Very curious :Any info on what there revenue was? From what I've read/seen they were experimenting with a bunch of methods, but nothing seemed to really work (could be wrong). How much did they get acquired for?
Unsplash is being acquired by Getty Images
51–60 of 282 posts
Re: Unsplash is being acquired by Getty Images
#52> 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…
Unsplash images are free for commercial and non-commercial purposes with no permission needed. The only limitation is that you can't sell them or start a competing service.
My theory is Getty is really paying for the right to sell them. Getty has a lot of very large customers who pay for access to their libraries and adding a new substantial library to their plans could benefit them.
I'm thinking it's a bit like when AWS takes something like MongoDB and rolls out DocumentDB.. there are companies who are so entrenched with their AWS accounts that it seems more appealing than dealing with the hassle of opening a separate account and doing all 'the legal' for another service, even if it's free/cheaper. If a large agency or institution has a process around Getty and the way they assign rights and manage licenses, maybe they'll happily pay for the Unsplash library from Getty even if they could get it free separately(?)
Re: Unsplash is being acquired by Getty Images
#53I'm going to instead see this as an opportunity for something better to emerge. My biggest problem with Unsplash is that they did not use a standard license that would easily be compatible with a Creative Commons or open source licensed work. If I incorporated images from Unsplash, suddenly I couldn't say "you're welcome to do whatever you like with my work." In fact, they used to use a CC0 license, but then changed,…
Creative Commons caused many issues in countries like Germany, with photographers publishing under CC with attribution clause, then hunting for sites using photos without or with not 100% correct attribution (in illegal pro-profit cooperations with lawyers) and suing the site owners for thousands of dollars. It really would have to be CC0, but even mentioning CC will raise a red flag for many now.
Re: Unsplash is being acquired by Getty Images
#54Potentially unpopular opinion: Good.
I am tired of people just putting large images into their websites where the main image is barely relevant to the rest of the page. It was sloppy and lazy, like modern day clip art.
And if someone really wants images, there are paid services like envato that are at least somewhat sustainable. These solutions are really affordable now and they've got very decent licensing terms.
Re: Unsplash is being acquired by Getty Images
#55Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
-- Robert Frost
Re: Unsplash is being acquired by Getty Images
#56I have to say this kind of announcement sticks in the craw. I get that Mikael Cho and colleagues created Unsplash and it's theirs to do with as they please: they don't owe us anything. But really, couldn't they just come right out and say "They offered us too much money, we couldn't resist, So long, suckers"?
nobody needs to say that anymore; it is a given.
if you sell your company to a Getty or Facebook or Zoom, for example, you really were just selling your customers and eliminating yourself as competition, for probably a nice payoff. if you had a bad VC deal, then you the founders/builders might even get nothing.
Re: Unsplash is being acquired by Getty Images
#57If the automobile was invented today it would be owned by the largest conglomeration of horse breeders.
Henry Ford had to fight what was essentially a patent troll when he started his motor company.
https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2012/11/05/the-origin...
Re: Unsplash is being acquired by Getty Images
#58Loved reading about their journey on HN. Here's a 5-year-old thread about their costs: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11519085 Unfortunately the original link is down (and I could not find an archived version). But here's relevant material from the comments: > $18k is a lot of money to spend each month. Understanding the scale of Unsplash though can help explain the costs. > So at a cost of $18k per month you a…
Re: Unsplash is being acquired by Getty Images
#59They can't change licensing for images that are already in use under Unsplash current agreement, can they?
Whether they can or not is less relevant. Getty has already demonstrated that it is willing to sell free works to people who don't realize they can get it for free (legally). I'm not even talking about where they take other people's works and illegally resell it as their own...
Getty, if judged by their past behaviors, is an evil company.
Re: Unsplash is being acquired by Getty Images
#60Getty Images is the same old crony capitalism at its worse. Sad day for the Internet. RIP.
Fortunately there are a lot of people who travel, and modern phones take remarkably good photos easily. The biggest immediate impact the "photographer" has is on framing the shot; but with high res images and you being willing to crop, you can do half of that job yourself.
So there should be another to replace Unsplash. And if the founders can guess on being acquired in a few years, then this isn't a bad plan.