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Author Topic: Scoopshot secures $1.2 million in funding from Yuri  (Read 30238 times)

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EmberMike

« on: July 16, 2013, 13:05 »
0
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/scoopshot-secures-1-2-million-130000195.html;_ylt=A2KJ3CWWguVRBDEAVjeTmYlQ

Quote
Scoopshot is taking on the multi billion-dollar photo industry with a new service for crowdsourcing on-demand photography in minutes, backed by Yuri Arcurs. Offering an alternative to stale stock photo libraries and expensive agencies, Scoopshot gives all photo buyers the ability to set assignments for its global network of 280,000+ mobile photographers.

The photography-on-demand service has received $1.2 million funding from Yuri Arcurs, the world's top selling stock photographer, who sells one photo every eight seconds.  Scoopshot will use the funding to accelerate its international growth with a focus on the UK, US and German markets.


This crowdsourcing of photography assignments has been tried before without much fanfare. Think this one will be any different now that they've got some of Yuri's money and possibly his industry knowledge to help them?



« Reply #1 on: July 16, 2013, 14:12 »
+8
http://paidcontent.org/2009/02/03/419-getty-shutting-scoopt-cit-j-photo-site-to-focus-on-core-business/

But anyways:
"The birth of on-demand photography could sound the death knell for the stock industry as we know it, says Scoopshot CEO, Niko Ruokosuo:  "Buyers are tired of wading through page after page of stale and over-used photography, before having to compromise. For the first time, they can request exactly what they want and receive it within minutes and without spending a fortune. "

How do they imagine they are going to get exactly what they want, within minutes, without spending a fortune?  That's somewhat laughable.  That isn't stock.  That's custom photography shoots.  And for $5?  You think YA would have more respect for photographers, after his recent professional/professional quip.


lisafx

« Reply #2 on: July 16, 2013, 14:26 »
+4
I don't see how this could work.  Do they think photographers the world over, or even just iphone shutterbugs, are going to run out to do custom shoots to spec the same day, upload them immediately, and happily dance off to spend their $5 on a coffee?

EmberMike

« Reply #3 on: July 16, 2013, 14:39 »
+2

This guy claims he was making $500 a week on Scoopshot. I just don't see how.

Or I do see how, but I don't know why anyone would want to do that much work for that money.

« Reply #4 on: July 16, 2013, 14:43 »
+3
That idea is hilarious. Custom photo shoots for 5 dollars? Of course....that is what we all love to do all day...

All the worlds stock imagery, at least the good quality content, is being supplied by a very, very tiny group of people who can create images with the necessary level of quality.

Good luck sending assignments to enthusiasts with mobile phones for 5 dollars...

ETA: with all the experience yuri has, I wonder if the concept is a different one to what is presented in that article. He really should know that custom photography doesn't work for 5 dollars.

« Last Edit: July 16, 2013, 15:38 by cobalt »

« Reply #5 on: July 16, 2013, 15:52 »
0
it could work in the third world, there are still places where 5$ go a long way.

but for anything else, forget it, and it's really a BAD IDEA to even trying to sell such a dis-service, this is the very last thing photographers need and it further devalues photography as a whole.




« Reply #6 on: July 16, 2013, 16:05 »
+1

This guy claims he was making $500 a week on Scoopshot. I just don't see how.

Or I do see how, but I don't know why anyone would want to do that much work for that money.


Obviously fake story. If anyone claims it isn't: show the shots + the usage. The days when advertisements just stretched the truth and used some weasel words are long gone, now with this crumbling economy everyone clawing the others' eye out for the last few pennies left by the .1%, they are just lying like there is no tomorrow.

« Reply #7 on: July 16, 2013, 17:05 »
+2
Wake up and smell the coffee guys and gals.

You think Yuri is the just throwing $1.2mill out the window?

This isn't about actually commissioning photography for $5. The $5 (I think it might be actually be $2.50 now btw, if you read the site) is just an incentive to get people shooting and uploading. This is a whole new library build in the making and it's an investment in the future (near future) technology of smart phones which in a couple of years from now will be seriously awesome bits of compact camera kit.

I've been tinkering with FOAP for a while and it's quite addictive cos it's so so simple. Whip your phone out, make a nice composition, click a few buttons to make it look cool, keyword and upload from your phone. Job done - had fun - portfolio growing. Who knows, maybe one day somebody will buy one.

I won't make any real money of course, but with the numbers game (crowd sourcing) comes a nice profit for the agency owners (Yuri et all) :-)

Smart phones + crowd sourcing .... Watch this Space.

(Oh, and don't forget all those recent threads about newspapers getting rid of staff photographers and giving journalists iphones). But then why even send anybody out when there's always a crowd of nearby on lookers with a smart phone?

There's another very similar concept App from Depositphotos as well called Clashot.
Same thing .... everyone is getting on board. Another race to IPO millions.

