Today Corbis is announcing the sale of the Corbis Images (excluding Splash), Corbis Motion, and Veer licensing businesses to Unity Glory International, an affiliate of the Visual China Group (VCG), a leading Chinese visual communications and new media business.
In connection with this transaction, VCG is excited to announce the expansion of its longstanding partnership with Getty Images, and, following a transition period (which we’ll explain in more detail), Getty Images will become the exclusive distributor of Corbis content outside China.
As a valued contributor, we want to be sure you understand what these announcements mean for you and your content and the opportunities they represent for you going forward.
As part of this transaction, your existing Corbis agreements have transferred to VCG, however in practical terms nothing changes for the time being. The Corbis sites, licensing and royalties processes will continue to operate as they do today.
Over the coming months, select content from the Corbis collections will be identified and invitations will be extended to you for migration of those files to Getty Images. For those of you whose content is selected who do not currently work directly with Getty Images, you will be offered a direct contract that will apply to migrated content and any new submissions you choose to make going forward to Getty Images. If your content is selected and you are already contracted to Getty Images, you will be offered an assignment letter to move content selected for migration to your existing Getty Images’ agreement.
During this transition period, all content will continue to be available through Corbis, and, as it’s migrated, content will also become available through Getty Images. Content that is not migrated to Getty Images will either continue to be represented by VCG, or distribution rights will be returned to contributors.
We’re very excited to represent your great content and look forward to expanding its reach through the unparalleled global sales and distribution network of Getty Images to almost one million customers in nearly 200 countries.
We’ll be sharing more specifics on the migration process over the coming weeks, but in the meantime please refer to our FAQ for additional details.
CONTRIBUTOR Q&A
About the announcement:
What is the news we’re announcing today?
Today, Corbis announced the sale of its content licensing business to Unity Glory International, which is an affiliate of the Visual China Group (VCG), a leading Chinese visual communications and new media business. This sale includes the images and motion archives from Corbis Images, Corbis Motion, and Veer, and all their associated brands and trademarks. The sale does not include the Branded Entertainment Network, Splash, or Greenlight, its rights clearance and representation business.
Subsequent to the sale, Getty Images, the world leader in visual communications, and VCG announced a global distribution partnership which will see customers globally benefit from an unprecedented content offering. The existing Getty Images collection of almost 200 million images spanning creative and editorial, stills and video, contemporary and archival, is expanding to include Corbis imagery, video and historic archival content. This content will be available to customers in China via the VCG platform and to the rest of the world via Getty Images’ global sales teams and industry-leading website, gettyimages.com.
What is Unity Glory/VCG acquiring?
Under the terms of their agreement with Corbis, Unity Glory/VCG is acquiring the assets and brands of Corbis’ Images division, one of the world’s leading image archives and licensing businesses. Going forward, it will own and manage the images and motion archives, names and trademarks associated with the Corbis Images, Corbis Motion and Veer licensing brands.
Corbis is not selling the businesses in its Corbis Entertainment division, so, going forward, Corbis Entertainment will continue to own and operate its Branded Entertainment Network, Splash and Greenlight, its rights representation business, under a different brand.
Why is Getty Images partnering with VCG on this?
As the most trusted and esteemed source of visual content in the world, Getty Images is always innovating to bring its customers the most comprehensive offering of diverse and high quality content in the market. The addition of Corbis content to Getty Images’ industry-leading collection means Getty Images now offers customers an unprecedented breadth and depth of gold-standard content across creative and editorial, stills and video, and contemporary and archival.
Getty Images is the trusted partner to a network of over 200,000 contributors and content from approximately 330 existing image partner relationships, including prestigious partners NBC Universal, BBC Worldwide and AFP.
What happens to Corbis moving forward with the business that they aren’t selling?
Corbis will be focused on building and growing its entertainment advertising business under a different brand. The sale does not include the three Corbis Entertainment businesses – the Branded Entertainment Network, Splash and Greenlight, its rights clearance and representation business.
Corbis Entertainment will be rebranded under a new name in the coming months.
What does this mean for contributors?
How will the VCG/Getty Images deal benefit me?
Corbis content will reach a wider audience throughout the world via Getty Images’ industry-leading site and global sales team, and in China via VCG.
Corbis contributors who are not already represented by Getty Images may be invited to become GI contributors:
- Creative contributors will benefit from working with the industry’s largest and most experienced Creative team – trend insight researchers and award-winning art-directors who understand what imagery brands and businesses will be looking for tomorrow
- Editorial contributors will benefit from being part of our global award-winning editorial team, covering the most exciting, important and interesting things happening 24/7 around the world.
- Contributors with archive and historical content will benefit from working closely with our dedicated team of global archive editors and will be represented alongside some of the most important names and collections in the history of photography.
- When will I know if I’m being offered a direct contract with Getty Images?
Invitations for direct contracting and content migration will take place over the course of the coming weeks, once all invitations have been delivered, contributors will be notified that the process is complete.
What happens to those contributors who are not invited to join Getty Images?
Contributors who are not invited to sign directly with Getty Images will remain contracted to VCG according to the terms of your Corbis agreement. At VCG’s discretion these contracts may be offered termination, in which case you will be notified by VCG. Regardless, you are welcome to apply to work directly with Getty Images through the Work With Us application process (http://workwithus.gettyimages.com/en).
Will Getty Images migrate all of my content or just a smaller selection?
Content selected for migration will be case by case - some entire portfolios will be invited for migration and others will be partial selections.
What criteria will Getty Images use to select the Corbis content it will invite for migration?
Content selection for migration to Getty Images will be based on a variety of criteria including license history, uniqueness, quality and exclusivity of content.
What are the specifics of the agreement I’m being offered by Getty Images?
In general, standard Getty Images agreements will be offered, but it is understood that in some cases there are unique circumstances that will need to be addressed.
If Getty Images does not offer me a contract, or I don’t want to sign with Getty Images, will the Corbis contract continue with VCG?
Yes. Contributors who are not invited to sign direct with Getty Images, or choose not to, will remain contracted to VCG according to the terms of your Corbis agreement. At VCG’s discretion these contracts may be offered termination, in which case you will be notified by VCG.
So what is happening to the Corbis site once content has been migrated to Getty Images?
During the transition period, VCG and Getty Images will evaluate how best to improve the value and benefits for Corbis customers globally and will reach out to customers in the coming weeks.
Can I still submit content to Corbis during the transition period?
There will be a short window of ongoing submissions but we want to ensure there is time to process content that is currently in our production queues. We would advise you do not submit further content if possible and instead wait for Getty Images invitations. Once signed to Getty Images you will have access to direct submission processes there.
I want to terminate my contract with Corbis, how do I do this?
Your contract has been re-assigned to VCG as part of this transaction, the same termination terms and process remain in place. Please refer to your contract for specific information.
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