Ahmir, can you convince Kanye, Jay-Z and some other money having young guns to buy this before this ignorant ass child of one of my heroes sells off a significant piece of our history just so she can go shopping in Dubai????????


Johnson Publishing to sell historic photo archive

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-johnson-publishing-archives-sale-0126-biz-20150123-story.html#page=1


A picture is worth a thousand words. You know that.

Measured in dollars, Johnson Publishing is hoping 5 million of them will fetch closer to $40 million.

Looking to raise cash, the Chicago-based publisher of Ebony magazine has put its entire photo archive up for sale. The historic collection spans 70 years of African-American history, chronicling everyone from Martin Luther King Jr. to Sammy Davis Jr.

Johnson Publishing has had its collection appraised and recently hired a consultant to shop its wealth of iconic images, including a 1969 Pulitzer Prize winning photo of King's widow and child, taken at his funeral.

"It's just sitting here," said Johnson Publishing CEO Desiree Rogers. "We really need to monetize that in order to ensure growth in our core businesses."


Ebony, a monthly lifestyle magazine targeting African-Americans, was first published in November 1945. It came of age during the Civil Rights movement, with Ebony staff photographer Moneta Sleet Jr. producing some of the most important images of that turbulent era.

Sleet followed King from the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott to the 1965 Selma march. And he was there in April 1968 for King's funeral, capturing his widow, Coretta Scott King, with their 5-year-old daughter, Bernice, pressed forlornly against her lap. The powerful and poignant image earned Sleet a Pulitzer Prize, the first awarded to a black journalist. Sleet died in 1996 at 70.

Putting a price on his body of work will fall to the newly retained consultant.

"This is an incredibly important archive." said Mark Lubell, executive director of New York's International Center of Photography. "It is the definition of the African-American experience in the latter half of the 20th century, and it's an amazing, valuable asset."

cComments
So; you sell your entire photo archives to "monetize your position"? Exactly WHAT position does Johnson Publication believe it will have "left". Do they really expect to capture 70 years forward of priceless Pictorial History?
QUEENBEE5
AT 7:24 PM JANUARY 23, 2015
ADD A COMMENTSEE ALL COMMENTS
1

Raising capital is crucial for the company, which is facing declining revenue and a rocky transition from print to digital under Rogers, the former social secretary for President Barack Obama, who has been steering the legacy African-American media company since 2010.

Her moves have included taking on a minority partner for the family-owned company, redesigning Ebony, its flagship magazine, and taking the money-losing weekly digest Jet out of print circulation.

Rogers inhabits a spacious 21st floor perch overlooking the lake along South Michigan Avenue.

The views from the small, unmarked archive room in the back are even more remarkable, and may be the key to keeping the privately held company on solid financial ground.

Winding through conference rooms and past cubicle stations, a short hallway leads to a white door. Behind it are 70 years of history documenting the African-American experience.


Alphabetized vaults are opened by hand cranks, revealing shelves of photos in manila folders stacked floor to ceiling. The fireproof room is kept cool to preserve the collection, with white gloves at the ready for the few allowed to examine the specimens firsthand.

Linda Johnson Rice, chairman of Johnson Publishing and daughter of founder John Johnson, recently leafed through her family's legacy, now for sale.

In addition to King's funeral, she offered a glimpse of other memorable Ebony photos including Jackie Kennedy consoling Coretta Scott King, Muhammad Ali and Floyd Patterson's first fight in 1965, glamorous shots of jazz singer Billie Holiday, and some less famous subjects, such as New York limousine owner Roosevelt Zanders posing proudly in front of his fleet of 1950s-era Cadillacs.

"This is just a tiny piece of what's in the Johnson Publishing archives," Johnson Rice said. "It's not just celebrities. There are many human interest stories here."

In 2011, JPMorgan Chase's Special Investments Group took a 40 percent stake in Johnson Publishing to infuse much needed capital into the historic but struggling media company. Rogers said selling the photo archive is a much bigger deal for the company, which has seen declines in its ad revenue outpace that of the magazine industry at large.

Ebony has a total average circulation of 1.26 million, according to the Alliance for Audited Media, topping rival Essence, which is published by Time Inc. Advertising revenue at Ebony was down 24 percent last year, while Essence declined 7.5 percent, in line with the industry, according to Standard Media Index. Standard Media Index monitors ad spending through data obtained from media buying agencies.

Rogers, who would not disclose revenue, said the ad decline at Ebony was 8 percent last year. She added that Ebony is raising ad rates for 2015 and that 60 percent of sponsors have agreed to pay more to stay in the magazine, bucking industry trends.

Still, Johnson Publishing faced a uniquely challenging 2014.

In April, Amy DuBois Barnett, editor of Ebony since 2010, left the magazine to join ESPN, where she is helping launch a website focused on African-American sports and culture.

She was replaced at Ebony by Mitzi Miller, her counterpart at sister publication Jet. The next month, Johnson Publishing announced plans to replace the print version of Jet with a new digital app. The digest-size weekly had been a staple among African-American readers for 63 years but a source of red ink for its publisher in the digital era.

