Stockphotography organisation sees dramatic loss of members

Stock photography organisation CEPIC has reported on their blog that it has seen a dramatic drop in membership in the past year of over 10%. With only one new member signed. This news comes after their annual conference that saw a much higher number of attendants than in previous years. In the organisations blog Sylvie Fodor writes:

Although one additional European national association, SAPHIR from France, has joined us this year and the number of Affiliates has remained stable, CEPIC now claims not over a thousand but less than 900 picture sources. The dramatic loss clearly shows how our industry has been affected by the latest economic crisis, coupled with deep structural changes.

The 2009 – 2010 crisis has hurt more than any other crisis before. Picture agencies revenues were reported to have dropped materially – between 20% and 80%. A number of longstanding picture agencies, such as Grazia Neri in Italy, Hellas Press in Greece and SUPERBILD in Germany filed for bankruptcy or closed .

For more background and analysis you can read the blogpost on the Cepic site.