As a professional photographer, obviously this is all highly depressing really, but hey, you've either gotta laugh or cry. lol

« Reply #8 on: July 16, 2013, 17:14 »
+2
It seems like it should be hugely successful (if you can get people to contribute). P.T. Barnum would be proud. ;)

« Reply #9 on: July 16, 2013, 17:15 »
+3
PS .... the $500/week guy probably is a lie though.

Or at best a plant .... they probably sponsor some guy to run around taking thousands of pics and basically buy them off him.
They make a 'mobile app' photographer millionaire and everybody starts uploading like mad, cos everybody wants to be (rich) like him.

That's very cheap advertising & promotion for $500 per week.

When I first started looking at Micro, I often wondered if Yuri was just that as well. Somebody (with obvious talent too), that the industry sort of 'sponsored' to make a hero of.

Kinda like the David Beckham of micro that everybody is desperate to mimic.


« Reply #10 on: July 16, 2013, 17:21 »
+7
How interested are real businesses in non-released imagery?  They can't all want brick walls and cats.

« Reply #11 on: July 16, 2013, 17:28 »
0
Don't all the big agencies all have some kind of mobile stock collection? For both editorial and creative stock?

And there you can make real money becuase they have customers, plus you get to mix mobile stock with your regular portfolio?

If it wasn't for yuri investing I would think this is just another investment "teaser" story - pretend to build a business, come up with some modern sounding business plan, add as many impactful buzzwords as you can and then once it is all set up go and sell it out to some naive investor who doesn't really know the industry.

But yuri is smart, so maybe there is some idea there that I really cannot see.

Anyway, doesn't sound like an agency I would join. If I shoot with a phone, I'll just add it to the regular portfolio.

« Reply #12 on: July 16, 2013, 17:34 »
+3


You think Yuri is the just throwing $1.2mill out the window?



Yep. Why not? Have seen lot smarter people totally tank.

« Reply #13 on: July 16, 2013, 17:40 »
0
Don't all the big agencies all have some kind of mobile stock collection? For both editorial and creative stock?

And there you can make real money becuase they have customers, plus you get to mix mobile stock with your regular portfolio?

If it wasn't for yuri investing I would think this is just another investment "teaser" story - pretend to build a business, come up with some modern sounding business plan, add as many impactful buzzwords as you can and then once it is all set up go and sell it out to some naive investor who doesn't really know the industry.

But yuri is smart, so maybe there is some idea there that I really cannot see.

Anyway, doesn't sound like an agency I would join. If I shoot with a phone, I'll just add it to the regular portfolio.

Take a look at the site, it's a niche of what could be presented for a purposely crappy looking fake-real stuff, with the random pop of quality out of quantity when lighting was abundant, and some moron got lucky with the composition. I don't think this model has anything to do with f.e. very attractive models in smooth directed lighting, with single color and other set-up backgrounds.

« Reply #14 on: July 16, 2013, 17:41 »
+4
Wake up and smell the coffee guys and gals.

You think Yuri is the just throwing $1.2mill out the window?


Most likely, yes. Yuri might be a highly successful photographer but his record as an 'angel investor' in risky dot-com businesses is unknown. I think he is far too driven by his ego and he probably doesn't have enough experience to do the necessary due diligence or make rational decisions __ but we'll see. He might still be lucky.

There's no way this concept is strong enough to make it to an IPO. By far the quickest way to make big money will be to sell out early to FB, Google or the like in the way that Instagram did.

Michael Birch, the founder of would-be social media site Bebo, did very well. He sold out to AOL for $850M in 2008 ... and has just bought it back at auction for $1M.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bebo

« Reply #15 on: July 16, 2013, 17:44 »
0
PS .... the $500/week guy probably is a lie though.

Or at best a plant .... they probably sponsor some guy to run around taking thousands of pics and basically buy them off him.
They make a 'mobile app' photographer millionaire and everybody starts uploading like mad, cos everybody wants to be (rich) like him.

That's very cheap advertising & promotion for $500 per week.

When I first started looking at Micro, I often wondered if Yuri was just that as well. Somebody (with obvious talent too), that the industry sort of 'sponsored' to make a hero of.

Kinda like the David Beckham of micro that everybody is desperate to mimic.

Yep, good question. Ask him how on earth he got a hassy deal, which usually is for super senior and-or super high class artists. You won't get any clear definite answer.

« Reply #16 on: July 16, 2013, 18:36 »
+1
I looked at the 12 images of Glasgow on Scoopshot - a recent task to get interesting places and people for Visitors

https://www.scoopshot.com/v2/task/rbscsmmtgknqr

Other than the mall interior, which is a nice shot and not what you'd find on the agencies because of rules about property releases and, in SS's case, the idea that editorial must be newsworthy, I think what SS and Dreamstime have to offer is much better.

