Fotolia Press Release

Fotolia Launches the first Social Marketplace for Digital Images

Royalty Free Digital Images Available Online for FREE or as Low as £1

London – November 9, 2005 – Fotolia launched today the first global online social marketplace for creative digital stock images in four languages, where photographers and designers of all levels can store, share and monetize their photographs and illustrations. Fotolia’s free membership allows graphics artists, web designers, art directors, and consumers to obtain legal royalty free stock images for use in electronic and print materials for free or starting as low as £1.

Fotolia serves as an international distribution and purchasing center for quality digital content. It is a place for professional photographers, student photographers, amateurs, and designers to create an online image gallery of their work, receive feedback from peers, and earn money, with no charge or long term contract. Unlike competing sites, photographers and designers who use Fotolia will keep all copyrights to their images.

Each photograph or illustration submitted to Fotolia is reviewed by an editing team and judged for its commercial potential. The Fotolia editing team includes in-house editors and select contributors with professional expertise in photography, graphic design and illustration. This internal approval process provides quick and constructive feedback within 24 hours. Once approved, the artist can determine the price of his/her work, ranging from £1 to £100, within the photographer’s or designer’s rank. The ranking system allows for increased revenue potential over time, solely based on the success of an artist’s sales. When images do not meet Fotolia’s editing team’s standards, artists have the option of posting their work in the free section of the Fotolia website. This allows the artists to participate in a unique revenue sharing program from advertising and affiliation fees collected by the free section.

Collaborative features of the website include, photographer and designer forums, image feedback from peers, the ability to add descriptive tags to every image, and a photography and design news web blog.

“The Fotolia social marketplace for digital stock images enables artists to gain revenue from their original works, obtain constant feedback on the market needs, and encourage consumers worldwide to access legal images at the lowest price. This new business model is poised to help fight image piracy on the internet,“ said Thibaud Elzière, Fotolia Co-Founder and CEO. “Fotolia is designed to be a legal source of inspiration where the creative visual arts community can interact and benefit from a global image library of quality and originality at an affordable price or even for free.”

The Fotolia site is built using the latest Web technologies such as RSS to create real-time buyer and seller alerts to match photographers and illustrators with designers’ needs, as well as syndication of forum discussions. Fotolia’s use of AJAX technology allows users to zoom in and get a better view of the images before purchase, while Digimarc™ protects against circumvention of image licensing. An innovative search by color tool developed by Fotolia also detects dominant hues in every image and allows users to identify photographs available within a certain palette.

Fotolia’s digital image marketplace is available in French, English, Spanish and German and has already acquired over 115,000 images in its database.

About Fotolia
Fotolia is an inclusive, global community in which photographers and designers come together to form a marketplace free from traditional royalties and rights management. The web site allows photographers and designers of all levels to share and monetize their passion or profession while allowing graphic artists, web designers, arts directors, marketing professionals, and consumers to obtain high quality, legal digital stock images for free or as low as £1. Pricing is based on Fotolia’s ranking system, which provides photographers and designers the freedom to set their own prices as well as increase revenue potential based on purchases. For more information about the company and to access the marketplace, visit http://www.fotolia.com.