The only reason people stopped buying SUVs is because they couldn’t afford to put gas in them. Nobody convinced the majority of these folks to stop buying them to reduce global warming. Generally people won’t act until they see a direct impact on themselves. Most of the models who work for “part-time” photographers get something out of the deal (in fact they are legally required to be compensated), or they are friends and family. People who could be convinced not to participate, most likely would never do so anyway.

Maybe we could convince people to stop auditioning for reality TV shows because it hurts professional TV writers. Or… convince people to stop reading blogs because it hurting traditional newspapers.

Here’s a suggestion. Start a website that allows people to start their own “movements” online. Once you build up some traffic figure out how to monetize it (there is probably several sites already). Maybe you could charge some of the big “non-profit” organizations to advertise their “movement” on the site. You could always donate a small percentage of the revenue to another “movement” of your choice.

Hmmm… Better yet maybe I’ll start the site :)

“The macroeconomic condition is a small contributor to the failure of stock photo agencies, but not the cause: the real cause is the failure of the agencies to adapt to the changing industry demand and supply.”

If you read the original post, I think I covered the supply and demand issues. However the “macroeconomic” conditions certainly helped fuel the growth of the industry as a whole contributing to the oversupply. Admittedly several other factors contributed to the current state of the industry (again I refer to the original post). You are correct — the problems we (photo industry) now face preceded the current economic crisis. Unfortunately for some the current economy will worsen the problems as a whole (we may see certain individuals or segments do just fine).

My point was not that PS and DR’s problems were caused by the current conditions, but that the current “macroeconomic” state will continue to bring underlying problems to the surface.

I also feel– whether or not the industry needs to change does not matter when those who are in the position to create that change are worried about losing their jobs. In addition, photographers who need to pay a mortgage and send their kids to school get very nervous when tell them they need to completely change their business model.

When you are in a boat that is sinking and you never bothered to learn to swim, your will spend all your time trying to plug the whole — no time for swimming lessons. The current economic situation is just making the whole bigger. Eventually the changes needed will be forced on the industry. It’s sink or swim (sorry… I just had to say it :)

The effect hopefully would be, guess what, many image-buying clients (apart from those thousands of generic images) would have to devise a concept to shoot for their ‘individual, sole’ use, where ‘talent’ as such are featured.

Maybe we’d see a change from the current movement of the whole world becoming photographers as their part-time job, not that I’m against any from of creativity that that inspires. It’s just that the term ‘commercial’ is losing it’s meaning.

Surely the phone would be ringing on a more basis.. and no, I’m not looking at going into “stock”, I’d rather start a movement.

Any attempt to blame the failure of PS Collection and DRR on macroeconomic conditions is neglecting to address the real reasons behind the failure: prices, demand and supply.

Which I think you point out: the fact is it’s difficult to understand the exact impact of the credit crunch without digging into the financial statements.

Photographers need to reduce their reliance on stock because the demand for stock has changed: not just in price, but in who wants stock, how they want to use, how quickly and easily they want to get it.

Reducing the transaction costs (time, effort, legal, price transparency and comparison) of acquiring stock might be the biggest need in the stock photography business.