Well it has happened again. Getty Images (a stock photography agency) has swallowed up another competitor. A while back Jupiter Images merged with Workbook Stock. And today it was announced that Getty has purchased Jupiter for $96 million. I have been with Masterfile for about 9 years. I think they are the only significant “non-corporate” player still in the game. Corbis is probably still considered #2 behind Getty.

I have also been with Jupiter for about 2 or 3 years. But now I guess I am with Getty….
It will be interesting to see how this affects the stock photography market, which has certainly been suffering as of late. I must admit I have not been fond of Getty’s practices in the past. They have been decidedly not photographer friendly!
But earlier this year Getty was acquired by Hellman & Friedman – a private equity firm, so who knows, maybe their attitude towards those who actually create the work that keeps them alive might be a bit kinder than in the past.

But a colleague of mine mentioned that she had heard commission splits might get changed to a 70/30 (guess who gets the 30!) so things might get even uglier.

At any rate, I am just hoping that the advertising industry overall has learned it’s lessons and gotten over the fad and will come back to commissioning original work like they should!