, this blog is indeed on content: the lack of it, the importance of it, and the acquisition of it.

Recently we’ve been making a lot of changes here at PhotoSpin, most importantly the addition of our new image server (yes, it's finally up and running). This server allows us to add thousands of new images to our website each month. These images come from some of the finest sources around as we have been fortunate to have signed distribution deals with some of the best image libraries out there. We are doing this to offer our customers a more robust library filled with a large variety of high quality images. See our latest additions.

We know our customers have choices as to how and when they buy images, so our continued goal is to offer the best collection at an affordable price. By adding 1000’s of new images per month we hope to earn and keep your loyalty.

John Steinbeck was right! or How many clichés can I fit into one blog?

Well as the saying goes… “ The best-laid plans of Mice and Men”. In my last blog, I was touting our new image server and our ability to upload 1000’s of images per month. Well, today I sit here with egg on my face while the server that is being built is experiencing a few delays. So, I now understand Murphy's Law – What ever can go wrong will go wrong! I’ve been told that we are having software configuration problems and I'm beginning to think that I'm floating on a slow boat to China.

Now, when I meet with the web team, I attempt to get to the bottom of it and hammer out the details. They act as nervous as cats in a room full of rocking chairs. I’ve asked everyone at PhotoSpin to wake up and smell the coffee. I told them that this mission impossible is our top priority and don't let the grass grow under their feet. We really need to snap to it and not let this project fall by the wayside. When push comes to shove, we as a company need to go like the wind and leave no stone unturned until the server is working like a charm.

Ahh... but every cloud has a silver lining, if I can draw any pearls of wisdom. I find tomorrow is another day, knowing all too well that a rolling stone gathers no moss. Our web team promised that they will move heaven and earth to get this done. They know it’s crunch time! The image server will go live this month or, as the saying goes, heads will roll! Because you only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.

Jpeg vs. Tiff- Why did you do it?

After receiving a few emails and calls from our customers about our decision to discontinue offering Tiff images, we felt compelled to give you a brief overview of why we made this decision.

Is quality really an issue here? Prior to making the decision to discontinue offering the Tiff files, we did extensive testing and found no noticeable quality loss when comparing a Tiff image to the same image as a Jpeg level 12.

After discovering that, we then looked at our download records to see what file formats our customers were downloading and found that less than 1% of our entire customer base downloaded the Tiff file format.

Another thing that we considered was, for the last three years, none of our contributing photographers submitted Tiff files or scanned images, all of the images submitted were digital.

All that said, we found that Jpeg file formats allow for quicker download times and free up storage space, a plus for the time-crunched designer that needs to download a lot of images.

And best of all, by offering jpeg file formats instead of the larger tiff formats we will be able to serve more images to our customers each month. We are currently in the process of adding an image server to increase our product offerings and, by offering the smaller jpeg file formats, it will help us to expedite the time it will take to upload new content. This will allow us to upload 1000's of new images per month instead of the 400+ new images we currently offer. Visit our site this month and begin to see difference in the quantity of image uploads.

Our intent is to be able to give you more content and faster delivery all at an affordable price.

Stock Photographers May Need A New Home

“Hope has two daughters: Anger and Courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are.”—Saint Augustine

This past week has been filled with Getty acquiring MediaVast and adding WireImage, FilmMagic and ContourPhotos to the already vast Getty collection.

And now recent headlines are stating that Getty is in negotiation with Jupiter Images. If Getty does acquire Jupiter images what does it mean for the artists who have contributed to these collections?

Many in the community are crying foul: "Is Getty trying to monopolize the Stock industry or is this just sound business?". Are the customers and artists the losers in this “Brave New World” approach to business? Will the customers be forced to pay higher prices? Will the creators (artists) be squeezed out of business? In the past when Getty acquired Artville, many of the artists were dropped from the collection only to give birth to BrandX, now a Jupiter asset. Will Getty again follow the same trend? It’s possible and only time will tell. Artists will have two choices: accept the consolidation or look for new opportunities. The choice is yours. For those of you with the courage to look for new opportunities consider PhotoSpin.

Super Boring Commercials

Wow! With all the pre Super Bowl build up regarding the advertising spots for this year’s Super Bowl, I expected to see some really great stuff. Was it just me or were the majority of the Super Bowl ads just plain boring? I watched this year’s Super Bowl commercials with anticipation, wanting to see what was built up as the “Best of what Madison Avenue” had to offer. With an audience of over 90 million people and an average cost of 2.6 million for a 30 second spot, I thought we would really see something spectacular. Although, some of the advertisers definitely had some winners: Snickers, Coke, and, one of the better spots in my opinion, the amateur Doritos campaign, the others were a bit too safe or just lacked creativity altogether. What was the most memorable Super Bowl ad? For me, it still is a 22 year old ad by Apple computers entitled “1984”.

To view the commercial and info on the man who created it:
http://www.ciadvertising.org/SA/fall_02/adv382j/qwkag/assign2/master.htm

For additional info regarding the making of this commercial:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_(television_commercial)


Am I missing the true genius of the advertising Giants? Or, are the big agencies losing touch with the consumer? With the internet constantly bombarding us with unwanted ads, are we just becoming numb to advertising? What are your thoughts?

Advertising: The Home Grown Way

In a recent article in Media Post Publications entitled “Marketing Model Shift Challenges Agencies” by Jack Loechner, Anthony J. Hopp, chairman of the Association of American Advertising Agencies states “The agencies that will succeed are the ones… that can find the new ways to engage and connect with consumers. If you’re not doing that, you’re not going to be in business.”

Though it’s hard to argue with Mr. Hopp’s thoughts, we need to take a good look at the advertising industry as a whole.

Traditionally advertising agencies communicate by using television, print, radio and now the far-reaching web. These agencies market to consumers’ wants, needs and perceived needs, attempting to motivate them to purchase a product or service using guilt, lust, greed and envy. New technologies have emerged giving birth to a new form of communicating. Call these “Home Grown” websites, built for people to connect. Among these are: MySpace, Facebook, Blogs, Craigslist, YouTube and a host of others that are reaching millions of people. With the growth of these venues, the advertising industry is trying to capitalize on their success by looking to find faster less expensive ways to reach their targeted audiences. Today as I write this blog, ad agencies are asking consumers to create a Super Bowl ad- the most expensive, anticipated and watched ads during the television season. When I was a working advertising professional, Super Bowl ads were the most sought after ads that a commercial film director could have on their reel. It was a sign in the industry that you were the best at your craft. Just having one on your reel almost guaranteed you work for the next couple of years. Advertisers see the opportunity in this little or no cost forum and are trying to tap into this vast new market. Generating interest amongst consumers is key, if they like the product they will be sure to tell their friends, family, coworkers and anyone else who will listen about their great find. The consumer will link to it, point to it, copy it… MARKET IT, all for FREE! The advertiser gets the buzz out to the people and the consumer gives exposure to even more people, letting them hear about the product from a trusted source. The classic win/win!

The advertising waters are warm and the agencies are testing them, getting ready to jump in and, like a tidal wave, pull the consumer along for years to come. During the last 10 years, advertisers have developed new marketing vehicles: Product placement in film and television, cable and television hosting infomercials, web banners, emails, spam…the list goes on and on. These innovative opportunities for marketing didn’t exist when David Ogilvy started Ogilvy & Mather Advertising in 1948. “Engage and connect with consumers.” Wow! I feel like I’ve been hit over the head with a hammer and this is only the beginning. As technology develops so will our way to reach the consumer…

Give me yours thoughts. Where do you think the advertising industry is going? Click on the comment link below.