PACA (Picture Archive Council of America) held it’s 2006 Annual Member meeting in Chicago, April 6-8. An opening reception was sponsored by PictureHouse on April 6, at the famous Preston Bradley Hall, at the Chicago Cultural Center. The meeting kicked off Friday morning with a lively discussion on the current trends in the stock industry. Highlights of the meeting included discussions about:

1. Emerging business models: subscription and micropayment sites
With pressure on art buying budgets and a greater need for low-res images on the web, subscription sites and microsites are becoming more widely accepted. These channels represent the largest opportunities for growth in the stock industry. However, there is still some resistance, especially with micropayment sites, as buyers don’t always trust that the images have all of the proper releases.

2. Royalty Free vs. Rights Managed
Lines are starting to blur between RM and RF imagery as RF prices go up and become more editorial. Art buyers are purchasing more RF imagery than ever before.

3. Buyer Panels: Feedback from current image buyers was very consistent
a. Almost as important as quality of imagery is the speed and ease-of-use of a website. Buyers do not want to spend time looking for images. They want good search tools and strong keyword meta data that will give them desired results in the shortest amount of time possible. They do not want to see too many irrelevant results or too few results. If they have to spend too much time searching on a site, they will leave and go to a competitor.
b. Service is also very important. Art buyers need service reps who understand their business and know what they are looking for and who will take the time to do so.
c. RM image buying is becoming more and more complicated. An art buyer may buy an image for one use, but later find they need it for another use and have to go through the pricing process all over again. This system needs to improve.

4. Areas of growth for content
a. “In demo” 18-24 year old demographic who spend a lot of time online or on cell phones.
b. Hispanic and African American models and lifestyles

PACA president Jeff Burke, gave his state of the industry address. To read the full transcript, click here.

On Saturday PACA members were treated to “State of the Industry, State of the Art—A View from the Big Three.” Leaders from the three major distributors of stock images, Getty, Corbis and Jupiterimages, took time from their busy schedules to give those in attendance their take on the state of the industry.

To read the transcripts of each presentation, please click the links below or continue on to the following pages.

Moderated by Jeff Burke, PACA President

Speakers: Mark Berns, Jupiterimages; Lewis Blackwell, Getty Images; Gary Shenk, Corbis