Jet had a circulation of 720,000 and an annual subscription rate of $19.99 when it published its final print edition in June. The digital app rolled out in July, with promises of fresh content on a weekly basis, video interviews, 3-D charts and archival photos.

By October, it was essentially shelved, despite an unknown number of users who "mistakenly," as Rogers describes it, paid $19.99 for an app that was promoted as free on an introductory basis.

As of last week, Apple's App Store still offered a 30-day free trial with any subscription deal and featured dozens of negative reviews from paid Jet Digital subscribers. Rogers said Jet notified Apple in October that they had decided to offer the app for free, but a complaint dated as recently as Jan. 5 carried the headline "Waste" and said, "I'm constantly billed ... but I can't access the magazine."

Rogers said Apple informed the company Thursday that they had processed all of the Jet Digital refunds, but would not disclose how many subscribers had paid for the app.

"The process to get here has been a little choppy," Rogers said.

Also looming is a $5 million defamation lawsuit against Johnson Publishing and a freelance writer filed in August by a Georgia FBI agent and his wife, claiming a series of articles that ran in Ebony magazine falsely implicated their sons in the death of a high school classmate.

That case is working its way through the U.S. District Court in Georgia.


Rogers is hoping for better things in 2015, calling it a "key year" for Johnson Publishing, banking in large part on the sale of the photo archive.

In 2012, Johnson Publishing began offering select photos for sale from its collection, and also has pursued licensing to other media on a limited basis. An outright sale of the images could be the best way to monetize the assets.


Getty Images, a 20-year-old company that licenses its library of 170 million assets to businesses and media outlets, is the leader in the space. In 2012, private equity firm Carlyle Group bought Getty Images in a $3.3 billion deal. Rogers said Johnson's archives could be the "black Getty," but only in the right hands.

"One of the things that we've learned is we need to stick with what we're good at," Rogers said. "We're writers, we're creative folks, we produce a magazine ... geared toward that African-American experience. Let's stick as close to that as we can."

rchannick@tribpub.com

Twitter @RobertChannick

If Getty or Corbis purchases this, it will be cost prohibitive to access these images.

Other than as prints on Art.com

Unless the plan is to donate it

It says in the article itself when they tried to creat a app for access to images it failed
Badly

The learning curve for this is steep and expensive unless you hire a team who knows what they are doing and an agency that has to mechanisms in place to get this rolling
They don't even look like they have that collection digitized
Smh*
And it's a bit like getting into the record business in this day and age
The major profits for this industry is in a downward spiral and the industry hit its peak right before the Internet peaked
And unfortunately Castro unless it goes to a museum or library the costs and access would be worse than a large commercial agency
In general stock image costs are down and lower than ever
And people want them lower if not free
And actually Getty offers online use/access free with stipulations now

~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

Those pictures are worth way more than $40 million and their cultural importance is beyond price.

Actually, I don't know whether to be tickled or ticked off that you would come up in this post and urge them NOT to do it. You imply that Ahmir wouldn't have the good sense to understand the value of an archive....that is particularly troublesome, since Ahmir has clearly articulated the importance of Soul Train. Should they be in a museum? Yes. They should.

>Those pictures are worth way more than $40 million and their
>cultural importance is beyond price.
>
>Actually, I don't know whether to be tickled or ticked off
>that you would come up in this post and urge them NOT to do
>it. You imply that Ahmir wouldn't have the good sense to
>understand the value of an archive....that is particularly
>troublesome, since Ahmir has clearly articulated the
>importance of Soul Train. Should they be in a museum? Yes.
>They should.


They are selling for monetary value period
The cultural significance is immeasurable
Fact is this does not translate to monetary value esp with regards to images today
Unless handled in a particular commercial manner

You want Ahmir to purchase this for....his private collection?
Because you feel this will give you access...because you feel like you currently have access to ahmirs current cultural collection ...
Right
Ahmir purchase things of cultural value for his personal collection
Period

You said getty will be too costly
I in fact am telling you stock images are the cheapest they have ever been and told you they are now accessible with stipulation online
Because people want images free


You are putting ahmir in a horrid position with your ignorance
Stop

~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

>>Those pictures are worth way more than $40 million and
>their
>>cultural importance is beyond price.
>>
>>Actually, I don't know whether to be tickled or ticked off
>>that you would come up in this post and urge them NOT to do
>>it. You imply that Ahmir wouldn't have the good sense to
>>understand the value of an archive....that is particularly
>>troublesome, since Ahmir has clearly articulated the
>>importance of Soul Train. Should they be in a museum? Yes.
>>They should.
>
>
>They are selling for monetary value period
>The cultural significance is immeasurable
>Fact is this does not translate to monetary value esp with
>regards to images today
>Unless handled in a particular commercial manner

You know how it translates to monetary value? When you no longer own it and need it. This isn't some bullshit tumblr someone shot last year with their DSLR. This is work from some of our greatest photographer and as a collection, constitutes the most complete visual archive of African American life. This is the Black photographic equivalent of the Beatles collection.


