Concluding the republication of my 2011 article on the business of photography:
The Grand Convergence
At one time your phone was plugged into the wall by a wire and your TV signal came through the air. Now that’s reversed. The iPad is blurring the distinction between a TV program and a magazine. Magazines now deliver video through their iPad and smart phone portals. Check your local TV or radio station’s website. In the US they are starting to look like newspaper websites (see npr.org or wbur.org).
It seems that media as we know it is converging. At this point, no one knows who will be the final controller of media. Just as AOL or Earthlink once probably provided you your Internet access, now your cable or phone company probably does. In a decade, who will supply your Internet content? How will you find your content? Will broadcast TV disappear because of it’s rigid scheduling, or will it find a market like movie theaters have. They are re-marketing themselves now more as social events than simply viewing events.
Just as Google, your Internet provider, movie producers and TV networks are posturing to decide who will decide the future of media, photographers have to decide if they want a piece of this larger market. Eventually most imagery will be published electronically. Should you add video? Or is it even more competitive, with higher capital expenses?
Who will be deciding your future business model and fee structure in this next decade? Individual photographers in the 85% of the curve won’t have much say. Who is speaking for you?