Former president of the Stock Artists Alliance Shannon Fagan will chair the newly established Stock Imaging License Committee of the American Society of Media Photographers. Fagan will moderate the new ASMP stock-photo listserv community, write for the Strictly Business Blog and speak at the 2011 Strictly Business 3 conferences.
Fagan’s reputation in the stock-image industry is relatively unusual. Too young to be considered an old-timer, he is well-respected by the traditional community for both the award-winning quality of his work and business insight—despite offering opinions that are often unpopular with the traditional contingent. Fagan has the ability to approach the business of stock without letting emotion or fear cloud his judgment, and it is precisely this quality that will be most useful to ASMP members, as exemplified by Fagan’s latest post to Strictly Business.
Here is part of the advice he offers on the subject of licensing models: “It’s a fact that for the overall scope of the traditional sector of the business, there have been only declines in revenue, number of participants, and number of new images available. It’s also a fact that for the microstock sector of the business, there have been only increases for the same measurable areas of growth. For the future, as an investor of time and money to create new imagery, it would be advisable (like a diversified mutual fund) to attempt to place bets into all areas of image licensing.” Still, Fagan advises producers to shy away from the middle, which he defines as traditional royalty-free imagery.
In his new ASMP role, he promises to help members navigate recent industry changes. In particular, he will explore and share new business models pertaining to image licensing.
ASMP currently has some 7,000 members in 39 chapters across the U.S. Given the organization’s size, longevity and considerable legislative and business involvement, its increased focus on the stock end of the business is a positive development, as it augments the advocacy, lobbying and education efforts of the considerably smaller SAA.