If you don’t already have a Flickr account, then now is the time to get one because Yahoo! (owners of Flickr) have signed a ground breaking deal with Getty Images, which will allow Getty customers to seamlessly search the Flickr database and commercially license the pictures in the same way that Getty pictures are licensed, meaning amateur photographers will be handsomely compensated.
“We believe that Flickr will be an important addition to the mix that we have,” said Jonathan Klein, co-founder and chief executive of Getty Images. Mr. Klein said Flickr photographers will increase the depth of Getty’s catalog on certain subjects and certain regions of the world. And they will be bringing an element that professional photography often lacks, he said. “Because the imagery is not shot for commercial services, there is more authenticity,” Mr. Klein said. “Advertisers are looking for authenticity.”
Read the New York Times Bits Blog for more on this story.
1 Gregor Jul 10th, 2008 at 12:29 pmThis really cool! Now it becomes imperative to tag your pics in flickr correctly :)!
2 Justin Hartman Jul 10th, 2008 at 12:41 pmWhat about CC licensed pics? Will Getty just freely sell these pics to their clients or will compensation be paid irrespective of the license?
I’m sure you don’t have the answer to that but it’s going to be interesting to see.
3 Gregor Jul 10th, 2008 at 12:54 pmQuickly…change all your CC licensed Commercial-Use pics to Non-Commercial use!!!!! :P
4 Colin Daniels Jul 10th, 2008 at 12:54 pm@Justin You’re right I don’t have the answer, but I can only assume that Getty will only list pictures that are suitably licensed and Flickr might need to make some changes to the existing licensing structure or, at the very least, educate their users about how to opt in/out of the program.