One of my favorite weblogs, About the Image, posted a must-read article by retiring PACA President Jeffery Burke entitled “The State of the Stock Picture Licensing Industry 2006.” For those that don’t know, PACA stands for the Picture Archive Council of America, whose membership is made up of Stock Agencies and other photo archives. It’s length, in-depth, and comprehensive. On top of that, it’s not e ven an article, per se. Actually, it the text of his opening speech at the 2006 PACA Conference. If you sell (read: license) photos, you need to read this straight-forward account that will certainly keep you thinking. For instance, he says,
Vision has its place in this industry as in others, but practicality often counts more in today’s business world. Creating the best images, selling them at the optimal price and placing them where customers will easily find them is what really matters in today’s business environment. Potentially more important that tomorrow’s visionaries are the 7 out of 10 customers today who vote with their wallets and decide that a royalty free license is more appropriate for their needs than a rights-managed license, or who prefer to visit one stock website over another.
