PACA Keynote speech adresses big industry changes
The Picture Archive Council of America (PACA) yearly conference has just taken place from the 16th to the 18th of October in Miami. For those of you that didn’t attend the event or if you want to get key information again we are publishing video’s of the key events in co-operation with PACA and courtesy of ReeldealHD (stock footage and bespoke video) who shot and produced the video’s.
Paca president Maria Kessler made her keynote speech and adressed the changes in stock photography by way of looking at other industries like TV, music and Publishing. She drew parallels between those industries and urged members to take their learnings from others who have dealt with major change. She told the audience that they need to be especially aware of the wide range of changes around us “We need to look at other content related industries”. In a world that’s no longer linear and a web environment that’s constantly changing relevance is key. The digital future is here, online content is soaring and companies that are successful are those connecting users and making information relevant.
Some trusted businesmodels seem to have suddenly gone away; “TV is over”, many newspapers are near death and media on which we were selling music have gone away. We are seeing the near collapse of industries that we’re used to being a part of. “The digital age has killed scarcity” The key now is to deliver exactly what the reader wants. “We have to look at other industries in the content field.” We’re no longer in a linear world and embrace innovation, open source ideas and collaborations with partners. Freemium may be a way to do this. Where do you come in the workflow, how do you provide relevance?
Video will be as ubiquitousas as text online and is getting record users. Print on demand tools like Blurb, Cafe Press, Lulu and the espresso book machine are growing. She also adresses Ebooks (Fast Media Magazine reported on some of them here and here) and viewing tools like newspaper direct and Fastflip.
She moved on to say “we’re on a diet” and says dieats are here for the right reasons, they take away bad habits and lead to a better health.
Images are not going away, we just need to apply filters. The best content is rising to the top and she believes that “paywalls will rise” soon. She concludes there is a bright future ahead and PACA is there to help” fortify the foundation of the industry”. PACA is also working on some of the fundamental issues facing the industry in the background.
Maria Kessler concluded by saying “We can’t be complacent”
PACA Keynote speech – Miami Florida 17-10-09 from REELDEALHD on Vimeo.