Startup community photo agency Demotix acquired by Corbis
Image via My Stock Photo
Image giant Corbis has just announced its acquisition of the largely successful crowd-sourced news wire photo agency Demotix . Started in 2008, Demotix has established a name for itself by creating a base base of 30,000 contributors and 6,500 active photographers who have uploaded a collective total of 1 million photos, many of which have contributed to the production of 75,000 news stories. The startup agency has a presence all over the world, including Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Its approach to using citizens as photo-journalists and compensating photographers with 50% of sales plus the copyright of images was a unique approach to running a massive photo agency. Photo buyers, on the other hand, were able to purchase non-exclusive rights photos priced from $50-3,000.
Corbis had already been investing in Demotix for the past year, and apparently found it successful enough to make an outright purchase of the company for an undisclosed amount. TechCrunch speculates that Demotix's acceptance of images via smart phone apps may have been the attraction factor for Corbis. Meanwhile, Demotix seems thrilled by the acquisition, saying in a statement that they will now be able to become a “truly competitive internatinonal photojournalism agency.”
What we have to wonder about is how Demotix's photographers will feel about the acquisition, especially since Corbis will be unlikely to uphold the generous 50% cut plus exclusive copyright policy for contributors.
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