Sports Corner - Photography

olddeadhead

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p.1 #1ICON SMI Sold

Any other ICON shooters here, your thought on the sale to XML?

Jan 29, 2013 at 11:01 AM

Carl Auer

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p.1 #2ICON SMI Sold

I stopped actively shooting for Icon almost 5 years ago. I am still on their photographers list, and Tim is a friend of mine, but I have not used them in a long time and will shoot for them only when Tim contacts me.

I hope, after the coming rebranding that Icon will shed the blackball status they seem to have here in the Denver area. They are not able to get shooters into NFL, NBA, NHL or MLB in the Denver local. This could be a good thing for Icon shooters.

Jan 29, 2013 at 12:23 PM

clarence3

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p.1 #3ICON SMI Sold

Now called "Phocaster"...
http://www.phocaster.com/

Photo provider Icon Sports Media joins XML Team

LAS VEGAS, Nev., Jan. 21, 2013 -- Is a picture still worth a thousand words? In the sports data industry, it's certainly worth a thousand stats. Images are indispensable to fans and publishers alike -- which is why XML Team Solutions is expanding again.

On Monday at the Fantasy Sports Trade Association's winter conference, sports content provider XML Team Solutions announced its acquisition of photo wire service provider Icon Sports Media, Inc. Since 1999, Icon has produced cutting-edge images for use in newspapers, magazines, websites, and ad agencies around the globe. Icon's image library
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Jan 29, 2013 at 12:50 PM

mkchang

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p.1 #4ICON SMI Sold

Carl Auer wrote:
I stopped actively shooting for Icon almost 5 years ago. I am still on their photographers list, and Tim is a friend of mine, but I have not used them in a long time and will shoot for them only when Tim contacts me.

I hope, after the coming rebranding that Icon will shed the blackball status they seem to have here in the Denver area. They are not able to get shooters into NFL, NBA, NHL or MLB in the Denver local. This could be a good thing for Icon shooters.

Agreed with Carl. They are blacklisted here in Alabama as well. However, I've got a feeling that the people that are responsible for credentialing will know that the new company used to be Icon.

Jan 29, 2013 at 03:45 PM

zSCOTTz

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p.1 #5ICON SMI Sold

Why are they blacklisted in certain areas?

Jan 29, 2013 at 04:17 PM

olddeadhead

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p.1 #6ICON SMI Sold

I've heard the same thing here in Jacksonville FL

Jan 29, 2013 at 05:19 PM

cocodrillo

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p.1 #7ICON SMI Sold

I'd guess the blackballing is down to the behaviour of a handful of individual shooters and their inability to get material up quickly and thus have Icon be seen as a credible wire. When you couple that with the very low quality of some of the stuff that went up on the site from a few of the shooters it gets easy to understand the issues they had in some markets. A few years back they came out with a dictate that images had to be filed at the period/half-time break at major league events.

I've shot a few things for Icon and still file the odd set of images through them. Ironically, my best selling images have been non-sports images. For me Icon and other similar spec wires are definitely a loosing proposition as a main income earner, but a useful avenue for wider distribution of images that would otherwise do little more than sit on my hard drive. Tim and his crew get this and are very good about flexing their 'exclusivity' requirements to make things work for everyone. Hopefully that won't change.

Jan 29, 2013 at 05:51 PM

ElanKawesch

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p.1 #8ICON SMI Sold

A friend of a friend is an Icon shooter and when I asked why he didn't shoot 3 of the big 4 teams in our market, he explained that it's all politics with getting season credentials to large market teams. They have since gotten credentials to other teams, but I think (at least around here) it's all about name recognition. I guess when you have two big papers, three big wires (sometimes with multiple photographers each), team shooters, and others, it's tough to get a spot.

Jan 29, 2013 at 06:26 PM

Archive 2013 · ICON SMI Sold