Getty’s Free Image Program: New Revenue Model, or a Surrender to Copyright Infringement?

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Getty’s Free Image Program: New Revenue Model, or a Surrender to Copyright Infringement? | PDNPulse

Getty Images lit up the Twittersphere today with an announcement that it was making its archive available free of charge for bloggers and other non-commercial users. Some of the big questions are: What is Getty gaining by making images free to the public?

via PDNPulse: http://pdnpulse.pdnonline.com/2014/03/gettys-free-image-program-new-revenue-model-or-a-surrender-to-copyright-infringement.html

The decision also has implications for the perceived value of images. Stock photo prices fell precipitously for years, eventually to prices as low as a dollar, forcing many photographers out of the stock photo business. Now, billions of images are shot and uploaded annually by everyone including amateurs, further devaluing images.