>You want Ahmir to purchase this for....his private
>collection?
>Because you feel this will give you access...because you feel
>like you currently have access to ahmirs current cultural
>collection ...
>Right
>Ahmir purchase things of cultural value for his personal
>collection
>Period
>
>You said getty will be too costly
>I in fact am telling you stock images are the cheapest they
>have ever been and told you they are now accessible with
>stipulation online
>Because people want images free

These are not run of the mill "stock" images. I am not expecting them to be free or initially accessible. Right now they aren't that accessible. I want them to be controlled by a party that has a cultural connection to them so that they are handled appropriately.


>You are putting ahmir in a horrid position with your ignorance
>
>Stop

Please go troll another post. I know you are used to a certain type of response, but I'm not indulging you.

Yeah I forget when not dealing with people who are in the industry

Please continue babbling and talking about things you know nothing about
~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

Troll on.

No one is questioning her credentials. She is the last thing that matters in this conversation. This is about the cultural significance of that collection.

We could sit up in here and argue about the British museum being the best facility and staff to handle King Tut's mask because of their experience and the resources they have at their disposal...but that does not negate the fact that them controlling those artifacts compromises the cultural legacy of Egypt. That does not negate the fact that British (and other) explorers essentially plundered these tombs and sites...and here we have a situation where Johnson publication is essentially gutting the one thing that maintains the legacy of their work...without that archive, Ebony magazine is basically Upscale magazine.

...and
>here we have a situation where Johnson publication is
>essentially gutting the one thing that maintains the legacy of
>their work...without that archive, Ebony magazine is basically
>Upscale magazine.

.

*shrugs*


At the end of the day, I am just interested in seeing us control our own images.

Or put them in the Howard U library

>They are selling for monetary value period

and i think about their cultural significance.
i would also like to see this collection go to someone who would value its historical and cultural relevance (even if we see this as priceless)
perhaps this is being overly sentimental
it doesnt necessarily mean that this would increase access to the images (i have no idea how all that works)
but i would like to see this remain within (dont know how best to explain this)
it would be great if these were housed in a museum of aa history though.

perhaps this doesnt make sense commercially
i think ahmir was put out there just as place holder
personally i was thinking belafonte

we should own our images.

The Johnson photos should not be free until their copyrights expire sometime over the next 50 years. Monetizing them via the Getty method is an excellent idea.

I am saying we should control our images as Akon stated.

There has to be some financial gain to do this, even for a museum or institutional collection. 40 mil is a lot, esp when the shit ain't digitized. That is so much work. It takes years to do that. The only ppl I think could take in the expense and would handle this well would be Cosby, Oprah or the Gates. They wouldn't need to make money from this and then they could donate it to an institution. That institution still may need additional funding to handle the work.

I understand the expense.

I understand the work involved to properly handle the images and digitize them.


I understand that its not just $40 million...its $40 million plus the moving, the digitizing, etc.

What I am saying...is that it is worth it for Black folks to own our images.

If England ever has a financial crisis that threatens its ability to maintain its commonwealth....do you think the Queen of England would put the crown jewels up for sale? Nope.

Yes, its a business, but the very idea of selling this collection to whoever walks in with the money is just repugnant to me personally.

And yeah it would be great for us to own it, but my concern is more who can buy it and take care of it and respect the material the best. I've seen some collections that are in terrible shape. I personally would want what is best for the longevity of the collection, blk owned or not.

Castro stop fighting me

I did not get enough sleep last night and I'm crank
And this place puts me on automatic

I don't think you realized what you asked of Ahmir or the onus you put on him
Reminds me of the Chris Rock rich vs wealth thing

Not saying ahmir can't help
He can but they way this post went up
Dunno smh*

I'm at the doctors office
And I usually type scattered anyways
Bear with me


I'm going to start with the only other commercially available historically significant photo archive I know of

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picture_Post

Let's start here


To summarize you are calling in Ahmir to solve a classic problem in the photo industry and in art
Cyren might be on to something btw

I'm not discounting that we should be alarmed about this in the least
Practically from what I've seen (large) commercial entities seem to be the most consistent at caring for these archive simple because of the potential monetary value

This maybe something the Black community worldwide may have to get together do call attention to and investment may not be by black hands that's the sad truth


I'm posting that link so yall can get and trace historically of what has happened to photo archives in the post and most recently
The Hulton Archive is a huge UK historic photo archive in private hands
Don't take this a a lessening of concern just a base of understanding what you are asking of Ahmir


~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

You want to put the Internet genie back in the bottle now?

