With pro photo hosting service Digital Railroad in financial trouble, competitor PhotoShelter is preparing to take in its customers.
“We’re looking at trying to come up with some sort of special for the Digital Railroad people who want to check out PhotoShelter. Hopefully we’ll announce something in the next few days,” PhotoShelter CEO
Allen Murabayshi said in an interview with
PDN.
Asked about the possibility of absorbing Digital Railroad’s entire customer base or of the two companies merging, Murabayashi said, “Both are certainly plausible. We’re not anywhere near that point yet, but time will tell.”
Digital Railroad members, who pay $50 a month for image hosting and a Web interface that can handle e-commerce transactions, were alarmed by an
October 15 e-mail from the company that said Digital Railroad was short on funds.
“For the past few weeks, Digital Railroad (DRR) has been seeking additional funding required to sustain its current level of operations. To date, those efforts have been unsuccessful,” the e-mail says, adding that the company was reducing staff.
The e-mail continues, “Nevertheless, Digital Railroad is committed to the continued support of its customers through this period and has retained adequate staff to support both member archives and image licensing sales through Marketplace.”
Digital Railroad and PhotoShelter, which launched in 2004 and 2005 respectively, offer online services to professional photographers and small photo agencies. Both expanded in 2007 by opening stock portals, though PhotoShelter shut down its stock service last month. (Nielsen Business Media, the parent company of
PDN, owns stock portal IPN, which competes in some respects with Digital Railroad and PhotoShelter.)
Murabayshi said he spoke to Digital Railroad CEO
Charles Mauzy several times in recent months about the state of the photo business, but they did not formally discuss moving customers to PhotoShelter.
Mauzy has left Digital Railroad, writing in response to an e-mail question that he can no longer speak on behalf of the company.
A call to Digital Railroad’s spokesperson went to a non-working extension on Monday, and a message left with another employee was not immediately returned.
There’s no sign of trouble on Digital Railroad’s Web site. The company sent out e-mail promotion Monday touting exclusive images available through Digital Railroad Marketplace.
PhotoShelter also has laid off staff recently. Last month it closed the PhotoShelter Collection, a stock image service that was less than a year old. Asked why photographers should have confidence in the future of his company, Murabayashi said PhotoShelter shut the stock service to keep its financial position strong. “We’re around for the long haul for our photographers,” he said.
On Friday, PhotoShelter announced an upgrade to its Personal Archive hosting service, making it easier for users to create their own Web portals. Murabayashi says the upgrade has been in the works for several weeks and was not timed with the Digital Railroad problems.
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