MicrostockGroup

Agency Based Discussion => Alamy.com => Topic started by: gropar on December 18, 2012, 10:09

Title: Done with Alamy !
Post by: gropar on December 18, 2012, 10:09
I've been doing my best in providing good stock photo's to various agencies and one of them is alamy. But today i've decided to stop submitting anything to them and will probably withdraw my best images. They will probably soon censor all the posts on their forum as usual.

I am one of the few so far with their "new" sales program who got one of their images sold to a buyer with rights to sublicense it !  >:(
On their forum several others got the same "reward" from alamy. @#%&#&@%Y^ DONE.
Title: Re: Done with Alamy !
Post by: ShadySue on December 18, 2012, 10:17
Is your case anything like this one?
http://www.alamy.com/forums/default.aspx?g=posts&t=14663 (http://www.alamy.com/forums/default.aspx?g=posts&t=14663)
Have you contacted Alamy?
What did they say?
Title: Re: Done with Alamy !
Post by: enstoker on December 18, 2012, 10:29
Is your case anything like this one?
[url]http://www.alamy.com/forums/default.aspx?g=posts&t=14663[/url] ([url]http://www.alamy.com/forums/default.aspx?g=posts&t=14663[/url])
Have you contacted Alamy?
What did they say?


Thnx SS for link.
I was thinking to contribute at Alamy but this and also some previous situations are reasons that I "stay out". All top and mid tiers are ok for me :)

Have a nice day.
Title: Re: Done with Alamy !
Post by: ShadySue on December 18, 2012, 10:52
Is your case anything like this one?
[url]http://www.alamy.com/forums/default.aspx?g=posts&t=14663[/url] ([url]http://www.alamy.com/forums/default.aspx?g=posts&t=14663[/url])
Have you contacted Alamy?
What did they say?


Thnx SS for link.
I was thinking to contribute at Alamy but this and also some previous situations are reasons that I "stay out". All top and mid tiers are ok for me :)

Have a nice day.


Your logic escapes me.
We haven't heard back from the OP here, so we need to wait for the fuller information.
On that Alamy link, I thought immediately when I read Jeff's OP that the sublicensing rights were only for the publication itself, so a book could be published in e.g.the UK and e.g. India, and the photo would be in it. Not that the individual photo could be sublicensed, but I can see how it could be read ambiguously.
So at Alamy you'd get (from 1st Jan) $18.85 for that use.
At iStock you wouldn't need an EL for that use unless the total print runs would be over 500,000, and at TS you'd only get however many cents they get for the same useage, same on SS and I haven't bothered to even look at the others.
We all have to make our own decisions, and I'm not wildly ecstatic about Alamy, with their falling prices and commissions cut, but still, in this case you'd be better off selling from Alamy than most/all of the micros.
Title: Re: Done with Alamy !
Post by: RacePhoto on December 18, 2012, 10:57
I was wondering too until I read the Alamy reply.

Hi all

We've followed up with the sales team and i'm posting their response.

A more accurate description would be as follows

Rights granted include usage in all formats (including electronic format) of Travel Guides, in whole or in part, and right to sublicense such rights to third parties worldwide provided this falls within the agreed print run. Duration 10 editions (provided the content change is less than 25% from the original edition).

So the licence means other publishers can publish the travel guide on their behalf so long as they keep within the rights boundaries defined in the licence.

This particular sale was also a re-use hence the lower price.

Apologies again, we are finding our way with free form additional details, if any contributors do have queries regarding the specfics of a licence please email member services, please also note that we won't be answering any other queries regarding licence details via the forum

Many thanks
Alamy


Fairly broad, but they are not reselling the image, they are reselling their entire guide. (if I understand right?)

Title: Re: Done with Alamy !
Post by: ShadySue on December 18, 2012, 11:26
I was wondering too until I read the Alamy reply.

Hi all

We've followed up with the sales team and i'm posting their response.

A more accurate description would be as follows

Rights granted include usage in all formats (including electronic format) of Travel Guides, in whole or in part, and right to sublicense such rights to third parties worldwide provided this falls within the agreed print run. Duration 10 editions (provided the content change is less than 25% from the original edition).

So the licence means other publishers can publish the travel guide on their behalf so long as they keep within the rights boundaries defined in the licence.

This particular sale was also a re-use hence the lower price.

Apologies again, we are finding our way with free form additional details, if any contributors do have queries regarding the specfics of a licence please email member services, please also note that we won't be answering any other queries regarding licence details via the forum

Many thanks
Alamy


Fairly broad, but they are not reselling the image, they are reselling their entire guide. (if I understand right?)