Oh wait you also seem to think that being the next 'black' getty is a simple thing
*looks at bill gates*
Right
~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?cat=boxer&human_id=314558

>

Wild hunnids tho

shows you how much folks think about The Roots as a group
i dont know Black Thought name but i think it's Tariq DeFreik

guess you won first place in the roots trivia.

and honestly only reason why i know his name is from reading these boards for years
dont be mad
i know his name but i can only name two roots albums:
do you want more
things are falling down

so, we in the same boat

feel better now?

from a business POV


does it really matter?

for all my fans who keep my name in their mouth: http://i.imgur.com/v2xNOpS.jpg

There is no other archive that comes close to this. If anything, move the archive and sell the damn building.

Johnson is desperate for cash, and either they find new ways to generate income or they'll be doing massive layoffs and reducing business even further.

My question is why they, themselves, don't start licensing those images.

All collections need money in order to function.

There are a LOT of black folks or folks of any color that could come together and nadle this... if you need a short list ...

Bill Cosby

Shaq

Jay

Yeezy

Diddy

Dre...


and this list is quite long of people who have hundreds of millions that could do this..


But the one thing we forget its all about the money at the end of the day... and like the dude said

If it dont make dollaz then it dont make sense....

we dont support our culture because most of these millionares talk it but dont walk it al the talk about preserving our culture is b.s.


There is no reason why most of these photos could not be part of someones museum

>Bill Cosby
>
>Shaq
>
>Jay
>
>Yeezy
>
>Diddy
>
>Dre...
>we dont support our culture because most of these millionares
>talk it but dont walk it al the talk about preserving our
>culture is b.s.


they made their money on selling dope and then selling records about them selling dope.
only culture they trying to preserve is hiphop culture

Desiree Rogers ex husband probably got more money than all them ppl you listed COMBINED
check Ariel Investments

Donald Watkins is another Black man with money they could ask for money from.

Maybe Obama could buy them once he gets out of office and have them be a part of his Presidential Library

John Rogers, Ken Chenault...and some others...true.

..instead of spending other people's money?

crowd-funding/sourcing makes much more sense to ensure that the general public would always have access to the archives.




*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

*STU*

$40 mill for the collection and then the $20 million for an endowment that covers setting it up as a digital archive, securing the original images, etc

..the idea of crowd-funding/sourcing to produce a film in hollywood was unheard of.

if there truly is an interest among the general public to ensure that this archive is preserved, then a few dollars a piece isn't much to ask.

i'm simply suggesting that you stop asking/expecting others to do what you won't do yourself.


*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

*STU*

PRIORITIES!!!

it ain't happening. *sigh*

I wonder if they even have all the publications they ever made on file. It doesn't seem like it.
If so, there's not a online presence for it. Especially not for Ebony magazine. The ones from the 1940's are rare.
I don't know the solution here, but if more people to get subscriptions that would help.

from 1951 to 2006 and EBONYs from 1960 to 2006.

It'd be better if they advertised their availability a little better.

People are looking for photos old family members who were once beauties of the week or general articles published about them.
I often wonder how in the hell they could find my site, but not the digitized versions through Google books.

restrict their search documents to "Magazines", and search their relative's name, if they were the JET BOTW during the period of books Google has on hand they should pop up. All of the text is indexed for search.

(of course, you could always offer to do this for them at a small fee)

digitally?

If they think the Archive could be the "black Getty", then dammit, they need to become the "black Getty".

Digitize everything in tiers by priority and start selling the images online as stock photos the same way Getty does. Borrow their price structure.

One big part of the problem is that they're looking to cut off their nose to spite their face - JET Digital flopped, and in six months they haven't been able to figure out how to correct the issues with it?

An ideal solution would be to inject more resources into jetmag.com and compete with The Root and The Grio, but they don't seem to be doing that either (have you seen the site?)

Companies selling off their legacy archives or back catalog for the sake of a one-time sale is only a temporary solution to financial woes. What happens in 2016 when there's nothing left to sell but the brand names of "JET" and "EBONY"?

And ppl will have to want to pay for it
I think ppl are more focussed on nostalgia and not really thinking about the actually monetary demand for these things.

Maybe there is none and they need to be sold directly to some institution, true, but on the other hand I do feel like there's some "Black Getty" potential here.

It's not <no> value either

To make this relatable

Demand for music and movies are as high as ever

This should translate to the music and film industry doing fantastically
Not.

Johnson is in no position to take advantage of the demand or value because they have to first invest in digitizing and learn how to sell images commercially
The last two ventures the app and just straight selling print failed miserably
It's not like they didn't try they just can't afford further mistakes.

at this point yall are arguing just to argue


~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

smh

Or higher/lower?

editorial images of historical significance could be.

They ought to figure out how to make money off of the pictures vs. selling them and watching as someone else does it.

there's not much they can do
you might have a few people like me, or other artists or cultural critics who may pay to use the images, but on a whole, there's not much of a demand.

it would be dope if someone wrote a comprehensive book about it, like a taschen coffee table style, but even then, ppl would primarily buy the book and not use the collection.

i can see an exhibition featuring the images, but those are all short term solutions for generating income using the images.

seems like they're doing all this in order to save a publication that nobody really reads anymore (other than older folks but once they're gone then what?)

