Author Topic: TemplateMonster.com Partners with Fotolia.com for stock Images (Read 10784 times)

GeoPappas · « **on:** August 14, 2006, 18:52 »

I have no idea what this means. Maybe one of you more astute lawyer-types can dechiper this for me.

Here is the article:

http://blog.fotolia.com/us/press/release/fotolia-_templatemonster-_stoc.html

Greg Boiarsky · « **Reply #1 on:** August 14, 2006, 20:00 »

I think this means that we now have another marketing tool from Fotolia. They sell our images to templatemonster.com, giving us our usual fee for a Web-sized download with each template that is sold:

"The agreement stipulates that each time a template is sold, the owners of the copyrights of the images embedded in the template will be paid according to the usual Fotolia pricing policy and licence agreement. Settlements to be made at the end of each month ."

phildate · « **Reply #2 on:** August 14, 2006, 20:54 »

I know some photographers get on their high-horse when it comes to web templates but this seems like a win-win situation to me. Or am I missing something?

CJPhoto · « **Reply #3 on:** August 15, 2006, 02:47 »

The normal problem with web templates i think is that they buy a photo once and use again and again. This appears to solve the problem by giving you a cut of each sale.

I think I am happy unless I here something to the contrary.

GeoPappas · « **Reply #4 on:** August 15, 2006, 05:46 »

For some reason, the name TemplateMonster seemed familiar to me. It was just kind of sitting in the back of my mind. This morning, I finally realized why they sounded so familiar. They are being sued by Corbis:

"Corbis Wins Injunction Against TemplateMonster Web Sites"

"The Corbis photo agency has filed a lawsuit against TemplateMonster.com and Ultravertex.com, web sites it claims are engaged in large-scale piracy of stock photos. The lawsuit, filed in the Federal District Court in the Southern District of Florida, seeks $109 million in damages."

Here is the full article:

http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/newswire/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002913964

I'm not so sure I like the sound of this agreement anymore...

GeoPappas · « **Reply #5 on:** August 15, 2006, 05:57 »

Here is another article on the lawsuit:

http://www.stockasylum.com/text-pages/articles/a6sm082006-corbissuit.htm

chad_fotolia · « **Reply #6 on:** August 15, 2006, 14:25 »

Hi guys. We entered the deal with our eyes wide open. We have put into place an agreement that protects Fotolia and the photographer. I think it is better to have a secure deal than to have nothing. Nothing would have stopped Template Monster from coming to Fotolia and purchasing an extended license. At least now they are monitored and we are able to get a better deal for our photographers.

In any case if the deal goes bad we can and will pull out.

Chad Bridwell
Fotolia.com

kacper · « **Reply #7 on:** August 15, 2006, 14:45 »

Quote from: chad_fotolia on August 15, 2006, 14:25

Hi guys. We entered the deal with our eyes wide open. We have put into place an agreement that protects Fotolia and the photographer. I think it is better to have a secure deal than to have nothing. Nothing would have stopped Template Monster from coming to Fotolia and purchasing an extended license. At least now they are monitored and we are able to get a better deal for our photographers.

In any case if the deal goes bad we can and will pull out.

Chad Bridwell
Fotolia.com

So explain to us Chad: everytime a template is sold with our picture we get paid a web-level commission (from 1 credit)?

leaf · « **Reply #8 on:** August 15, 2006, 15:14 »

Quote from: chad_fotolia on August 15, 2006, 14:25

Chad Bridwell
Fotolia.com

Welcome here Chad. It is great to have input directly from the sites.

GeoPappas · « **Reply #9 on:** August 15, 2006, 15:49 »

Chad:

Greetings.

Nobody is accusing Fotolia of going into a deal blind. We have to assume that Fotolia is trying to increase sales for both the site and its contributors.

With any big news, there are going to be questions. Especially since there seems to be some ambiguity on the details of this agreement, and also because TemplateMonster has been accused by another agency of stealing copyrighted images.

Can you please provide the details of the royalty arrangement?

Will TemplateMonster register a sale when they first purchase the image to put into their template? If so, what will the royalty amount be? If it will be an Extended License, will contributors need to have that license enabled?

Will each template sale that is recorded end up in a royalty for the submitters? If so, how much will the royalty be?

How will template sales be tracked? Is there some way that Fotolia will be able to track sales from TemplateMonster? Or will this just be the "honor" system?

Looking forward to the answers...

madelaide · « **Reply #10 on:** August 15, 2006, 16:42 »

I'm really confused about how it is going to work.

If TemplateMonster sells a template with a Fotolia image in it, it should be an extended license. But if the deal is to have the buyer of a template buy a photo from Fotolia to use in it, then it looks more like a regular sale.

