The interview below was conducted by Dana Salzarulo of PSInvestor (PSI) and CEO Matt Goldman of ImageProtect (MG) on Wednesday afternoon. We hope you enjoy the interview and feel free to comment below.
PSI – Welcome Matt, I appreciate you taking the time to share some details about your exciting company Image Protect that trades on the Over the Counter (OTC) Market under the ticker symbol “IMTL”.
MG – It’s my pleasure. Thank you for givinf me the opportunity to share our story with your readers.
PSI – Now Matt, you guys are not new to us, PSInvestor has been following your story for number of years. Our first article back in November of 2017 spoke on how your company was positioned to lead in the anti-piracy of visual assets space. Tell us about the industry as a whole and why there is such a growing need to protect visual assets?
MG – The industry is constantly changing. More and more images are uploaded and shared across the web on a daily basis than ever before. I don’t believe people really understand what happens to those images after they upload them. We wanted to solve this problem by providing users with both a new way to track, protect and monetize these images as they are virally shared across the Internet. Plus, the days of selling photos for high dollars has turned into pennies and what people really want is free. Why not pay storytellers and publishers to actually take and share our photos for free? That has yet to be done in this manner – Pay someone to use your beautiful image.
PSI – Excellent concept, you guys are giving the bloggers, the journalists and whomever the image for FREE, but also allowing them to make money by storytelling. Sounds like a win/win. Now as just mentioned, we have continued to watch your company grow and adapt. Last later we spoke on the KodakONE ICO only to find out this year ImageProtect has an agreement in place to work with KodakOne. How is that relationship evolved?
MG – It’s been a great partnership to date. What started out as a modest handful of clients for International infringement recovery is turning into a much larger deal than anticipated. Just this week we ramped up the number of clients to KodakOne and opened them all up to global infringement and not just outside of the US. We’re also now cross-pollinating our client bases and messaging to those KodakOne clients to use Fotofy as a new way to monetize and track their collection of photos. Eventually, KodakOne will have a large number of photographers using the Fotofy technology and vice versa. Another win/win for all parties.
PSI – Wow, and after reading today’s expansion press release, it seems as if things with KodakONE are going very well. Besides revenue generation from the KodakONE deal, you developed your own innovative image platform you mentioned called FotoFy. Can you tell our readers exactly how FotoFy works?
MG – Of course. Think of Imageprotect.com as the “reactive” side to the photographer’s photo. The photographer uploads their photos to our platform and the system finds matches to those images online. These images have potentially been stolen and monetized without knowledge or payment to the photographer. The photographer is notified after the fact that the infringer has used the photo maliciously. Whereas Fotofy, is a “proactive” technology solution that engages photographers, brands, and celebrities to upload their collection of images and allow anyone in need of free images (publishers, bloggers, news agencies, etc.) to share those images for free. As each image is shared across the Internet, we run a native ad on top of it. The content owner is able to track where each Fotofy image has been shared to, as well as earn a 33% split from all ad generated revenue. Each Fotofy image can be shared from Fotofy.com or anywhere else it is found online. A credit line linking the photographer back to Fotofy.com is locked into each Fotofy image as well, no matter if it’s been shared one or one million times.
PSI – Very cool stuff… Now since FotoFy’s launch, how is it doing?
MG – Fotofy is growing daily. We’re in the final stages of completing our ad network, which is what will monetize the images and generate revenue for both Fotofy and its photographers. We’re also launching campaigns to onboard new photographers, as well as finalize strategic partnerships, which will add hundreds of thousands of beautiful images onto the platform. We’re also slowly ramping up our campaigns to onboard users to Fotofy so the images can be shared in larger quantities. This will be done through both traditional user acquisition as well as partnering with large, high-traffic websites, where the Fotofy images could be shared thousands of times per day. This will grow the ad network quickly over H1 of 2020.
PSI – Fotofy sounds as if its off to a great start. I like to ask this question for the readers that seek a long-term trading strategy. Where do you see imageProtect as a company a year from now?
MG – By this time next year, the image Protect website will have a brand-new look and feel. Think houzz.com, but for content creators. Everyone from photographers to brands and celebrities will upload their collection of photos and if an infringement is found, they can choose from our onboard legal teams to help settle any legal matters. At the same time, their images would be placed onto Fotofy.com so they can be tracked and monetized as they are shared across the Internet. As of right now, these same images are simply uploaded to the Internet in the standard JPEG format and people steal them from everywhere leaving the artist with no knowledge of where their images are online and no way to monetize their collection. We’ll have basically built a holistic end-to-end platform that protects, tracks, links, and monetizes each piece of content for artists, influencers, brands, photographers, and celebrities. This is the future.
PSI – Amazing, so even though today’s Kodak news is great, and the relationship is generating revenues for the company, would you agree Fotofy is the future of ImageProtect?
MG – Fotofy is the real driver here. We’re a few weeks away from finishing the entire business model and onboarding users. As the users share our images across the Internet, our ad serving technology will serve an ad on top of each one of those shared photos.
PSI – I enjoy photography, I graphic design, I have a blog and website… if I wanted to take advantage of using the Fotofy platform, what could I make for using photos?
MG – Great question, if it’s your approved photo, you the photographer are rewarded with a 33% revenue share from each ad dollar and the Publishers (image users like yourself on your site or blog) are also rewarded with a 33% rev split so you will be incentivized to use more images, growing the ad network and overall revenue exponentially.
PSI – Very nice Matt, definitely something to think about in the near future. Well, that wraps it up for our PSInvestor interview. I hope all of you found it helpful in understanding more about ImageProtect. Readers, you can invest in the company and find them by using the ticker OTC: IMTL. Thank you once again for your time Matt, best of luck to you and your company.
MG – Dana, thank you for interview, I wish you and your readers happy holidays.
Disclosure: PSInvestor has NOT been compensated by ImageProtect for this interview. We have reported multiple times on the company over the last 2 years. PSInvestor may have a position in the company and reserve the right to sell, hold or buy shares. For our full disclaimer, please click here.