I know people have jobs to save and all that but selling the photos in order to save the company doesn't really make much sense to me. Like somebody said above what happens in a few years when they need more $$. Seems like it would make more sense to put their energy into doing something with the archives (which really should be their core business) instead of trying to save the magazine.

>seems like they're doing all this in order to save a
>publication that nobody really reads anymore (other than older
>folks but once they're gone then what?)
>
>I know people have jobs to save and all that but selling the
>photos in order to save the company doesn't really make much
>sense to me. Like somebody said above what happens in a few
>years when they need more $$. Seems like it would make more
>sense to put their energy into doing something with the
>archives (which really should be their core business) instead
>of trying to save the magazine.


But they are in a 'this is what we know how to do' frame of mind
I'm with you I heartily disagree
Unless it's vintage I have very little interest in
Jet or Ebony

And they are about to sell the only thing I have any interest in
Because they never took the money or time to invest in what I feel us the most valuable aspect of their business
:/
~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

The Hutchins Center was created with a $15mil donation/endowment

So from the work of Henry Gates I assumed this was already in place
Apparently his work for the past few decades in education and as a public figure has been to get people to understand and respect african-american and the african diaspora period...


http://harvardmagazine.com/2013/09/hutchins-center-to-encompass-harvard-du-bois-institute

Thus was just completed and one would thing they would have an interest
But again 45mil is a lot


~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

>The Hutchins Center was created with a $15mil
>donation/endowment

granted as mentioned earlier i am speaking from a sentimentalist perspective,
but art is also sentimentalism, no?
we value art for art's sake?
i value this collection for history's sake - i understand the need to monetize it
but i would like to see it go into the hands of people to whom it speaks most to
if that cant happen, then, *sigh*

Images have gone the way of film and music unfortunately

People are a lot of talk but their collective wallets speak elsewhere
~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

She's been doing pioneering work with regards to the black photographic image for decades


If it's regarding black photography odds are she's involved somehow

The last two are people who at least have a good grasp of the cultural value and have done important work in the field


~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

Which has another on of the largest collections of aa history

~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

Also licensed by Getty

http://www.thecrowleycompany.com/case-studies/life-photo-archive.html



~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

Here are people in a town who formed a collective to digitize the images of their town


http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-suffolk-30932840


http://www.ipswichsociety.org.uk


~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

Need to be talking Smithsonian, Schomberg, Harvard or Princeton (I don't know an HBCU that can afford it) or some museum or some other non-profit with a serious endowment.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

http://blackpeopleonlocalnews.tumblr.com/

they are part of the ny public library system
most of their archives still ain't digitized

70th anniversary year of Johnson Publishing and this is how they are celebrating: vultures picking the meat off the carcass.

someone at Ebony needs to take a look at this.....

http://www.awesomelyluvvie.com/2015/01/dear-johnson-publishing-company-photo-archives.html


Dear Johnson Publishing Company,

I read a story in the Chicago Tribune called “Johnson Publishing to sell historic photo archive” and I had to write you a letter because my spirit was bothered. I posted it on Facebook and everyone did a collective *wall slide*. According to that article, you’re considering selling your photo archives to raise some capital for the company. There are 5 million pictures and you’re hoping to get $40 million for them. That is $8 per picture. EIGHT DOLLARS.

Can we talk about this? CAN WE TALK ABOUT THIS? We need to, because this is not ok and I am here to panic about it and ask some questions.

First of all, the value of the entire archive was appraised at $40 million and y’all accepted it? 5 million images of Black icons and Black history, which includes a 1969 Pulitzer Prize winning photo of Coretta Scott King at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s funeral is worth $40 million? Michael Jackson paid $48 million for The Beatles’ music catalogue, which included like 260 of their songs. And 5 million pics that chronicled some of the most memorable moments in 20th century Black history is being put up for less than that? Yup. I’m pretty offended.

Who appraised this collection? Why are they a hater? And why do I feel like this price is basically a dropkick to our legacy? It’s like a clearance sale on our history and I am side-eying everyone involved. This is a literal de-valuing of our history.

Let me move past that for a second and talk about the motive behind this sale. Desiree Rogers, JPC’s CEO is quoted as saying “It’s just sitting here. We really need to monetize that in order to ensure growth in our core businesses.”

“It’s just sitting there.” What are the pictures supposed to be doing instead of “just sitting there?” Should they sing while in the boxes collecting dust? Why are they just sitting there? Why are they hidden? Why are they not in a museum already being displayed for the masses? Why isn’t there a photography exhibit curated by Johnson Publishing Company, charging people to come see moments in time captured award-winning photographers over the years? Why aren’t these pics being used on the EBONY website as a weekly feature? WHY ARE THEY JUST SITTING THERE?

You know what was just “sitting there” too? Brownstones in Brooklyn in 1992. I bet the people who sold those then are pissed right now.

