The benefits, hopefully, include untapped markets

Sniffing a new revenue stream in the making, several of the nation’s largest stock photography and film libraries are releasing their collections, or parts of them, in digital formats for use in multimedia.

WPA Film Library, Image Bank and Westlight are three stock companies exploring the world of digital images and multimedia as a potential new revenue stream.

More than 10,000 hours of film. WPA Film Library, based in Alsip, IL, has perhaps shown the greatest commitment to new technologies by releasing its entire collection for use in multimedia. As a division of MPI Home Video — the world’s oldest home video company — it owns or represents the copyright to more than 10,000 hours of film from 1895 to the present.

The diverse collection covers cultural documentaries, television shows, travel, science and educational films. It has exclusive rights to historically significant footage, such as the British Pathé News Collection (1896–1970) and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech from 1963.

Licensing will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis. In most cases, the company says rights to a clip or film will be granted in perpetuity for each individual project.

New line of business. Multimedia is a new line of business for WPA, one it approaches with some trepidation. “We need to educate ourselves to how big the market is,” says Lou Zucaro, director of multimedia operations. “I’m not sure we have expectations as far as the market goes.”

The company’s decision to test the waters came from a practical decision to digitize its film stocks for the sake of preservation and to make perfect reproductions for its clients. “This way we didn’t have to go back to the film for copies, and there’d be no loss of quality,” says Zucaro.

Zucaro believes most of WPA’s multimedia business will come from its existing client base of advertising agencies, independent film makers, corporations, museums, universities and others. Computer companies including Commodore, Digital F/X and C-Cube Microsystems were among WPA’s first multimedia clients.

A Multimedia Construction Kit containing the WPA Film Library catalog in both book and CD-ROM format along with three other CD-ROMs with stills, clips and sound effects will be sent out to interested parties and the company’s client base.

STOCK HOUSES TRANSFER TO DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION

In a similar development, Dallas-based Image Bank, the world’s largest stock photography agency with an excess of 20 million photographs, and Los Angeles-based Westlight, the world’s fifth largest stock photography agency, are testing the digital media waters as well by placing samplings of their collections onto Kodak’s Photo CD Catalog discs.

Photo CD Catalog enables users to search electronically through vast databases of low-resolution images by key words. Also, Photo CD images can be displayed on a television or computer screen for group viewing. (For a detailed look at Photo CD and Kodak’s strategy, see Vol. 2, No. 4, p. 5.)

Image Bank has released an initial collection of 2,500 photographs and illustrations on its first Photo CD Catalog discs. The catalog is intended for graphical designers, art directors, desktop publishers and multimedia producers.

The Photo CD Catalog represents a new advertising channel for the company. “In as much as it facilitates the search through our catalogs, I expect it will expand our business,” says Knud Smal, VP of international marketing at Image Bank.

Westlight has released 3,000 images onto Photo CD Catalog for similar use.

Unlike Image Bank, Westlight is diving head first into Photo CD. Westlight has leased a commercial Photo CD workstation from Kodak and is investing significant amounts of time and resources toward the development of digital photography.

Traditional business will dry up. Craig Aurness, Westlight’s founder and president, believes that demand for traditional stock will be flat while electronic images take off. Digital photography has several practical advantages over print photography, particularly in electronic search, distribution and manipulation capabilities. “It’s not hard to watch my twelve-year-old at home with an IBM to realize where the future of information distribution is going,” he says.

For two years, Westlight has been gathering high-resolution photography specially suited for screen display. Screens present information, such as scan lines, color and contrast ranges, differently from print formats and require special photographic techniques for high-quality output.

Multimedia producers are first. Westlight’s first few clients are multimedia producers. So far, marketing of the digital images has consisted of letter mailers to its client base of art directors, designers, publishers and multimedia producers making available Photo CD for a minimal cost.

A division of 10 full-time employees are working with the Photo CD technology. Not all of Westlight’s two million images will go onto the format, because demand simply isn’t there, according to Aurness. He predicts several hundred thousand electronic images will satisfy the market for now.

Westlight is also working with Kodak to develop Kodak’s Picture Exchange. Picture Exchange, to go online in 1993, will be a national data network for online searches through a database of millions of photographs.

Stock film and photography centers have entered the digital age. Some companies, such as Westlight, are eagerly greeting new technologies. However, the less enthusiastic attitudes of companies such as Image Bank and WPA are more likely to be mainstream until they can be convinced of the benefits. As Smal says: “This is an initial test period. Nothing is set in cement. If it adds anything to our business, we will expand.”

Amy Johns