Move Over Getty Images, the Flickr Train's Heading Right at You

Media Orchard, by the Idea Grove: PR Firm Idea Grove is out with a post on the future of the stock photography business. I'm quoted in the article from a previous article I wrote about Flickr's role in the future of stock photography.

Idea Images seems to agree that the landscape for the stock photo business will be changing in the future:

"If I were Getty Images or Corbis, for example, I would be very concerned. As Thomas Hawk explains:

"Why couldn't Flickr displace the world's largest photo licensing company Getty Images or Bill Gates' stock photography competitor Corbis? Have you seen some of the photography up at Flickr lately? It is stunning. Although primarily taken and posted by amateurs, the top shots on the site are every bit as brilliant as anything I've seen from the pros."

Guess what? I've bought, and continue to buy, stock photography all the time. And I completely agree with Thomas.

Sure, there are copyright issues to be ironed out, as there currently are across all content-based industries. But in time -- and probably sooner rather than later --they'll be resolved."