Yes, the licencee has previously licensed the image, and this is a re-use fee (which is normally at a discounted rate on Alamy) to allow future editions of the same travel guide (with less than 25% changed, as changes are necessary in new editions of travel guides)
IMO, that was clear in the original terms:
"Rights granted include usage in all formats
(including electronic format) of Travel Guides,
in whole or in part, and right to sublicense
such rights
to third parties worldwide. "
meant to me that the rights grantable to third parties were only the right to use it in their travel guides.
Title: Re: Done with Alamy !
Post by: lisafx on December 18, 2012, 12:41
Many thanks Pete and Liz for taking the time to look into this and explain the situation.  The OP was rather alarming.  Doesn't sound like it's anything to worry about now that you've clarified it. 
Title: Re: Done with Alamy !
Post by: CD123 on December 18, 2012, 13:32
Heck! Thanks Pete and Liz for sorting this out! At the rate everyone are declaring that they are leaving various sites in all the forums about commissions and cuts, I was seriously considering putting my images on DVD and selling them out of hand in the mall from next year!  ;D
Title: Re: Done with Alamy !
Post by: Poncke on December 18, 2012, 14:06
Is your case anything like this one?
[url]http://www.alamy.com/forums/default.aspx?g=posts&t=14663[/url] ([url]http://www.alamy.com/forums/default.aspx?g=posts&t=14663[/url])
Have you contacted Alamy?
What did they say?
Funny it happened to him. He is the one of the togs there telling people not to complain and belittling them when they do, with his cryptic little rhymes.
Title: Re: Done with Alamy !
Post by: leaf on December 18, 2012, 14:14
I was wondering too until I read the Alamy reply.

Hi all

We've followed up with the sales team and i'm posting their response.

A more accurate description would be as follows

Rights granted include usage in all formats (including electronic format) of Travel Guides, in whole or in part, and right to sublicense such rights to third parties worldwide provided this falls within the agreed print run. Duration 10 editions (provided the content change is less than 25% from the original edition).

So the licence means other publishers can publish the travel guide on their behalf so long as they keep within the rights boundaries defined in the licence.

This particular sale was also a re-use hence the lower price.

Apologies again, we are finding our way with free form additional details, if any contributors do have queries regarding the specfics of a licence please email member services, please also note that we won't be answering any other queries regarding licence details via the forum

Many thanks
Alamy


Fairly broad, but they are not reselling the image, they are reselling their entire guide. (if I understand right?)



Thanks for posting that Race.
Title: Re: Done with Alamy !
Post by: gropar on December 18, 2012, 17:24
Thank you for trying to clarify this !

But it's not enough, i do not want images to be re-licensed to thirdparties by the buyer even if it is within the travel guide world. Thirdparties have nothing to do with alamy so they cannot be checked or be responsible by alamy for what they do with the images. I did email them several questions on these kind of sales but no reply yet. This type of license can circumvent the restrictions on images on specific countries (distributors etc) as it might end up there where it shouldn't indirectly.
It not clear if print run is per edition or 1 print run for all 10 editions. Alamy will never verify if more than 25 % content changed either if they can't chase clients after 15 months an image was used without payment.

Just noticed some one else reporting a license which gives the buyer all rights and terms, what . does that mean ?! It's posted on their forum too.

Alamy should publish the license to contributor for these special licenses.


My view a license should be for a given run of one edition, no sublicensing to thirdparties for 10 @#%^# editions.

Just done with them with this latest insult after cutting our fees.




Title: Re: Done with Alamy !
Post by: ShadySue on December 18, 2012, 18:07
Just noticed some one else reporting a license which gives the buyer all rights and terms, what . does that mean ?! It's posted on their forum too.
A couple of weeks back, they said they were going to be 'more transparent' about the uses licensed to each buyer.
Sadly, it looks as though the information has been written by a non-native-English speaker, so it isn't as clear as it should be.
Doubly sadly, Alamy is more and more taking an arrogant view, and they have said they're not going to clarify any more on the forum, people have to consult member services. If there are more bizarre wordings like that, their support people are going to be overloaded.

I recently discovered that 'print only', which is surely totally unambiguous, can also be published online as a pdf file of the publication under the 'print only' license. And that was even before the new 'unclear' transparency.

Still, this is a microstock forum, and most MS sites sell only RF files, which can be used by the buyer almost in perpetuity, sometimes for only cents to the supplier.
Title: Re: Done with Alamy !
Post by: RacePhoto on December 19, 2012, 23:36
Many thanks Pete and Liz for taking the time to look into this and explain the situation.  The OP was rather alarming.  Doesn't sound like it's anything to worry about now that you've clarified it.

I try to investigate before I fly off, but sometimes as you know, I stand in the middle of the road and get run over by the facts truck.  :D

Must be old age and less rage? Or maybe my senses are just getting dull.