Vancouver-based license-specific photo search engine Everystockphoto.com re-launched today. In the works for six months, the new site uses Ajax extensively and includes a handful of enhanced user features - advanced search, drag and drop collections, improved tagging, rating, flagging, and comments. Everystockphoto.com has also increased the size of their photo index by adding Wikipedia and NASA photos. The photo search engine was originally launched in April 2006 and is owned & operated by Vibrant Software. Membership is free and their goal is to become a leading portal for the stock photography community. Online ventures like Everystockphoto.com contuinue to disrupt the stock photography market and force the Big 3 to tweak their online strategies to stay ahead. While Corbis, Getty Images, and Jupiter Images have been the staple providers of images to editorial and advertising professionals for years, they've chosen to go the acquisition route to eliminate new online contenders. And Calgary start-ups have done particularily well in this space - in November '07 Veer was acquired by Corbis for an undisclosed amount and in February '06 iStockPhoto was purchased by Getty Images for $50 Million. It will be interesting to see what's in store for Everystockphoto.com.
Vibrant Software is a full service web development agency located in downtown Vancouver. Vibrant specializes in building social networks, ecommerce... [more]
[...] While I take a lot of pictures, sometimes I need a stock photo for something. You know that image that is just right. One small problem about stock photos is often they can be rather pricey and the license terms can be harsh. Vancouver-based Vibrant Software has just re-launched EveryStockPhoto.com which indexes royalty-free images from sites like Flickr, Wikipedia, etc. I looked and I didn’t find my pics … yet. Hat tip to Techvibes for breaking this news: Vancouver-based license-specific photo search engine Everystockphoto.com re-launched today. In the works for six months, the new site uses Ajax extensively and includes a handful of enhanced user features - advanced search, drag and drop collections, improved tagging, rating, flagging, and comments. Everystockphoto.com has also increased the size of their photo index by adding Wikipedia and NASA photos. Source: Every Stock Photo Online [...]
From AlleyInsider.com:
Getty For Sale: Another Web-Ravaged Business
Peter Kafka | January 21, 2008 8:52 AM
Anyone want the world's biggest image and video warehouse? The current owners of Getty Images (GYI) are looking for someone to take the company off their hands, and they're not asking much: The NYT floats a $1.5 billion price tag, which is only about 13% more than the market valued the company last week.
So why sell? The same medium that helped Getty's launch is now helping to tear it down:
Its main rivals, Jupitermedia (JUPM), and the Corbis Corporation, a private company owned by the Microsoft (MSFT) founder Bill Gates, have also made a number of acquisitions, though they remain far smaller than Getty. The Internet — a medium that Getty pioneered by being the first to license images online — has made it easier for clients to find pictures for less money.
There is more than one analogy here with other media businesses roiled by the Web: The Internet has made image distribution much easier, and may have increased the overall size of the market. But it has also decreased the value of any individual photo. One difference: It's much easier to get away with "sharing" an MP3 than it is to post a Getty image (or Corbis, or Jupiter) that you haven't purchased.
