Starting a wire service???

[shaggyrockmer]

Anybody have a blog to read/ book/ anything that will give some incite on the ups and downs to being able to do this.....

[kayumangi]

what exactly is a wire service?

[Howard Barlow]

You know, like if your wire isn't performing as designed. You take it to a wire service for a tune-up.

[shaggyrockmer]

Originally Posted by kayumangi

what exactly is a wire service?

lol maybe I'm saying it wrong but the type of service like Getty Images or AP

[kayumangi]

Originally Posted by Howard Barlow

You know, like if your wire isn't performing as designed. You take it to a wire service for a tune-up.

Hehehe funny Howard...

Originally Posted by shaggyrockmer

lol maybe I'm saying it wrong but the type of service like Getty Images or AP

Shaun, you mean like a stock photography Broker or a stock photography contributor?

If you meant the former that's gonna entail some infrastructure on your end, like a custom software to track downloads and payments for each contributor.

If you meant the latter you can pretty much setup one via Smugmug or Zenfolio.

And on both cases you must have something compelling in order for it to sell. I mean with flickr alone anyone can sell their vacation snapshots.

[ka5txl]

Originally Posted by Howard Barlow

You know, like if your wire isn't performing as designed. You take it to a wire service for a tune-up.

maybe use a little wi agra

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

If your talking about the old AP "wire" service you would need to have photographers on stringer contracts all over the world and then the infastructure (ie web system) to handle them getting photos onto it from anywhere on the planet (well you should include space now) in a matter of an hour at most.

So I would say you should have at least $10 mil if not more to do so. getty was never a "wire" service per se but more of a stock shop that has expanded into current news events with their staff of photographers. BTW AP (associated Press) History/Archives | The Associated Press was started to cover a war.

[shaggyrockmer]

Originally Posted by DEMDeepEllumMusic

If your talking about the old AP "wire" service you would need to have photographers on stringer contracts all over the world and then the infastructure (ie web system) to handle them getting photos onto it from anywhere on the planet (well you should include space now) in a matter of an hour at most.

So I would say you should have at least $10 mil if not more to do so. getty was never a "wire" service per se but more of a stock shop that has expanded into current news events with their staff of photographers. BTW AP (associated Press) History/Archives | The Associated Press was started to cover a war.

ok so when it all boils down these are just stock sites with photos on them that happen to sale to publications? <--- am I on the right track or waaay off? I know its probably a little more but am I close to the right track?

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

AP is still a wire service while getty is more of a stock service who even buys photos off of some of the "public" hosting sites such as Picasa.
BTW Wire Services also report on news events and write the stories and don't just supply photos
News agency - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia while Getty Images - Unsupported browser detected is strictly photography.

[DoublyDan]

And I thought this thread would lead to a solution to the Iphone's problems...

[Howard Barlow]

Originally Posted by ka5txl

maybe use a little wi agra

That right there is funny, I don't care who ya are.

[shaggyrockmer]

Icon Sports Media
^^ Is that a wire service? or is that a stock type company?

[Daniel W.]

IIRC Icon is a wire service, because they fulfill two services:

(Getty is both stock and wire, stock being images used to purchase, while wire is more "deadline and news" oriented).

1. Pay photographers to go shoot events
2. Provide images to publications, who pay them for the usage of said images.

And frankly, it's a huge ordeal. You need to have capital, to setup the infrastructure. The space to store thousands of images, accessible for photographers to upload and for newspapers to download. Simply "meeting with someone for a CD of pics and then emailing" will not cut it. Wire images work because they have photographers nearly everywhere, and images are available as close to "immediately" as possible. This appeals to pubs because they don't need to send a staffer, and they rely on it. The infrastructure needs to be solid, reliable, and with back ups. Needs to be speedy, and this will not come cheap.

Second, more capital for the initial. You're going to have to pay photographers to shoot - good shooters will NOT work for free. People who are talented, know what images to get, know how to write captions and the what's what of photography simply will not work for free. You need to pay them first to get images, to have anything someone may want to buy from.

And this is near to impossible for many reasons. The first is the same challenge to any professional. Everyone has a camera that can make great pictures, and anyone can send them to a newspaper - many do for free! Already, a huge challenge to overcome. Then, you have to reach a market that appeals to enough publications to profit. Frankly, many papers are happy using AP, Getty, Wireimage, Icon, etc. etc. Even more so, they're happy with the stringers they have. At this point, with the technology to make pictures and ease for any Joe Blow to do it, one of the few appeals of a wire is that there are photographers everywhere, and many can transmit on demand, on the minute.

So I guess the question is, what is it exactly that you want to accomplish?

[ka5txl]

Originally Posted by shaggyrockmer

Icon Sports Media
^^ Is that a wire service? or is that a stock type company?

It would seem to be a stock type company as I found what they referred to as news stories were just photo's.

[shaggyrockmer]

Originally Posted by Daniel W.

IIRC Icon is a wire service, because they fulfill two services:

(Getty is both stock and wire, stock being images used to purchase, while wire is more "deadline and news" oriented).

1. Pay photographers to go shoot events
2. Provide images to publications, who pay them for the usage of said images.

And frankly, it's a huge ordeal. You need to have capital, to setup the infrastructure. The space to store thousands of images, accessible for photographers to upload and for newspapers to download. Simply "meeting with someone for a CD of pics and then emailing" will not cut it. Wire images work because they have photographers nearly everywhere, and images are available as close to "immediately" as possible. This appeals to pubs because they don't need to send a staffer, and they rely on it. The infrastructure needs to be solid, reliable, and with back ups. Needs to be speedy, and this will not come cheap.

Second, more capital for the initial. You're going to have to pay photographers to shoot - good shooters will NOT work for free. People who are talented, know what images to get, know how to write captions and the what's what of photography simply will not work for free. You need to pay them first to get images, to have anything someone may want to buy from.

And this is near to impossible for many reasons. The first is the same challenge to any professional. Everyone has a camera that can make great pictures, and anyone can send them to a newspaper - many do for free! Already, a huge challenge to overcome. Then, you have to reach a market that appeals to enough publications to profit. Frankly, many papers are happy using AP, Getty, Wireimage, Icon, etc. etc. Even more so, they're happy with the stringers they have. At this point, with the technology to make pictures and ease for any Joe Blow to do it, one of the few appeals of a wire is that there are photographers everywhere, and many can transmit on demand, on the minute.

So I guess the question is, what is it exactly that you want to accomplish?

thanks for the break down. I just never really understood how they worked. Half of me would like to start one dealing with concert events but I like shooting sports. Trying to find a spin how I could be separate from others already in place.