Hi ,

PantherMedia has a lot of exciting and promising plans for 2009. We look forward to continuing our success story in the New Year and you continue to be a big part of it. For 2009, we are introducing new products and services - and higher commissions. We will also be making some necessary adjustments to the current license contracts in certain areas.

Here’s what you can expect from PantherMedia in 2009 to leverage our mutual success further:

1. Introduction

1.1. Review of 2008
1.2. Perspective for 2009

2. New Products and Services

2.1. The PantherMedia blog
2.2. Upload your images with ProStockMaster
2.3. New licenses and prices
  a) Print licenses
  b) Web licenses
  c) Merchandising licenses
2.4. Loyalty bonus for contributors
2.5. Buying images with credits
2.6. Buying images with the subscription model

3. Introduction and implementation of new products and services

3.1. New contributor license contracts
3.2. Timeline
3.3. How to make your images available to the new services and products

1. Introduction

1.1. Review of 2008

Good-bye 2008! Hello 2009!

This past year had been a successful one for PantherMedia. You made it happen! After the strong growth in mid-2007 our revenues again rose significantly in 2008. With over 20,000 contributors and the introduction of our new English-language website, we are quickly approaching the one-million-image milestone. Our worldwide distribution network, with over 94 partner agencies, is selling your images on PantherMedia in over 36 countries around the globe.

In every regard, 2008 was a very successful year and we would like to thank all of you emphatically!

1.2. Perspective for 2009

"The only thing constant in life is change" - this proverb from Heraklit of Ephesus summarizes the style and status of the business picture today. It’s a sea of change. To a large degree, 2007 and 2008 had been a very painful experience for many traditional photo agencies. But for newcomers, like PantherMedia, it provided an excellent opportunity to position ourselves in the market and gain market share.

The most important developments in the picture business today are:

• The pressure to keep expenses and costs down is steadily increasing.
• There is a tremendous demand for affordable imagery and microstock images for web use.
• Customers with a need for images to be used in print, prioritize quality over price.
• Time is money: customers want super-fast delivery of images without red tape or multiple hurdles.
• International markets require other general conditions beyond the domestic German market.

What does all of this mean for PantherMedia?

PantherMedia is well-positioned. Looking at our prices for print licenses, we have found an extraordinary trade-off between what image buyers are willing to pay and the desire of you, our photographers, to be treated and paid in a fair manner.

We are launching new services and products for our growing community of international customers. The new developments in the picture industry are an incredible chance for PantherMedia to further leverage our success model. You can be a part of it – now!
 

2. New Products and Services

2.1. The PantherMedia blog

We have a new resource you’re sure to like. Get news about PantherMedia, knowledge about selling and buying your images, expert tips from our image editors, insights into where we think the market is heading, knowledge from featured photographers, perspective on treating photographers in a fair manner and fun stuff ... you can read it from now on, here on the new PantherMedia Blog at: http://blog.panthermedia.net.

Needless to say; what’s a blog without you? Comment. Discuss. Let us know why you agree, disagree, love us or have suggestions for new approaches. Let us know what we can learn from your daily life as a contributor and your experiences with PantherMedia. We’re here to listen.

Start here: The image market is changing.

2.2. Upload your images with ProStockMaster

We are happy to announce our new collaboration with ProStockMaster, the state-of-the-art software tool for photographers. ProStockMaster facilitates the upload process of your images to PantherMedia. It’s a milestone in helping you to sell, keyword, translate and archive your images.

ProStockMaster is available for Windows, Mac OSX and Linux. You will love it. And because we love our contributors: buy a PRO license and save 33% on the regular purchase price! You do what you do best, taking great images, and ProStockMaster handles (most of) the rest. Learn more...

2.3. New licenses and prices

PantherMedia believes in this philosophy: quality images, for print use, justify higher prices!

Many of our contributors make good use of the latest DSLR’s available on the market, which are capable of producing super high resolution (24 MB and 32 MB) image files. PantherMedia introduces two new licenses, 3XLarge and 4XLarge, for these super high resolution images:

PRINTLICENSES - New Prices

Many image buyers are willing to pay a decent and fair price for high quality images sold with a print license: the costs for processing an image (print and material costs, shipping) are very often much higher than the license itself.

b) Web licenses

The demand for images sold with a web license has experienced tremendous growth in recent years. Our industry analysis and customer survey show that it provides a unique opportunity for PantherMedia to enter this market with a new and attractive pricing model to gain new customers and to sell more images to existing customers.

For further information about the market and new possibilities, read more at:
The image market is changing.

This also provides a unique opportunity for you as a photographer. PantherMedia now gives you the choice to sell your images for a lower price. But it remains your choice if you want to sell your images at the same price level as in the past or through the new - and for image buyers, very attractive - pricing model*.

WEB LICENSES – two different pricing models

*Please note: images which you are also selling through other (cheaper) agencies can only be sold in the new price category. But; you will always receive a 50% commission on these images, and no longer only 30%. This is only valid if you have been a PantherMedia contributor beginning prior to January 18th, 2008.

c) Merchandising licenses

The basic principle for determining the price of this license type in the past has always been: "Price of the standard license x 3".

MERCHANDISING-LICENSES - Changes

New merchandising licenses - advantages for photographers:

Single image sales up to EUR 449! New Merchandising Small-License is very attractive for image buyers

2.4. Loyalty bonus for contributors

Here we go. It´s a simple system. The more images you upload, and are accepted, the higher your commission. In a realistic scenario, you could earn an additional 10%.