I understand that times are hard, but print has been dying for so many years. It is a well-known fact that those who stay relevant are the ones who adapt and evolve. As someone looking in from afar, I see JPC lagging behind in evolving as a media brand. Jet Magazine already folded their print edition and are now strictly online (which, is fine). EBONY is still printing monthly (thankfully) but I don’t see the magazine pushing the digital presence or the digital presence pushing the magazine. They seem to operate as 2 very different entities. Is there an EBONY iPad app that people can have paid subscriptions to?

Selling something as valuable as your photo archive because of an immediate need for cash feels short-sighted, especially since photos like this will only appreciate with time. Letting them go now for a sudden influx of cash can’t be a good long-term strategy to sustain the company. Because in 5 years, what else will you need to liquidate to stay afloat? PLUS, that archive is worth way more.

I know this was probably not an easy decision for the JPC staff but I have to ask these questions.

Have you tried licensing the images out on a grand scale to a major institution to use, like the Schomburg or the Smithsonian or the DuSable Museum?

Have you tried selling prints of these images so people can hang them up in their houses? I’d also love to rock a tshirt of Eartha Kitt serving FIERCE side-eye. That’s an option.

Have you considered creating a company like Getty, where people can purchase rights to use some of the images?

Do we need to kickstarter y’all some funds? What do you need to stay functioning without relinquishing your rights to these iconic images?

Have you considered partnering with someone like Nichelle Gainer, author of the book Vintage Black Glamour?

I’m just asking because, again, there has to be a way for you to make these pics work for you and generate income for you without letting go of them completely. THERE’S GOTTA BE!

Johnson Publishing Company, I am Keith Sweat begging you not to sell your entire photo archives, especially not for pennies and not to whoever brings you the most money. PLEASE BABY BABY PLEASE! This sucks because Black people already lack ownership of so many things and the idea that one of the biggest Black legacy companies is about to sell such important mementos makes my heart sad.

5 million pictures for $40 million. Again, that is $8 per picture. *wall slides* I wouldn’t be so concerned if I knew it would be sold to another Black-owned entity either. Can our images not go to the highest bidder, but to an entity that will honor them? Can they be owned by people who look like the ones in the pictures? Can we keep this in-house, JPC? I’m so sick of us selling our things to others. SO SICK.

WHY do Black millionaires and Black billionaires of today not create a club or trust where they collect Black art that can then be leased out? And they ALL get the revenue from it collectively? Why do we always get to the point where we’re selling our images and allowing others to control how our faces are used (and abused)? If these pics get sold to a white-owned entity, iSweaterGAWD I’m going to be SO. DAMB. MADDDDD.

Lawd, if they sell it to some corporation who doesn’t give a damb and I see a picture of Dorothy Dandridge hawking mayonnaise, I’ll be forced to give everyone atomic wedgies. Because NAWL.

Desiree Rogers also said: “One of the things that we’ve learned is we need to stick with what we’re good at. We’re writers, we’re creative folks, we produce a magazine … geared toward that African-American experience. Let’s stick as close to that as we can.”

Soooo the reason this sale should make sense is because this isn’t the lane JPC is occupying right now? This all sounds rushed and like you’re hustling backwards, JPC and that’s a shame. Our cultural legacy is worth so much more than $40 million. We cannot keep selling to the highest bidder, and if keeping an organized archive of 5 million pictures is not what JPC is great at, outsource it. Chicago, JPC headquarters, does not have a shortage of resources for this type of thing, with the University of Chicago, the DuSable Museum and with a history that is rich in Black art and culture. I mean, DAMB. If Beyonce can have a full-time archivist, surely JPC can.

There’s another way. There’s got to be, and people are willing to help you figure out what those options are. You can even contact art curator and expert, Janice Bond. She can help you figure out other options. She’s a Black woman who’s worked internationally to curate pieces owned by us. Ask her and others in her field what to do so you can exhaust ALL OTHER possibilities. Because how did we get here? Nobody’s sposed to be here.

We have nice things but this is why we can’t keep them. Please reconsider. Because today’s cash flow is tomorrow’s lost history. This is reducing so much of our history into a monetary transaction and we’ve done that enough. Don’t do it, Miss Celie. It ain’t worth it!

Yours in NOOOOOOOO,

LuvBug



We the children of the Light, you know what I mean?
That's why I'm hating on the darkness like Paula Deen
Cause in my hood they masked up like it's Halloween
We going hard for the Rock, but we not some fiends
- Andy Mineo

> this ignorant ass child of one of my heroes sells off a significant piece of our
history just so she can go shopping in Dubai????????<

... this bit is really fucking disrespectful.

~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

But thanks for the offer.

That joint would put them in the black in about a month....

they always go for so much on ebay. There's a gang of them on ebay now from the 1970's.

gettin her eagle on....
Hilarity shall ensue....

They are currently in black hands and see how that is working out? I think the most important thing is that images are accessible to everyone and that might not necessarily be in black hands. In fact the best scenario is that no one owns them and they are in the public domain and everyone has access to them.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

http://blackpeopleonlocalnews.tumblr.com/

>They are currently in black hands and see how that is working
>out? I think the most important thing is that images are
>accessible to everyone and that might not necessarily be in
>black hands. In fact the best scenario is that no one owns
>them and they are in the public domain and everyone has access
>to them.