"Stale" or no, the 850+ Glasgow photos on DT and the 1,500+ on SS are a ton better than what Scoopshot has to offer. When there's nothing newsworthy or new in a topic, but people just need images for a web site or brochure, "stale" stock does just fine I think

The summer sandwich photos are equally dire, including (anyone remember this from Buy Request at iStock?) several that aren't of sandwiches at all. A pot of shrimp on a stove, a soda bottle on some blankets...

https://www.scoopshot.com/v2/task/dgzfjzmnbdlgj

You have to love the small, out of focus shot of a package of Oscar Mayer Bologna...

This seems (a) insane as a business idea and (b) an odd thing for Yuri to fund given that he has an interest in the existing stock business staying around.

People seem to greatly underestimate the awfulness of pictures people grab with their smartphones.

I realize whoever wrote the text on the Scoopshot web site is not a native English speaker, but there are several places that mention Scoopshot transferring the copyright (although there are also seemingly contradictory mentions of multiple sales being possible and only publishing rights being transferred)

https://www.scoopshot.com/v2/about/faq

"When you send your photo or video to Scoopshot, you give Scoopshot the right to use it in the Scoopshot service. All photos are for sale and cannot be used without buying appropriate publishing rights.

Scoopshot has permanent rights for transferring the copyright of the photo or video. Scoopshot will then ensure that you get the agreed compensation for the transferred rights."
« Last Edit: July 16, 2013, 18:50 by jsnover »

« Reply #17 on: July 16, 2013, 19:43 »
0
The summer sandwich photos are equally dire, including (anyone remember this from Buy Request at iStock?) several that aren't of sandwiches at all. A pot of shrimp on a stove, a soda bottle on some blankets...

How is that different from say Stocksy saying "Go shoot some sandwiches", aside from the fact the images are horrendous?  That isn't "stock on request".  That's just a phone image repository.

EmberMike

« Reply #18 on: July 16, 2013, 20:50 »
0
I looked at the 12 images of Glasgow on Scoopshot - a recent task to get interesting places and people for Visitors...

Some of them are decent. But what seems to be severely lacking is any sort of buyer protection. These photos obviously aren't model released, some feature logos, possibly protected architecture, lots of stuff that would land any of us in hot water at a stock agency. And stuff that can easily get a buyer sued if they use it commercially.

Again, seems like an awfully odd thing for a guy like Yuri to be involved in. He knows the business, especially the legalities of it. Why get involved in something like this?

« Reply #19 on: July 16, 2013, 20:58 »
0
politics.
in this case you should not look at the photos, but where and when the message is released.

« Reply #20 on: July 16, 2013, 21:14 »
0
Maybe the 1.2 million will go into things such as model releases...a digital model/property release within the app...maybe some editing functionality to remove logos...who knows.

« Reply #21 on: July 17, 2013, 01:22 »
+1
If you have a look at the site, it is not meant to be for creative stock. It's more a replacement for/add-on to the "reader's pictures" pages you often see in newspapers and magazines. Eventually it could also become a good source for "eyewitness news".

I found a couple of German and Austrian media having a task running like "What I am eating": https://www.scoopshot.com/v2/task/pvfjmbwmwrfmn

If you also consider that the images to be seen is the type of images that people usually post on Instagram or Facebook, I can see why it would work for both sides... It's probably not going to be a direct competition with microstock, though.


« Reply #22 on: July 17, 2013, 04:17 »
+2
Maybe the 1.2 million will go into things such as model releases...a digital model/property release within the app...maybe some editing functionality to remove logos...who knows.

startups are NOT supposed to make real money, their goal is to be sold to a rich suc-ker in no more than 2-3 yrs, that's how it works with VCs.

if yuri invested 1 million he plans to get 2-3 millions back, simple as that, every VC does that, it pays well because of the high risk involved (up to 90% of the startups miserably fail or never find a buyer).

look at Demotix, same sh-it, and finally they sold it to Corbis, but do they ever made a profit ? i doubt so.




« Reply #23 on: July 17, 2013, 04:30 »
0
There was a task from Yuri not that long time ago.
https://www.scoopshot.com/v2/task/dqmmtgmqjjxsd

« Reply #24 on: July 17, 2013, 05:22 »
0
Maybe the 1.2 million will go into things such as model releases...a digital model/property release within the app...maybe some editing functionality to remove logos...who knows.

startups are NOT supposed to make real money, their goal is to be sold to a rich suc-ker in no more than 2-3 yrs, that's how it works with VCs.

if yuri invested 1 million he plans to get 2-3 millions back, simple as that, every VC does that, it pays well because of the high risk involved (up to 90% of the startups miserably fail or never find a buyer).

look at Demotix, same sh-it, and finally they sold it to Corbis, but do they ever made a profit ? i doubt so.

true true, imho Yuri probably invested in an upcoming 'magic IPO' or something similar. But the sucker is more likely to be a poor sucker... these magic IPOs are avoided by institutional investors (except the insiders of course).


 

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