a friend sent me this interesting email from acclaim images. very badly worked, doubt i will submit to them now! Wonder what Paris Hilton's lawers would say!
To All Contributing Artists - November 28, 2006 (02:58:00)
Jamie, Barbara and Cindy are no longer with Acclaim Images. They will be missed but I have faith that they will all succeed at whatever they attempt or wherever they go and I wish them the best of luck. The decision to let them go was based on a lack of growth in our stock photography business but I can assure you that all artist payouts will go out at usual and that Acclaim Images will remain a vibrant, viable and profitable company as long as I own it.
Acclaim Images will now undergo a basic restructuring with a focus on once again becoming an agile company that dominates at what it is best at: marketing images via the Internet.
We will be getting back to our gorilla warfare style of online marketing, the type that brings us well over 100,000 visitors per day to our various web properties.
I can tell you with complete certainty that we will begin expanding our offerings to include lower priced images, clipart and posters but we will continue to offer higher priced RF and RM images. We have a tremendous number of visitors to our sites each day who are looking for images other than what we are currently offering and we will begin offering the images that they want. Rest assured that you will have control over how YOUR images are offered.
If you are happy with us now you should expect no negative results from the changes. If you are not, you may see some pleasant results. If you do not, it may be time for you to look elsewhere to license your images.
This brings us to changes in our image acquisition and editing system: we will first be overhauling and streamlining our editing process. We will be going over all images, artists by artist, and sorting images by quality. To do this I will be freezing image uploads until we are done. This may be several weeks. Please do not ask when it will be back online; it will be back online when we are finished.
Once done we will have the best images at the top of our search results. Our new editing process will focus on the better images submitted. We will spend more time editing descriptions and keywords on those images and less time on poorer images. Expect to see many more images rejected.
Contributors will be able to edit certain image attributes such as license, category, description, title, use restrictions, etc.
Contributors will receive a default rating based mainly on their average image rating.
The result is that if you are exceptional you will be very pleased and if you are mediocre or worse you will not be. This will be the new driving force behind Acclaim Images; to focus our resources on our better images and contributors. A note of caution here: one of the ways I know people are not a good fit for us is when they spend more time complaining about our system than producing quality images. Those who know me from way back when know that I do not have much patience with complainers. I will have less now.
Let me make it clear that I am back in charge of Acclaim Images and I will steer this ship in the direction that I think is right. If you disagree with me start your own company and compete with me, don't expect me to change mine to suit you. I have no interest in following the other stock image agencies around and competing on their terms so please don't write and tell me how Alamy does things.I don't care! Getting into Alamy is like getting into Paris Hilton, it's just not that difficult, though it can be fun and even quite profitable.
We will once again begin forging new paths and trying new things and we will once again become an Internet company willing to break the mold.
> a friend sent me this interesting email from acclaim images. very > badly worked, doubt i will submit to them now! Wonder what Paris > Hilton's lawers would say!
> To All Contributing Artists - November 28, 2006 (02:58:00)
> Jamie, Barbara and Cindy are no longer with Acclaim Images. They will > be missed but I have faith that they will all succeed at whatever > they attempt or wherever they go and I wish them the best of luck. > The decision to let them go was based on a lack of growth in our > stock photography business but I can assure you that all artist > payouts will go out at usual and that Acclaim Images will remain a > vibrant, viable and profitable company as long as I own it.
> Acclaim Images will now undergo a basic restructuring with a focus on > once again becoming an agile company that dominates at what it is > best at: marketing images via the Internet.
> We will be getting back to our gorilla warfare style of online > marketing, the type that brings us well over 100,000 visitors per day > to our various web properties.
> I can tell you with complete certainty that we will begin expanding > our offerings to include lower priced images, clipart and posters but > we will continue to offer higher priced RF and RM images. We have a > tremendous number of visitors to our sites each day who are looking > for images other than what we are currently offering and we will > begin offering the images that they want. Rest assured that you will > have control over how YOUR images are offered.
> If you are happy with us now you should expect no negative results > from the changes. If you are not, you may see some pleasant results. > If you do not, it may be time for you to look elsewhere to license > your images.
> This brings us to changes in our image acquisition and editing > system: we will first be overhauling and streamlining our editing > process. We will be going over all images, artists by artist, and > sorting images by quality. To do this I will be freezing image > uploads until we are done. This may be several weeks. Please do not > ask when it will be back online; it will be back online when we are > finished.
> Once done we will have the best images at the top of our search > results. Our new editing process will focus on the better images > submitted. We will spend more time editing descriptions and keywords > on those images and less time on poorer images. Expect to see many > more images rejected.
> Contributors will be able to edit certain image attributes such as > license, category, description, title, use restrictions, etc.
> Contributors will receive a default rating based mainly on their > average image rating.
