'Okay, hands up... we got it wrong and we’re sorry we messed everyone around.' That's a fair admission from a company that manages millions of images and millions of pounds-worth of sales every year. It happens to be the response from stock house Alamy to the backlash it faced from its contributing photographers when it recently changed its payment protocols. In a move that gave with one hand but took with another, it announced that it would be lowering its payment threshold from $175 to $100—allowing photographers to be paid more frequently for their sales—but that there would be fees for some methods of payment. Get your money more often, but pay for the privilege. This didn't go down very well with Alamy's contributing photographers. Not very well at all.

Hence the apology, the admission that it got it wrong, and the redrawing of the payment thresholds. Again.

From the December payrun onwards, Alamy photographers only have to accrue $75 in fees before they can be paid and no transaction charges are being applied, regardless of the currency selected.

According to Alamy: 'We respect our photographers, you’re important to us and we want to be fair.' They also appear to listen, which is somewhat refreshing.

(Hat-tip to Will)