If they would just leverage the 1 million freelancers and 20-40 million new media semi-pros out there – it will change the game.

This is not done maliciously (and they are very concerned about resulting law suits) but without a written license agreement – the terms are often broken and the little guy usually loses money.

With Cont3nt.com both sides *must* agree to a license (either ours, theirs, or your own) prior to a sale and the licensing is attached to all the story packages.

And since the transactions are all digital (unlike most link trucks/satellite connections) – there is complete control over downloads and user permissions, so others can’t record from the broadcast feed.

1. Shoot great content – enough said
2. Shoot with a buyer in mind – if it’s local news, make the angle one that a local station/paper will want, if national/global – find the angle that they will need. Try to get in touch before-hand to see if there is anything they need.
3. Build a kick-ass Media Reputation and get it verified so they can trust you.

Good luck!

So media has historically needed personal connections to establish relationships – but of course that’s very limiting – a journalist that has worked with the BBC for 20yrs will need to re-establish the trust relationship if he wants to sell to the Washington Post and this is very difficult, and practically impossible in a real-time news cycle.

But the solutions for the “trust problem” have parallels all over the web e.g. you can buy a house or car on ebay with a large amount of security, without having ever met the seller – this is because of a user’s established reputation.

To establish trust, we enable a user to establish their Media Reputation – a deeply searchable online profile where they can showcase their portfolio, experience and credentials – we then allow them to get it “verified”.

We will actually conduct a check of the credentials (if they want us to), we do not say whether the work is good or bad, but we verify that if a user claims to have worked for the AP for 20yrs – he has in fact done that. And of course a user can be referred by other credible users, and get feedback for all the work he sells.

Now when a media company sees that the user has a strong reputation, he has been verified, and CNN trusts him – that means others can as well.

And for those trying to break into the industry – a notoriously difficult challenge – the Media Reputation allows them to build their reputation so that they can move into the big leagues based on the quality of their work and the references they gather as they sell it – all without ever having met.