Unsplash Has Sold Out
Getty Images is clear-cutting stock photo companies
“Unsplash is being acquired by Getty Images”
That headline in my email made me sad. I had only discovered Unsplash maybe a year ago and was excited by the range and quality. I was considering uploading my own work to Unsplash but that will not be the case now.
It does not bother me too much that a small start-up was acquired by a giant, that is the dream and the right of those hard-working entrepreneurs, but Getty has a dark history that runs counter to the glib announcement.
I’m excited to share Unsplash is being acquired by Getty Images today.
The reason I’m excited about this acquisition is because it’s not goodbye, it’s about acceleration.
In 2016, we first met the Getty Images team. We weren’t sure they would see the world the same way we did given their business was largely built on licensing. Over years of conversations, however, we learned about the level of respect they had for the Unsplash community and the rights of creators to choose how and where their imagery is made available. Craig Peters, Getty Images CEO, told me, “We have so much admiration for Unsplash. What you’re doing for creativity and what you’ve built is incredible.”