Good luck with that. I'm apparently the most unrealistic person in this thread and I'm not naive enough to think that they should or will be public domain. And its clear that whoever is actually running the company is not making a decision based on protecting the legacy of the Johnson Publishing Company...they are interested in money...and unless this ends up with a Black institution (and I am assuming that a Black institution that can afford this collection and has the willingness to purchase it is equipped to handle the financial and logistical responsibility that comes with it)...we lost.

How is it a loss to black people if they end up in the public domain?


>>They are currently in black hands and see how that is
>working
>>out? I think the most important thing is that images are
>>accessible to everyone and that might not necessarily be in
>>black hands. In fact the best scenario is that no one owns
>>them and they are in the public domain and everyone has
>access
>>to them.
>
>
>Good luck with that. I'm apparently the most unrealistic
>person in this thread and I'm not naive enough to think that
>they should or will be public domain. And its clear that
>whoever is actually running the company is not making a
>decision based on protecting the legacy of the Johnson
>Publishing Company...they are interested in money...and unless
>this ends up with a Black institution (and I am assuming that
>a Black institution that can afford this collection and has
>the willingness to purchase it is equipped to handle the
>financial and logistical responsibility that comes with
>it)...we lost.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

http://blackpeopleonlocalnews.tumblr.com/

it's not realistic in this day and age
institutions are running on fumes man
there has to be some profitability for something like this or this could take them under.

40 mil ain't something to sneeze at

i used to work at the historical society here in SD. their collection has over 2 million images. of that, not even a 1/4 of it is digitized. they are running on 3 permanent staff members, a few interns and a few ppl funded on grants.

they don't have the man power to digitize that stuff to make it readily available. then there's the issue of storage.

nobody is saying that this shouldn't be housed by a blk institution but honestly, even regular ass white institutions are having trouble housing their own shit.

it's should go to whomever is willing to put 100% into taking care of the material.

honestly the best place would be the library of congress. that way it will become public domain and be way more accessible to the public. but even then, some shit you gotta pay for. as a person who heavily uses archival material, i'm fine with that, as long as the shit is taken care of.

Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. Ford Foundation.

They could attempt to recoup but it doesn't have to be a pure profit motive.

There are some very rich non-profits.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

http://blackpeopleonlocalnews.tumblr.com/

i didn't say there weren't any

i said $40mil isn't cheap and finding blk education institutions that have that kind of money to buy the collection won't be an easy task.

it's not impossible, but it would be best if a private collector bought the archive and then gave it to an institution as a gift, and also some support towards maintaining and digitizing the collection.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/welcome-nbcblk-letter-editor-n291616

Ie, clearly the market for blk news, content, ads, and blk folks' purchasing power (& love of spending money) is greater than most think


So just further proof somebody at Johnson is asleep at the wheel
And a one-time cash payout ain't gonna fix that

But they dropped one of the other 3 lawsuits against Sis

http://atlantadailyworld.com/2015/01/24/martin-luther-kings-sons-drop-lawsuit-against-sister-bernice/


http://www.afro.com/judge-could-rule-in-king-heirs-dispute-over-mlk-bible-and-nobel-medal/

So sounds like they dropped the public trial/dirty laundry suit that would lay out all the mismanagement on both sides

But still want bernice to turn over the bible and Nobel prize


Btw, the brothers already sold king's papers for $32million

The Fire Sale at Johnson Publishing Company Feels Like Karma

By Six Brown Chicks, today at 2:10 am
The Fire Sale at Johnson Publishing Company Feels Like Karma
Linda Johnson Rice handles some of the archived photos at Johnson Publishing. The Publisher of Ebony magazines is selling its historic photos. (Nancy Stone, Chicago Tribune)
by Zondra Hughes

When I read the Chicago Tribune article about Johnson Publishing Company selling its storied archive of African American images with the hope of getting $40 million (that’s about $8 per image, thanks Luvvie), I immediately thought of Hurricane Katrina.

In 2005, I was an Associate Editor at Ebony magazine. At that time, I was tasked with producing the monthly Beauty & Style feature, a story on campus fashions.

We were working on the 60th anniversary issue of Ebony, so instead of using models and shooting the story in-house, myself and a photographer were assigned to travel to the picturesque campus of Dillard University and to use actual students for the shoot.

We traveled to New Orleans in late June.

The photographer and I spent two days in the sweltering heat, styling the unpaid student models and photographing them in various areas on Dillard’s campus. On our last day, we gave the students our business cards and thanked them for their time. SEE the photos here.

That August, Hurricane Katrina struck Dillard University leaving more than $300 million in damages in its wake. One of the Dillard University student coordinators (who worked with us to organize the photo shoot) called me at work and asked for help.


Several of the young women that we photographed were stranded at a shelter, and they needed assistance.

“I’m sorry to call you at work like this,” she said, “but if there was anyone that could help us, I knew Ebony could.”

