WireImage is now FREE!!!!!!!!!!

[turbo]

I JUST RECEIVED AN EMAIL SAYING THAT WIRE IMAGE, WHICH IS POWERED BY GETTY IMAGES, IS NOW FREE, SO EVERYONE THAT WANTS HIGH-QUALITY PICS OF ANY CELEBRITY SHOULD SIGN UP!!! This is what the email said:

Dear WireImage subscriber,

We are excited to announce the upcoming relaunch of WireImage.com.

Later this year, our customers worldwide will discover a new and improved website.

The new features include:



• A better search experience. The Getty Images search infrastructure is now powering the WireImage website. You can now search by enter multiple celebrity names at the same time and use new “breadcrumbs” feature to help you find the content you need.

• WireImage is now available in multiple languages (please see the International link at the top right corner of the new site for a full list).

• And more!

The best part is all this is for free:



• WireImage is Now Free!
Starting November 7th, we will discontinue billing your credit card for Viewing Accounts that are subject to the payment of fees ($10, $25, or $75/month).



• Full Viewing Access
Starting December 6th, you will no longer need to log in to have viewing access to WireImage. Better yet, you will have access to all photo details, search capabilities, and fullphoto archive for free. Your personal login and password will no longer be needed.

[tolliver16]

Wow, that's awesome!

[Allie]

Oh my god, this is so exciting! I was planning on getting a full Wireimage account soon to go back through the archives and get all the Alison pictures but now I don't have to! I'm glad I didn't do it sooner and decided to wait. Yay!

[sophie91]

The sad, sad truth about this news is, this is simply a move by Getty Images, the parent company of WireImage, to discriminate against the small user such as us Alison Krauss fans.
Sure, the pics are free now, but ALL OF THEM without exception have the big ugly WireImage watermark across the picture. WireImage no longer offers accounts to subscribers for a few dollars a month like they did in the past.

I made a call to Getty Images to find out why this is the case. I was told that Getty (in its infinite corporate wisdom) had decided to stop offering these small accounts to individual users "because people were using the images and not paying for them like they're supposed to".

Publications can open accounts with WireImage, and having done this, can download photos to their account, FOR ABOUT $150 (ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS, PEOPLE!!!) FOR EACH PHOTO!!!!! These wildly overpriced photos will NOT have the WireImage watermark on them.

It pains me to see the steady increase in this world, of corporate greed, of the growing chasm between the ultra-rich, ultra-powerful HAVES and the unwanted, un-important and irrelevant HAVE-NOTS.

So now, my search begins for other media outlets that offer publicity photos for free or for a reasonable price. The WireImage representative that I talked to was very arrogant about the fact that "you won't find anywhere the quality, resolution, or quantity of images that WEEEEEE offer!!" And sadly, I suppose that's true, I guess they've cornered the market on good press photo coverage. This is just like in the old West when one single powerful landowner would buy up all the property that had water wells on it, then sell the water to his neighbors at an obscenely high price. I need to get some Pepto-Bismol right now, then launch my search for other media photo outlets. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Anyway, it's a nice day on Music Row for December, guess I'll take a walk in the sunshine.

[silverqueen]

Yeah... I've already had my rage fit over this. There were a lot of awesome pictures that we'll never get because of this greedy decision.

Times like this when I wish we could curse on this forum.

[turbo]

"Times like this when I wish we could curse on this forum" - silverqueen

I have no idea how to re-set the parameters on this board for the word filters - Natalie would know. How 'bout using some imagination? Dadburn hornswoggled flyridden rat-eating whippersnappers, etc...... ;D

I will certainly do my part to try to find other outlets. I've seen some in the past, always ignored them because WireImage was so much better. I'll try to find them again......

[turbo]

Okay, it's late at night and I just spent entirely too much time researching this, but here is the upshot:
There are several sources of photos of Alison and AKUS, without watermarks, and without charge!! They might not have exactly the LATEST stuff, but pretty recent anyway.
I have rated the best sites first, and the worst ones last.
1) Google Images!! Mining this site will take the average user days, but buried in there are some GREAT high-res pics. A lot of other stuff is thrown in under the various Alison Krauss headings (be sure to check out all the headings, such as "hot", "album", "record", etc.) so a person has to spend some time. When saving a pic ALWAYS select the highest-res pic (even if it says its the same size) because that way your saved photo won't show the X in the upper right hand corner. THEN it is necessary to hit the "back" button twice to go back to the search page, and you might have to wait a while for it to go back to where you were. Sometimes you'll have to start over to find where you were. It took me 5 hours to capture all the worthwhile photos off of Google.

2) Zimbio.com!!!! Great source of free photos!!! ;D

3) Facebook: Every month or so enter Alison's name in the search box, there are often new photos (and lots of old photos and videos too) both on her and Ron's official pages, and on a few imitation sites as well (including those that mis-spell her name.) Also the Alison Krauss group run by Matthew Peterman.

4)Starpulse.com/Music/Krauss,_Alison/
(infuriatingly slow-to-load site)
Photos are free, but old and limited

5)Hulu.com/search?query=alison+krauss+photo+galleries&st=0&fs=null
Video clips, some people have the software to capture photo stills

In addition, here is a list of links that may have additional photos or videos:
Newstrick
Contactmusic.com
Styleblueprint.com
j-archive.com
realbeauty.com
bootlegtunzworld.org
entertainmentnutz.com
theaudioperv.com
nashvillelifestyles.com
yallwire.com
zimbio.com
tvguide.com
soundspike.com
roughdog.com
hotflick.net
123people.com
theboot.com


I hope this helps!!!