This came up on the Alamy Forum.  Anyone heard of the agency "Alamy Creativity"?  There appears to be close to 350,000 images in this "Agency" collection and they appear to be images of micro contributors (Elena, AndresR, Phakimata, PancakeTom, etc)

Here's a link to the Agency Images on the site => http://tinyurl.com/6sqv48f

This is a bit suspicious to me....from the perspective that it appears to be an agency that is re-marketing images.  The issue I have is Alamy licenses images at higher fees than the micros...are these fees being reported back to us at a decent return or are we getting the short end of the stick?  These aren't just top contributors - these are contributors with portfolios of all sizes.

Nevermind

Quote from: traveler1116 on May 15, 2012, 01:46
Nevermind

Alamy "Creative Collection" nothing new, select people, 2010

http://www.bjp-online.com/british-journal-of-photography/news/1647676/alamy-launches-creative-collection-unveils-look-update

The rest is just a search using that name? AT least that's what it looks like to me?

It's not the creative collection.  Looks like one of the microstock sites is uploading to alamy.  Could it be 123rf?  They really need to stop duplicates, as we earn much less selling through a microstock site because they take their cut.

I don't think it is 123, it doesn't seem to have my images there which pretty much rules out the top eight in the poll result list.

I was guessing by the pseudonym they have for my photos there.  I also use it with Veer, do you use them?

Photos go to Alamy through Zoonar if you opt them in.

Quote from: fotografer on May 15, 2012, 11:03
Photos go to Alamy through Zoonar if you opt them in.

Zoonar has it's own psuedonym with 67,400 images.  This is a bit strange.

Anyone can create any pseudonym as often as they like.

I can create a pseudonym called Mercedes or IBM. Even other contributors can create pseudonyms with the same names like mine.

It's very confusing.

Spomeone has posted on the Alamy forum that at least one of the files is also available from Stockfresh (at about 1/100th of the price); don't know if that's a helpful clue.

I didn't opt in to alamy with Zoonar and it's not Stockfresh, because my photos come under a name that I don't use there.  I asked alamy and they wont let me know who it is, as pseudonyms are confidential.  The site I still think it could be is Veer but would they use alamy when they are part of Corbis?

My guess is Veer, since it looks like there are images of mine there that I don't think are on 123RF or Stockfresh. I wish that they wouldn't strip out the copyright not to mention I'd rather sell it through Alamy myself and get 60% instead of whatever I would get through the second hand sale - 30% of 60% = 20% of the original price. It would be nice if Alamy could let me remove the duplicates - but then again as far as they are concerned maybe they'd let "creative collection" delete my images.

Frustrating to see this happening. I wonder how long before some site puts our stuff on all the other microstock sites.

Quote from: pancaketom on May 15, 2012, 16:53
Frustrating to see this happening. I wonder how long before some site puts our stuff on all the other microstock sites.

The frustrating part of this is I contribute to other image collections that also pull images from Alamy.  As an example, I contribute to Inmagine...Inmagine pulls 123RF images onto their site and markets them at a lower price point.  Inmagine also pulls images from Alamy to market to their premium collection.  As a contributor to Inmagine, if I upload images that are also on micros, they will delete my portfolio per my contractual agreement.

So...I could upload an image onto Veer and 123RF.  That image could potentially be added to the lower price point collection at Inmagine.  If that image is at (presumabley Veer) another micro agency that markets also through Alamy, Inmagine can unknowingly add that image from Alamy as a "premium image".  So...the end result is I could have that same image selling at two different price points at the same agency.

Quote from: pancaketom on May 15, 2012, 16:53
My guess is Veer, since it looks like there are images of mine there that I don't think are on 123RF or Stockfresh. I wish that they wouldn't strip out the copyright not to mention I'd rather sell it through Alamy myself and get 60% instead of whatever I would get through the second hand sale - 30% of 60% = 20% of the original price. It would be nice if Alamy could let me remove the duplicates - but then again as far as they are concerned maybe they'd let "creative collection" delete my images.

Frustrating to see this happening. I wonder how long before some site puts our stuff on all the other microstock sites.

I'm guessing Veer.  I don't have an Alamy or Stockfresh account but some of the 47 of mine that show up in Alamy Creativity are only on Veer and Bigstock. 

lff

Quote from: Fred on May 15, 2012, 18:01I'm guessing Veer.  I don't have an Alamy or Stockfresh account but some of the 47 of mine that show up in Alamy Creativity are only on Veer and Bigstock. 
lff

I'm on Alamy and with all "major" micros including Veer, Bigstock, 123RF, Stockfresh etc. and my images don't show up in the Creativity pseudonym.

