Remember our discursion on photography lo those many months ago? Well, there’s news.
We are not quite at the point where a few people own the entirety of world’s photography, but a few people do own nearly the entirety of the photography that media outlets actually use day-to-day.
Your choices are Getty and Corbis. Make your selection now.
Does it affect your selection that Bill Gates is the dominant shareholder in Corbis?
“Photographers everywhere are threatened by consolidations because all of these companies, as they’ve become more corporate, have developed teams of lawyers and everyone wants to own the photography,” said Brian Seed, a Chicago stock photography consultant. “There’s a big move afoot to end copyright as we know it.”
Another source in that article claims that Getty and Corbis account for “at best” 45% of the market. Not bad work if you can get it. Worse: “That, [the source] adds, makes it possible for a third party to enter the market with an even better deal.”
Is a choice of three giant vendors more of a choice than two?
Posted on 2000-10-01