Image Fortress and Masterpiece Marketing Group in Joint Venture

Image Fortress, provider of digital image archiving, preservation and integration services, and Masterpiece Marketing Group (MMG), in marketing rare and fine collectibles, announced their joint venture and the launch of Advanced Image Archiving (AIA), a digital image archiving and monetization service for large photographic collections.

Newspapers, magazines, universities, museums and owners of other unique image collections can now digitize, preserve, and sell their photographic archives, making them easily accessible worldwide and maximizing both the short- and long-term revenue these photo libraries can generate.

"There are approximately 135 million print photos lying in what U.S. newspapers call their photo ‘morgues’- most of which have never been seen – with equal numbers lying in magazine publishers’ warehouses worldwide," said Bob Pokress, president of Image Fortress Corp. "These collections of photographs are one of the most valuable assets a newspaper or magazine owns. Yet they currently represent materially underperforming assets, require substantial space and maintenance, are very difficult to utilize and are susceptible to ongoing physical deterioration and, in some cases, total loss. Additionally, collection owners are typically focused on their core business and don’t have the expertise or resources to maximize the revenue potential of these assets. AIA offers a unique solution to this problem. For owners, AIA delivers security, availability, usability and highly effective monetization of their assets. And for collectors, AIA provides easy access to thousands of unseen photographs."

AIA Solution Image Fortress and MMG have joined forces to create AIA, a service that enables owners of the world’s greatest image collections to unlock the significant revenue potential of their unused image archive assets.

AIA’s key features include:

• Digitization and Digital Image Archiving Processes – AIA is integrated with customer editorial systems, allowing users to easily manage their image collections, improve staff productivity and ensure long-term secure, museum-quality preservation of their digital assets.
• Full Service, High-Performance Web-based Digital Archive – AIA provides customers with a secure, state-of-the-art, web-based digital archive that is monitored and administered for the customer 24×7 and is designed to the same rigorous standards as national archives-level systems including geographic redundancy of all digitally archived files and automatic failover capabilities. AIA’s museum-quality photo digitization stage is fully integrated with the customer’s dedicated partition of AIA’s host-based digital archiving module. AIA’s digital archiving feature set preserves the integrity of the customer’s image files, protects customer digital files from the insidious effects of file format changes over time, and creates a searchable, high-performance digital archive that is accessible worldwide.
• World Class Managed Sales & Marketing of Images – AIA manages the sales and marketing of original photos to fund digitization projects and generate ongoing revenue. Each customer’s AIA digital archive is linked into numerous electronic channels of distribution, enabling ease-of-use editorially and commercially by their owners. Organizations are now able to minimize the large cost and resources associated with digitization while generating significant revenue through the sales of these previously unused photographic images.
• Photo Inventory Management – AIA incorporates real-time image-level inventory management and auditing modules and electronic tracking of each image asset at every stage of the AIA process.
• Photo Authentication and Origin – AIA’s process workflow, inventory management and electronic tracking modules ensure that every photo can be brought to market with a letter guaranteeing its authenticity and certifying its provenance.
• Rights Management Services – AIA incorporates integrated rights management services for easy monetization of key images and electronic access to third-party revenue channels.

Chicago Tribune: First Customer
to Adopt and Implement AIA Service
With a library that includes more than six million rare, historic photos and negatives, many dating back to the nineteenth century, the Chicago Tribune has integrated the online AIA system with the paper’s editorial and business systems and has begun selling photographs on www.chicagotribunephotos.com using the AIA solution.

"We are delighted to have leaders in the field of digital image archiving and vintage photo sales working with our newspaper to make all of this possible," notes Randall Weissman, News Administration Editor of the Chicago Tribune. "Having our entire photo library in an online digital archive that is integrated with our editorial and online systems provides a variety of new editorial, licensing and other business opportunities that can leverage these valuable assets."

"Once digitally archived, the original vintage photos are being sold to collectors and individuals worldwide who are interested in owning these unique, authenticated, historical collectibles," Weissman added. "This will generate the revenue needed to support this extensive program."

Advanced Image Archiving service is available.