As a long-time Alamy contributor, I make regular sales and often find my images used on websites. However, a huge number of those uses are not declared so I need to write to CR to chase them up. The problem seems to be worse and worse, with distributors in particular. Also with newspapers, the number of unreported uses is staggering.
The reason for my post is to ask others who know Alamy well and are regular sellers, how often they search for their image uses on the web. Are you surprised just how many you find that have not been declared? I am of course talking about after the 3 months wait for direct sales and 4 months for distributors and live news. I find a certain newspaper the worst culprit, particularly for live news images, but I have found my images infringed many times by other newspapers too, both news and stock. The more people that chase these uses, the more chance of the system improving at some point. I have been told for YEARS that new systems are being put in place, but so far nothing has changed.
It is an industry-wide problem, but I am asking specifically about Alamy as I am not experienced enough with other agencies to comment. I accept though that contributors to other agencies are likely to have the same problem.