New loyalty bonus for contributors - advantages for photographers

Increase your commission up to 60%! In a best case scenario, more of your images online can lead to: a higher sales probability a higher commission

2.5. Buying images with credits

PantherMedia now offers the additional option of acquiring images with "credits"; the internationally approved payment method.

Credit packages can be bought in different sizes. Once a specific amount of money is transferred to PantherMedia via credit card, PayPal, banc transfer etc., the appropriate amount of credits will be added to the credit balance of the image buyer. Whenever an image is bought, it can be downloaded immediately and the image buyer will be charged. Buy credits - download until the last credit - recharge your account; that’s it.

Contributors to PantherMedia will be immediately notified after an image sale and receive their commission promptly in their account.

More information:

• Commission scheme
• Pricelist for credit packages
• Pricelist for Images

Purchasing images with credits - advantages for photographers

Immediate notification of image sale and crediting to your account Discounts on large packages of credits and convenient payment method can lead to increased customer loyalty and increased image sales

2.6. Purchasing images with a subscription model

Voluntary participation for contributors

Another new feature of PantherMedia is the image subscription.
Of course, you can decide for yourself as a contributor whether you want to participate. And in contrast to the standard market model, the PantherMedia subscription distinguishes itself mainly through a fair and transparent contributor invoicing.

Development of a new customer group

What you already know from other industries as "flat rate", "subscription" or "all you can eat", is the same principle as the image subscription in the image market. The customer purchases the right to download within a certain period of time a certain bulk of images. Besides the attractive price model, this offers the customer additional benefits such as predictable financial planning and a simplified ordering process.

Customers with an image subscription are usually a different breed than those customers who buy images using the classic, single image purchase order. This is due to the fundamental differences between the two models:

This means:

• With the subscription model a new target group will be won over. This buyer group has not utilized PantherMedia previously.
• The risk that existing customers migrate towards the cheaper subscription model is very low. That is what both our customer surveys and our statistical analysis have shown.
  

What are the benefits of the subscription model for the contributor?

Inside the image subscription, the price per image is lower than for the single image sale. However, the subscription model offers you, as a contributor, a good opportunity to increase your sales:

• A new group of customers is addressed who have not yet bought images from PantherMedia, thus realising additional revenue.
• Once a customer has concluded an image subscription at PantherMedia, the subscriber orders mainly from the pool at PantherMedia. This increases the number of images sold at PantherMedia and, as a result, the turnover for you the contributor.
• If a fixed amount has already been purchased, often images are downloaded which are not necessarily, or not currently needed. This leads to spontaneous downloads which would not have taken place without a subscription.
• The lower price per image motivates buyers to engage in more frequent downloads or spontaneous downloads.

This is why we are sure that participation in the subscription model will increase the earning capacity of each participating contributors significantly.

Also, through our partner subscription model, your subscription images are also offered to many other partner agencies for sale; but only if you agree. Learn more about your commissions in this partner model.

Subscription model - your benefits as a contributor:

Voluntary participation in the subscription model Additional source of revenue from PantherMedia - increase your monthly income Increased sales through new customers and spontaneous downloads Higher customer retention Higher international sales through an established product Fair settlement model for contributors

3. Introduction and implementation of new products and services

The existing contributors license agreements were revised as they relate to the new payment structure (loyalty bonus and subscription fees). Please read item 4.1, 4.3 and 7.3 of the copyright license agreement carefully, as it provides many new advantages. The changes are marked in red. No other topics have been changed.

According to paragraph 1.6 to 1.9 of the author license agreement, the new licensing agreements will become effective automatically on February 1st, 2009. You don’t need to take any action.

If you don’t agree with our proposed changes, you will have an extraordinary right (paragraph 1.9) to terminate the contract through the 1st of February 2009. In this case, please contact us.

3.2. Timeline

There are two important dates for our new products and services to remember:

• From now on
  You can choose which of the new products and services you, as a photographer, want to participate in and which of your images you want to provide (more affordable web prices, image subscriptions, etc.) to each.
  The contributor loyalty bonus has already become effective and is therefore applicable to all images sold from now on.
• March 1st, 2009
  This is the start date for the new prices and services at the stock agency and the first day in which image buyers can buy and use the new products and services.

Take your time to make your decision. You have six weeks to decide if your images will become a part of the new products and services or not.

3.3. How to make your images available to the new services and products

Preconfiguration

As usual, all images are activated for the new services by default. This means the images:

• Are offered with the new more affordable web licence prices
• Are also accessible in the image subscription model for distribution partners of PantherMedia.

Of course, you can change this yourself and change the preconfiguration according to your wishes. And of course you can, at any time, even at a later date, activate or deactivate images for specific projects.

Where do I have access to the preconfiguration?

Go to "MyPanther", then "My Images" and "Policy management".

Here you can select single images or all images:

• If they should be offered with the new web licence prices* and
• If they should take part in the image subscription model.

Please note: When you upload new images, you have the option of changing these settings immediately.

We will discuss the new products and services in our new PantherMedia Blog and also answer your questions. We look forward to continuing our mutual success.

Yours, Robert Walters, Peter Ammel and the PantherMedia Team PantherMedia GmbH Schillerstr. 40 80336 Munich Germany Internet: www.panthermedia.net Email: info@panthermedia.net Place of registrs : Munich, Germany Local court of Munich, HRB 154364 VAT-ID.:DE238391457 Managing Directors: Peter Ammel, Robert Walters