This is getting fishy.

I tried a few at random via GIS.  Well, not total random: I picked images that would be easy to match.
Some had no matches.
1 was found on 123RF.
2 on Shutterstock and YayMicro
1 on a site I'd never heard of called colourbox
1 at Stockfresh and Shutterstock
1 on 123RF, Graphic Leftovers and Shutterstock
1 on 123RF and Shutterstock

I'm not sure if any conclusion would be reached by checking more.

I did find a couple of mine in the Creativity section now but they do not show up in my regular pseudonym, where they technically should be.

I'm not sure if this is to prevent duplicates in their collection but it's pretty weird that clients would not be able to find these images in my pseudonym, just because Alamy moved them into a different collection...

Quote from: click_click on May 15, 2012, 19:10

Quote from: Fred on May 15, 2012, 18:01I'm guessing Veer.  I don't have an Alamy or Stockfresh account but some of the 47 of mine that show up in Alamy Creativity are only on Veer and Bigstock. 
lff

I'm on Alamy and with all "major" micros including Veer, Bigstock, 123RF, Stockfresh etc. and my images don't show up in the Creativity pseudonym.

This is getting fishy.

Even if it is Veer the selected 47 on Alamy Creativity have nothing else in common that I can figure out.  They are not good sellers (most have never sold on Veer at all) not subject matter (animals, scenic, objects etc. are in the 47).  Selection looks random.

fred

I checked with Veer and they confirmed that it was a new partner (and they hadn't realized it had gone live yet).

I wonder how Alamy feels about the duplicated content? - and how much less we get for a sale through this channel.

Quote from: pancaketom on May 16, 2012, 01:01
I checked with Veer and they confirmed that it was a new partner (and they hadn't realized it had gone live yet).

I wonder how Alamy feels about the duplicated content? - and how much less we get for a sale through this channel.

So you're saying that Veer is supplying Alamy?

I can't see any of my Veer content at Alamy.

I only see certain, already uploaded Alamy content moved away from my pseudonym into the Creativity pseudonym.

This is still confusing.

It looks like I have 143 photos but only about 300 keywords.  Where . did all the keywords go?  Can't imagine much getting purchased with 1-3 keywords.

Quote from: Pixart on May 16, 2012, 02:34
It looks like I have 143 photos but only about 300 keywords.  Where . did all the keywords go?  Can't imagine much getting purchased with 1-3 keywords.

I wonder how they are dealing w/ the keywords. Maybe slap the first chunk into field one, then the next heap into field 2, and then any remaining in the last field - I don't think you can see all the keywords of the images, maybe only the 3rd field. I am not sure, I could be wrong.

I doubt that Veer is spending heaps of time carefully listing the most important keywords etc. though, so it is probably going to be a bit random which keywords go where if they do it at all.

I just checked one of my images and it comes up in a search for words that aren't in the 3 listed, so there are more somewhere - it seems that when I look at the images I uploaded it only shows 3 or so keywords too. At least they are listed at the same price. I wonder if Alamy Creativity is available for Novel Use?

It does seem to open up a mess of questions.

As alamy don't deal with duplicates, can we opt out of supplying alamy through Veer?  I haven't uploaded much of my microstock portfolio to alamy but I will now.  I would rather get 60% commission than 20%.

Well unless Veer allow us to opt out of this deal I'll be removing my portfolio from them.

edit:

Just found this on Veers contributor FAQ -

Can I opt out of the API?
No. At this time, all registered Veer contributors are automatically opted in to the partner program.

I've emailed them to confirm whether or not we can opt out.

If not it's goodbye Veer from me.

For info for anybody else that doesn't want their Veer portfolio on Alamy, from the Veer contributor agreement:

A. Contributor may terminate this Agreement at any time by providing Veer with thirty (30) days notice by
using the Contact Us page to provide notice to Veer or by following the written notice provision below.


D. Upon termination of this Agreement:
(i) Veer will remove your Content from the Site within a thirty (30) day period, and will use reasonable
efforts to cause Content to be removed from the Sites of any affiliates and partners within sixty (60) days
from the removal from the Site, provided, however, that Veer may retain a copy of your Content for
archival and record-keeping purposes. Contributor acknowledges and agrees that Veer, its affiliates and
partners may continue to license the Content in accordance with this Agreement until the Content is so
removed.