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Unsplash is being acquired by Getty Images

unsplash.com

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Re: Unsplash is being acquired by Getty Images

#11

Post by endantwit »

EMM_386 wrote: post #4

> After interacting with the team at Getty Images more and better understanding their long-term vision, we realized we shared so much alignment that going at this together could be much more impactful than going at it separately. Of course they will say that now, but isn't Unsplash a direct threat to Getty's bottom line? Unsplash images are free for commercial and non-commercial purposes with no permission needed. Th…

(Almost every website that features free images already also shows ads from websites like Getty Images and iStockphoto.)

I can also see it happen that Unsplash remains free forever, but that it will be used to lead more people to Getty Images. And that's very understandable from a Getty Images point of view, right?

Re: Unsplash is being acquired by Getty Images

#13

Post by sarabad2021 »

RIP. I'm sure this acquisition will be great for the team but it's pretty obvious Getty will fill the site with tricky sponsored images. They will also likely start fading out new free images until the site is mostly stale or filled with sponsored image links. I could also see them playing around with image licensing so it's less obvious how you can use them. Welp, I guess there's always Pexels.

Re: Unsplash is being acquired by Getty Images

#15

Post by dbrgn »

EMM_386 wrote: post #4

> After interacting with the team at Getty Images more and better understanding their long-term vision, we realized we shared so much alignment that going at this together could be much more impactful than going at it separately. Of course they will say that now, but isn't Unsplash a direct threat to Getty's bottom line? Unsplash images are free for commercial and non-commercial purposes with no permission needed. Th…

I recently started uploading pictures to Unsplash. I'm not sure I'll continue with that.

Re: Unsplash is being acquired by Getty Images

#17

Post by masona »

Getty already offers free images through embeddable content as well as brand partnerships, so it's natural for them to want a fresh injection of great work. Especially since their library has been rather stale for so long. It's hard to keep nice pictures coming in when photographers are getting royalty statements of only pennies. Of course, that's still more than Unsplash photographers receive. It will be interesting to see how Getty leverages this new model of 'images as ad network.'

The Unsplash dashboard features the number of image views/downloads very prominently and artists treat it as a kind of cachet. An image with 100,000 views at $2.00 CPM is what, $200? It's strange to me that photographers brag about their view counts when it's plain evidence of how much the company is making off their shadow labor. Credit to the Unsplash team for taking this dissonance to its apex - it really did require a new way of viewing images as assets that hadn't exist before. I'm hopeful that they can bring that kind of thinking to Getty. I'm not that hopeful that any photographer benefits from this new partnership.

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