And she was right; John H. Johnson, founder of Johnson Publishing, was deeply connected with the plight of the poor and he was generous. (During my first week on the job, a delivery person stole money out of my purse, and Mr. Johnson personally replenished it.)

But Mr. Johnson had passed away.

I was twenty-something, newly divorced, and in-between paychecks, and so I didn’t have a thing to send but my prayers.

Nevertheless, I wrote a memo to my immediate supervisors,and informed them that our unpaid Beauty & Style models were stranded and needed help. My supervisor was embarrassed to tell me that the memo was ignored.

I sent the memo to a colleague at the sister publication Jet magazine, because at the time, there was an ongoing promotion for Ebony.com and the Jet promo team was handling it. The promo was a college care kit giveaway--and surely we could send a few of those. The college care kits contained shampoo, soap, treats, etc., that the young women sorely needed. That request was DENIED.



I wrote a memo and sent it to the highest ranking person I knew, and was told: “We don’t have anything to send…except discontinued Fashion Fair lipstick. We can send them some of that.”

When I returned to my cubicle, there was a mass memo sent that informed the workerbees that Johnson Publishing Company donated to the Red Cross, and that employees were invited to also give to match that donation.

Finally, I went to the money man, John Cater, a vice president in the sales department, and he called a contact at Wal-Mart. Mr. Cater arranged for $200 gift cards to be sent to the women.


A few months later, I received a second call, this time from one of the Dillard University public relations officers. Her request was simple: “Ebony took the last images of Dillard University before the Hurricane. May we have some of those?”

I sent a memo; the answer was no. Flat-out no; no images were to be given, and none were to be sold. “Wow,” she said. “Ok.” Yes, I was embarrassed.

When the 60th anniversary issue arrived, with the late John H. Johnson on the cover; the sunny images of the student models on page 96; and the colorful articles of Ebony’s devotion to Black love and achievement nestled in between, it made me sick to my stomach.

In my mind, JPC missed an opportunity to make a meaningful impact in the lives of those Dillard University students-turned-Hurricane Katrina victims, who had modeled for the magazine, for free. (Personally, I never forgave myself for frivolously spending money and not having a dime to send to those students. I disconnected emotionally from the company; the long hours just didn't make sense anymore. Soon enough I was fired and I later launched a rewarding career as an author.)

KARMA?

I know firsthand that journalism has changed dramatically, and painful decisions must be made if a traditional media company like JPC is to remain in the black.

But I also know that karma is real, and something in my gut tells me that not allowing Dillard University to have a single image back then, may be related to the fire sale of their entire collection of images right now.

I'm just saying.

Follow Zondra Hughes on Twitter @ZondraHughes.

http://www.chicagonow.com/six-brown-chicks/2015/01/the-fire-sale-at-johnson-publishing-company-feels-like-karma/

>http://www.chicagonow.com/six-brown-chicks/2015/01/the-fire-sale-at-johnson-publishing-company-feels-like-karma/

The 'click here to see the photos' link goes to the fucking google archived issue of the mag.

$40M for what exactly?


█▆▇▅▇█▇▆▄▁▃
Big PEMFin H & z's
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1 thing, a musician." � Miles

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

were worth about $40mil...??
smh....

Considering a grip of the collection is already on Google, this is only special in its physicality, and in this digital age that means very little. You could get one nice touring exhibit out of this that could run once a decade. Otherwise it's only value is archival in which case it should be donated to a library to be properly cared and managed, or they should start their own. Actually considering the background their own library/museum makes the most sense, but not when you're already trying to sell your assets.

*SMH*

█▆▇▅▇█▇▆▄▁▃
Big PEMFin H & z's
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1 thing, a musician." � Miles

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

The way these mofo's try to play up a bidding war for shit that belongs in libraries these days fucking disgusts me. You're supposed to donate shit to the library, not force them to scrounge up a grip of money to buy and then another grip of money to actually deal with the assets they bought. I don't want to say it's just black shit that this happens with (though often it is because of the nature of 'ownership') but there's just so many other examples of people just wholesale giving their collections to libraries while contributing whole wings with funds so that the collections can be handled with care. That's what should be happening here.

█▆▇▅▇█▇▆▄▁▃
Big PEMFin H & z's
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1 thing, a musician." � Miles

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."

and to the OP, I get your point. I don't think you were really asking Ahmir to tap into his savings.

It's much easier for people with connections to that real money to put together some kind of portfolio to acquire something like this.

Of course, they would try to get a realistic number to buy this collection. Just because they say it's worth 40 mill doesn't mean it is worth 40 mill.

Doesn't she have zero background in publishing?

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

http://blackpeopleonlocalnews.tumblr.com/

Its in Chicago and hell Jordan has 40m in between the cushions on his couch.. Dude is worth a billion dollars. Or Robert L Johnson, founder of BET.

http://www.armstrongjohnston.com/project_detail_jpc.html
http://www.armstrongjohnston.com/about.html