Bruce Livingston | TEDxTokyo 2009
Legions of photographers are grateful that Bruce Livingstone left his punk-rock band, The Bittermen, in 1996. That’s because the Canadian entrepreneur later founded iStockphoto, which pioneered the microstock photography business model and a vibrant new market for images. Getty Images bought iStockphoto from Bruce in 2006, and in 2007 he sold Getty two other companies, Paper Thin Walls Inc. and Evolvs Media Inc. The staff at Evolvs Media became the new LIFE.com technology team. In 2007, Getty Images named Bruce its senior vice president of technology and consumer products, while he retained his CEO post at iStockphoto. Bruce left both Getty and iStockphoto in April this year on a two-year tour of Europe with his fiancée and son to pursue their shared passion for photography.