4. IMAGES

You can't do without photo archives and image search engines if you want to fill in the more granular data about artists and bands. But beware, photo annotations can never be fully trusted.

4.1. Photostock Collections
Getty and Corbis have created what's almost a duopoly, and Getty is coming closer and closer to become an almost-monopolist, but it's still worth the trouble to check any remaining local players and international or local photo sharing sites (like Flickr and Picassa). Also see Wikipedia for a decent list of photo archives.

Getty Images
Excellent stock photo resource, with a reasonably good but much less important video section (incl. BBC stock). A big portion of the photos can be published for free on not for profit websites if you use their embed codes. Photo annotations are often erroneous. Search results are depending heavily on where you are; if you're not in the U.S., always try the .com website plus country extensions for other markets (.fr, .de, com.au, etc.).
Genres: All
Depth: 8
Breadth: 8
File Quality: 8
Accessibility: 8
Database: 8
Search Engine: 9
Writing: NA
Interface: 8
Accuracy: 5
Entertainment: 6
Regions: Global
Media: Photo, Video
Period: 1880 - Now

Corbis Images
Good stock photo resource. Photo annotations are often erroneous.
Genres: All
Depth: 7
Breadth: 7
File Quality: 8
Accessibility: 8
Database: 8
Search Engine: 8
Writing: NA
Interface: 7
Accuracy: 5
Entertainment: 6
Regions: Global
Media: Photo
Period: 1880 - Now

Topfoto
One of the last independent photo stock agencies. Images are watermarked.
Genres: All
Depth: 4
Breadth: 4
File Quality: 4
Accessibility: 5
Database: 5
Search Engine: 6
Writing: NA
Interface: 5
Accuracy: 5
Entertainment: 5
Regions: UK, USA, Germany, Russia, Denmark, Global
Media: Photo
Period: 1920 - Now

Time/Life
Curated selections from the combined photo archives of these terrific publications (and a few other interesting titles like People and Entertainment Weekly) are published online frequently, but then again many of these vignets are taken offline after a while. The only way to search the collection, is through Google (but this often leads to dead links; you can still find their search box here, but it's dysfunctional).
Genres: All
Depth: 4
Breadth: 4
File Quality: 8
Accessibility: 3
Database: 5
Search Engine: 1
Writing: NA
Interface: 5
Accuracy: 6
Entertainment: 7
Regions: Global
Media: Photo
Period: 1920 - Now

Google Cultural Institute TIP!
Picture collections from museums and other cultural resources - including e.g. rest materials from the Life photo archive.
Genres: All
Depth: 4
Breadth: 4
File Quality: 7
Accessibility: 4
Database: 5
Search Engine: 7
Writing: NA
Interface: 5
Accuracy: 5
Entertainment: 7
Regions: Global
Media: Photo, Illustration
Period: BC - Now


4.2. Photo Search Engines

Google Images
Biggest photo resource in the world. Photos on the web are only rarely named or annotated in a way that Google can cope with. When searching, use your fantasy, don't avoid far fetched associations, keep on trying - there's always more!
Genres: All
Depth: 9
Breadth: 9
File Quality: 5
Accessibility: 8
Database: 5
Search Engine: 7
Writing: NA
Interface: 5
Accuracy: 5
Entertainment: 7
Regions: Global
Media: Photo, Illustrations
Period: B.C. - Now

Picsearch
Photo search engine offering lots of rare, often user generated, images.
Genres: All
Depth: 5
Breadth: 5
File Quality: 4
Accessibility: 7
Database: 6
Search Engine: 6
Writing: NA
Interface: 5
Accuracy: 5
Entertainment: 5
Regions: Global
Media: Photo
Period: 1820 - Now