It would be nice to have a clarification on this.

Regards,
Adelaide

phildate · « **Reply #11 on:** August 15, 2006, 17:59 »

It's the latter...everytime a buyer purchases a template from TM, the photographer's whose work appears in the template receive a commission (presumably Medium) since their photo is being sold along with the template.

madelaide · « **Reply #12 on:** August 15, 2006, 18:34 »

Quote from: phildate on August 15, 2006, 17:59

everytime a buyer purchases a template from TM, the photographer's whose work appears in the template receive a commission

Phil, I'm confused. Isn't that a template sale, thus require an extended license?

Regards,
Adelaide

Wisent · « **Reply #13 on:** August 15, 2006, 19:40 »

As far as i see it getting multiple single sales probably is better then getting one extended sale if the template sells wel from the photographers point of view. So i don't understand why templatemonster.com wouldn't just buy the extended licence.

GeoPappas · « **Reply #14 on:** August 15, 2006, 19:50 »

Quote from: Wisent on August 15, 2006, 19:40

As far as i see it getting multiple single sales probably is better then getting one extended sale if the template sells wel from the photographers point of view. So i don't understand why templatemonster.com wouldn't just buy the extended licence.

This reduces their overhead. If they needed to buy 1000 images, then they would have to pay for them all up front. This would add up to about $20000.

This arrangement moves the payment to the point of sale (POS). So they have no (or very little) up front costs. They basically pay $1 for each sale, which is a small percentage of their sale price.

Boylet · « **Reply #15 on:** August 15, 2006, 21:14 »

Don't want to sound intrusive ... but because of the fiasco between TemplateMonster and Corbis , just like what leaf said, I would sure like to know how Fotolia is "monitoring" the sales of the templates??

CJPhoto · « **Reply #16 on:** August 16, 2006, 03:01 »

How they monitor the sale will be interesting but we have to assume Fotolia have this under control (has anyone ever asked how any of the sites track sales and if it is audited to ensure they account for the sale to us properly - With the internet, we have to trust and I think Fotlia is reputable at this stage. They have pulled out of other deals where the photographer was getting a bad deal).

I think it makes sense the way payment works. TM buys a single use photo (1 or 2 credits). If someone buys the template, TM acts as agent to buy another photo from Fotolia (for 1 or 2 credits). they could do this with EL but as another poster said, that would be a huge upfront cost.

madelaide · « **Reply #17 on:** August 16, 2006, 15:50 »

For what I read in Fotolia's forum, although it's template sale (it will be sold as part of the template), it will be paid as a single image. On the good side, every image picked to be part of a template will be paid, regardless its sales.

Quote from Chad at FT fourm:

Quote

This deal will pay for every image used in a template and downloaded. So instead of getting 25 credits for one sale you can get 250 credits for hundreds of downloads.

Quote

I forgot to point out that Template Monster will pay to even display the image in the template and then pay each time it is downloaded. So the photographers wins even from the start.

Template Monster will focus on the M size images at 1 and 2 credits but the numbers will come in fast.

I must say I don't think it's right to sell it for a use that qualifies for an extended license without being paid as one. Of course, there can be an increase of sales if this deal works so well as they expect. But I think that the right thing in these two-sided negotiations should be pay a higher price to make the template (even if smaller than the EL) and then a regular price for each sale. Well, I don't know, I'm not a market expert, I just feel a bit uncomfortable in such "out of the contract" deals.

So what happens if we withdraw an image that has been already bought by TM? I suppose it will be still available at their site.

Regards,
Adelaide

GeoPappas · « **Reply #18 on:** August 16, 2006, 16:21 »

Quote from: madelaide on August 16, 2006, 15:50

So what happens if we withdraw an image that has been already bought by TM? I suppose it will be still available at their site.

That is a great question!

Chad?

GeoPappas · « **Reply #19 on:** August 16, 2006, 18:29 »

Quote from: madelaide on August 16, 2006, 15:50

So what happens if we withdraw an image that has been already bought by TM? I suppose it will be still available at their site.

Chad (from Fotolia) responded on the FT forums with the following response:

"If a photographer removes the image from the Fotolia database we will have template monster replace the image with a new Fotolia image."

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Author Topic: TemplateMonster.com Partners with Fotolia.com for stock Images (Read 10784 times)

GeoPappas

Greg Boiarsky

phildate

CJPhoto

GeoPappas

GeoPappas

chad_fotolia

kacper

leaf

GeoPappas

madelaide

phildate

madelaide

Wisent

GeoPappas

Boylet

CJPhoto

madelaide

GeoPappas

GeoPappas

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