One more slam from Getty

When are photographers going to get enough moxie to stand up for themselves. I found the last comment interesting, Getty basically gives you 36 months for your photos to sell or they automatically move your photos to a royalty-free distribution service.

PDN Pulse » Blog Archive » Getty Cuts Pay for Editorial Contributors

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I haven't mentioned anything until now, but this is the reason I lost my job at the newspaper. There are other reasons, but this is the main cause of it. I worked as an "intern" for nearly 6 months. This was my baptism by fire into the editorial photography world, so I just paid my dues like everyone else before. Because there were no staff jobs available, I signed a contract to be a stringer. Basically an independent contractor who got paid per photo submission.

About a month ago, a new contract was forced upon me. Essentially, it was modeled after this new Getty deal and the use of an outside agency that meant a 50%-65% pay cut for me. It meant giving up the rights to my photos completely so that they could be run in additional publications without paying me. I refused to sign and exchanged words with the editor. I got to live everyone's dream and told the boss to roll up that contract and cram it up his #ss.

Stuff like this will continue to happen as long as people let it happen. If your boss walked into your workplace tomorrow and told everyone they were getting a 50% pay cut effective immediately, the sad truth is, the vast majority of workers wouldn't have the stones to walk away.

There needs to be a revolution in this industry, or it's simply going to die.

Interesting stuff...I wish I could get a few people to come to my business and work for free or half price for that matter! I might argue that there needs to be a revolution in this country.

I worked on a car (Mercedes Benz BTW) several months ago that belonged to the son of folks who own our local newspaper. I grilled him about photography and the newspaper. In a nutshell what he told me was that they had a handful of digital Nikons and the writers or whoever needed a photographer just grabbed one and went on assignment...there was no sort of staff photographer...he also told me the sports writer had the raw deal because he had to go to all of the games, take his own pictures, and write all of the stories. He said that poor guy worked from dawn to dusk everyday literally.