> The result is that if you are exceptional you will be very pleased > and if you are mediocre or worse you will not be. This will be the > new driving force behind Acclaim Images; to focus our resources on > our better images and contributors. A note of caution here: one of > the ways I know people are not a good fit for us is when they spend > more time complaining about our system than producing quality images. > Those who know me from way back when know that I do not have much > patience with complainers. I will have less now.
> Let me make it clear that I am back in charge of Acclaim Images and I > will steer this ship in the direction that I think is right. If you > disagree with me start your own company and compete with me, don't > expect me to change mine to suit you. I have no interest in following > the other stock image agencies around and competing on their terms so > please don't write and tell me how Alamy does things.I don't care! > Getting into Alamy is like getting into Paris Hilton, it's just not > that difficult, though it can be fun and even quite profitable.
> We will once again begin forging new paths and trying new things and > we will once again become an Internet company willing to break the > mold.
I've been waiting for a contract from Acclaim for over a month. I won't submit to them without one and they've said (both Jamie and Fred) that it was coming "in a couple weeks" since I first inquired and was told I could submit. I am first surprised there isn't a contract and that there are photographers submitting to Acclaim without one. From the email I now get a better picture of maybe the reason why it's been delayed (maybe not a "better" picture, but certainly a possible explanation. I'm also wondering about the ethics of posting the message on this forum. This is addressed to Acclaim contributors, so maybe should not be available to non-contributors? I haven't checked Acclaim's site, so maybe this is posted publicly there.
Even so, the letter does have an antagonistic tone toward contributors, although it might be honest and straightforward. I'm always a bit wary of "quality ranking" type systems. Ranking the quality of an image is so subjective that a bad attitude day (or a good attitude day) on the part of the Quality Czar could greatly impact the performance of any given image. Why not just select images by "In" or "Out"? Why provide a Good, Better, Best ranking? Good, Better, Best for what? By what criteria is that ranking determined and by whom? What is there qualifications to be able to discern an image better than another for any given purpose? And, if you put in a few dogs it affects the ranking of other perfectly fine images. Ranking seems to me to be a pompous, self-aggrandizing, ego feeding mechanism on the part of the agency. As if they don't have enough power over our images as it is. Ranking makes me nervous.
Mike Shipman
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
--- In STOCKPH...@yahoogroups.com, "painet01" <painet@...> wrote:
> it's sad to see a mentor stoop to such depths...and to be so > argumentive in a letter to, apparently, his contributors. > mark goebel > painetworks.com
========== Its sick to see Mark Goebel who owes so many so much money for years & years criticize an agency that pays its contributors in timely fashion. jeffgreenberg
I have no problem with this being posted here and stand behind everything I wrote.
For those who are interested I can put NO blame on the 3 people who I had to let go. They all worked very hard but we had become stale and stodgy and they were the managers in my stale and stodgy company and probably paid for my inability to run a larger company.
But in the short time since this shakeup Acclaim Images has made dramatic steps in improving image quality in our search and in improving profitability and I am once again hard at work on improving Acclaim Images in tangible ways that will continue our rise in the world of image marketing.
As one of the people referred to in this post as "stale and stodgy", I feel it in time to clarify a couple of misconceptions about what actually happened. A public forum may not be the appropriate place for this but since my name has been mentioned I feel the correct information needs to also be out there. I have waited till now to voice my opinion on this because there has been some retaliation and I wanted to make sure all things were finalized regarding my leaving the company.
The reasons Fred gave us when we were laid off without notice was that he was having financial problems. I have no doubt this is true because of many poor business decisions made at Acclaim by the owner affecting finances. Sales doubled when I came on board but unfortunately, I was not in charge of spending or company decisions regarding them.
Along with being Director of Sales and Image Research, I was also the HR Manager at Acclaim. Fred had problems with me addressing a very sensitive issue regarding unacceptable behavior of another employee and personal friend of his. This behavior could have had legal and other ramifications for the company so I felt as HR Manager it needed to be addressed. I addressed this issue in a memo to him Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving and the following Monday Jamie and I were let go without cause or warning, Jamie because she was in agreement with me. The other employee who was laid off is a personal friend of Fred's and is still working with him on other projects.
This was a very shocking and financially devastating time for both Jamie and I as we really loved our jobs at Acclaim and were working very hard to see it succeed. I have no doubt we will succeed at whatever we decide to do and Fred will need to come to his own terms about the way this was handled. Not only was being let go in retaliation shocking but Jamie and I were treated horribly and even cheated out of our final pay of earned benefits we were promised, although he did pay his friend all of her benefits and more. When Jamie and I, who are family, went to him and requested he pay us as promised, he threatened to call the police.
