The E-Commerce of Licensing Stock Photography Online

1. The E-Commerce of Licensing Stock Photography Online Com 538 Don Wilson 9 December 2003

2. Stock photography • Photography that is accessed over the Web, then licensed for specific uses in advertising, marketing, corporate communications, publishing and design.

3. Stock Photography Business Model images images photographers stock agencies corporate consumers $ $

4. Purpose of study • Answer the question: Is there a viable e-commerce model for an individual to distribute the content they create (digital photographs) to corporate consumers?

5. Possible Stock Photography Business Model Possible Stock Photography Business Model images photographers corporate consumers $

6. Overview • A brief history of stock photography • The transition from analog to digital • The rapid adoption of e-commerce • The stock photography industry today • The future of online stock photography • What does it all mean?

7. The early days • Since the1840s existing photography has been sold commercially. • Stereoviews marketed through catalogues • Cityscapes of Paris sold to painters • In the 1930s and 1940s corporations sold their public relations and marketing photos.

8. Otto Bettmann fled Germany with two trunk loads of prints in 1935, he later founded the Bettmann Archieve.

9. 1970 – 1990 • Advertising discovered stock and vice versa • Business model shifted from out-takes to concept-based, generic images that could be resold many times • Business was good

10. Commercial creatives take control • Definition: commercial users of photography (art directors, designers, picture editors) who license images for use in commerce, for profit. • By the early 1980s defined and controlled most of the content of popular advertising and corporate culture • They still do

11. Stock photography goes digital • 1993 Time and Sport Illustrated started downloading news photos • 1995Corbis and Getty began acquiring stock agencies and picture collections • 2001 the business model is “everything online”

12. Digital stock in terms of diffusion theory • Digital stock enabled by rapid adoption of digital technology • Reciprocal interdependence (Rogers, 2003) • Rate of adoption curve similar to that of Internet

13. E-commerce in terms of brakes and accelerators theory • Accelerators: images are digital and image culture is tech savvy • Brakes: complex negotiations, expensive technology, proprietary imagery • Result: technology overcomes brakes

14. The present … • Corbis and Getty control 90% of the market • Corbis has 70 million images, about 1.5% are online – Getty has roughly the same • Getty’s sales for 2003 will be about $.5 billion – more that 90% are e-commerce • October 2003, Getty generates 5 billion thumbnails per month

15. The future … • Technology will continue to advance the e-commerce of stock photography • Semantic Web • SimSearch • Isilon

16. The market will demand greater selection of imagery • Commercial creatives will remain the “cultural mediators” (Frosh, 2001) • The “Wal Mart” model of e-commerce will continue

17. Corporations may begin creating their own stock collections • Good for photographers • Bad for agencies

18. What does it all mean? • And what is the answer to the question: Is there a viable e-commerce model for an individual to distribute the content they create (digital photographs) to corporate consumers? • Probably not – not in the immediate future

19. DW’s rule: • Be prepared to adopt (spend the money) whatever technology will put your content in front of the commercial users of digital stock photography.