Chaos and sensibility

March 26, 2007 by pmelcher.

There are a few trends emerging in 2007 that are worth noting. As an exercise in divination, I have written down some projections to measure against time. I dare you to do the same. Time will tell if I was right.
- A very aggressive Getty images goes all out. Probably badly hurt in its ego by Wall street’s loss of confidence, Getty Images has been all out these last few months in acquisitions and distributions deals. We can certainly count on many more to come as the “take no prisoner” policy of Getty Images continues. They have the will, the cash and the brains. I would expect them to do moves in the international markets where they are still weak, most particularly in Europe. They will probably make some horrible mistakes in the process.
- Corbis might buy Jupiter Media as to finally be able to say they have entered the Microstock market. They might even be smart and turn the whole RF offering into Microstock before it is too late. Alan Meckler will return to building web oriented trade shows and the Attila of photography, Steve Davis, might finally step down and run Bill Gates’ foundation. After all, he has many many years of experience running a non-for-profit.
- Portals : As I have written before, portals are going to be the next big things in photography. Unable to combat on their own, agencies will coordinate resources and efforts to offer clients a wealth of combine content. It will be widely accepted by image buyers worldwide.
- The merge: 2007 will see the price gap between microstock and traditional royalty free close forever. The remaining players will be the top distributors and the top creators of RF, with, of course, a multitude of UGC’s. In the long run, it will not be profitable for professional photographers to shoot Royalty Free, thus leaving the production of these images to well trained and shepherded amateurs. The industry’s “dirty little secret” of over pricing landscape images and product shots will be over (remember?, it used to be called “clip art”).
- Flickr and other file sharing sites will completely miss their entry into the licensing world for lack of a clear understanding on how it works. Eventually, Flickr will partner with another company ( is that why Getty bought scoopt.com ?). It is always amusing to me to see how people think that by slapping a price on an image and making it available on the internet, they think they will sell. There is much more to successfully licensing images than that.
- European emergence: Taken by surprise by the internet revolution, currently brutally fighting each other in a price war, companies from Europe will eventually redefine the rules of a successful photo agency. When they break out of their country-centric mentalities, they will offer an incredible wealth of quality images along with an acute sensitivity to market trends. American based agencies will feel the heath, especially in the quality of content .
- File sharing, web 2.0 photo sites, community based GPSed images and other mish mash and mash ups will take a nose dive into oblivion as trends and fashion move on to other interests. After many false scares, the bubble will deflate and photography will return into the hands of professional. The same way we now laugh at the eccentricities of web 1.0, we will barely chuckle when web 2.0 will be mentioned. Maybe one or two will become really useful and remain. I bet on these guys, PICNIK.

That is it for now. do not want to reveal too much yet. your turn.

Posted in web 2.0, flickr, corbis, Royalty free, Microstock | Print | 4 Comments »