If I was a photographer I would have serious reservations about submitting images to Acclaim without a contract. The contract has not been submitted to the photographers by him because apparently Fred has decided NOT to have a contract with his photographers so he can make decisions any way he sees fit, regardless of the wishes of those concerned. He has decided to place Google ads on his site using the photographers work and text to drive business away from them and into his own pockets. This may not be illigal but it is certainly unethical and would have been addressed in the contract he has now decided to not have with them. He has pulled his own work off of Acclaim and put it on his own site exclusively and is driving traffic there and in a sense, cheating the photographers from customers. Fred has stated over and over that he does not care what the photographers say or want and that they can leave and go elsewhere. Many have or are in the process of leaving.
He has also thrown out the company handbook of polices I wrote for him as HR so that he can treat the employees any way he chooses which is often very abusive, rude, and unfair.
I sincerely appreciate the support I have had of many of you during this time and I know Jamie does too. I apologize again for sending this publicly but I have has numerous emails from people requesting to know what happened and whether they should submit to Acclaim. This is a decision they will have to make but they should make that decision with all of the facts and not partial information. If anyone wishes to contact me offline please feel free to do so.
Being successful in business does not mean treating others with unfairness and contempt. I have no doubt that Fred will learn this valuable lesson someday and possibly at the expense of his company and those who work for him.
Have a wonderful holiday season. I wish you all the best and hope I will work it this business again someday.
Sincerely,
Cindy Voetsch Former Director of Sales and Image Research HR Manager Acclaim Images
--- In STOCKPH...@yahoogroups.com, "Fred" <freddyv@...> wrote:
> I have no problem with this being posted here and stand behind > everything I wrote.
> For those who are interested I can put NO blame on the 3 people who I > had to let go. They all worked very hard but we had become stale and > stodgy and they were the managers in my stale and stodgy company and > probably paid for my inability to run a larger company.
> But in the short time since this shakeup Acclaim Images has made > dramatic steps in improving image quality in our search and in > improving profitability and I am once again hard at work on improving > Acclaim Images in tangible ways that will continue our rise in the > world of image marketing.
--- In STOCKPH...@yahoogroups.com, "chumpyrules" <chumpyrules@...> wrote:
> He has decided to place Google ads on his site using the > photographers work and text to drive business away from them and into > his own pockets. This may not be illigal
It certainly does not help the business, because now on the pages there are ads for istockphoto and other competing stock photograpy sites.
Advice: to a certain extent you can exclude some sites from the Google ads, to avoid having a direct competitor advertising on your site.
I have have been selling photos via stock agencies since the mid 70s. Some have come and gone. This process may have speeded up in the digital age. "ranking" by an agency: except for Alamy all the agencies I have dealt with use a form of "ranking" each time they edit submitted images and decide which images they want on their "shelfs" and which they do not. The agency makes those calls and sometimes they are good calls other times wrong. I have had, as many of you probably have, photos rejected by one agency sold by another. the simple "ranking" is in or out. perhaps other agencies rank photos that make it to their "shelves" put dont publicly anounce it or go into details about how they do it?
photographer owned agencies; seems it would be in the interest of the owner to sell his/her photos of subject "A" and get 100% of the sales instead of another photographers "A" and get only 50% of a sale, just as big agencies with wholly owned work for hire photos would push those photos over others. Dont many photographer owned agencies begin due to their perception that if they could fill in thier gaps in weak subject areas with photos of other photogs then they will have more clients and make more money? So if they have many of their own photos of the empire state building at sunset, why include other photographers images of that subject unless it is very diferent from thier own?
as to direct competitors adds on the Acclaim website, I checked and dont see em. am I missing them somehow?
always interested in others perspectives on these issues. thanks,
Other pages have similar ads. Not sure how you feel about this, but it won't do much to help your business having microstock sites ads appear on the pages of your site, offering high res images for $1 or even free ones. See if you can set up a rule with Google ads which excludes stock photo sites from advertising on your site.
As you know, a true photo AGENCY judges and edits images with every unique pull in preparation for a submission to a client, whether that decision-making is done by a thinking individual or a search by a computer program set up to answer the specific needs of clients. Ranking images before the individual needs of the client are known can only produce mush of questionable origin in returns from a search.
If we can't conceive of a situation in which a given image might be the first choice for some client's specific use, we won't put it into stock. This does not mean every image is a masterpiece; rather, it means specific needs of photo users vary and it is our job to fill as many of those needs as we can for our client audience.
An agency *represents* the work of its contributors. There are many image-selling models these days that people, often neophytes to the industry, call "agencies" that are, in obvious fact, other kinds of stock photo selling businesses--some legitimate and some Limburger.
I have have been selling photos via stock agencies since the mid 70s. Some have come and gone. This process may have speeded up in the digital age. "ranking" by an agency: except for Alamy all the agencies I have dealt with use a form of "ranking" each time they edit submitted images and decide which images they want on their "shelfs" and which they do not. The agency makes those calls and sometimes they are good calls other times wrong. I have had, as many of you probably have, photos rejected by one agency sold by another. the simple "ranking" is in or out. perhaps other agencies rank photos that make it to their "shelves" put dont publicly anounce it or go into details about how they do it?
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