2023 International Digital Media Licensing Conference, San Francisco @ The Presidio
Written by Mark Milstein
After a nearly four year hiatus, the in-person DMLA conference returned this October as an earth shaking success.
Seismic Shifts was this year's theme, and generative AI and all of its accompanying wizardry, fear inducing unknowns and ethical questions were on full display for two full days at the Golden Gate Club in San Francisco's Presidio.
With 200 attendees, and sponsorships from Google, Acquia, Shutterstock, pocstock, CNN Collection, ImageRights, CDAS, iSpyVisuals, and Adobe, DMLA reafirmed its role as the center of gravity for the media licensing industry and beyond.
On registration day, DMLA kicked off the event with its first ever Generative AI Summit; drawing attendance from Google, Adobe, Amazon, Alamy, CEPIC, Danita Delimont, ImageRights, Steg.ai, vAIsual, Getty Images, Gado, Envato, Everypixel, Digimark, and individual contributors, Chip Schenk and Mark Loundy. The summit was a three hour, back and forth discussion on nearly every aspect of generative AI's effect on traditional stock photography, licensing, legal and the technology that both underpins the algorithm and the tech that's waiting just over the horizon. Lots of thoughtful, deep insights into how we as an industry are going to be effected and how we as an industry can prevent ourselves from becoming “road kill.”
IDMLC Day One - kicked off with Leslie Hughes setting the stage for what's ahead in her President's Welcome, which perfectly transitioned to this year's keynote address on how the world of technology is fundamentally changing the way we create and consume media, presented by Google's Anna Dickson and Matt Serletic.
Legal questions then took center stage, with a riveting discussion from Rob Kasunic, Director of Policy and Practice, and Suzy Wilson, General Counsel at the United States Copyright Office, on copyright today, the law, and the impact of technologies such as AI. This was followed up by the legal panel's talk on generative AI and the law, with Nancy Wolff of CDAS, Paul Reinitz from Getty Images, Amanda Perrot of Adobe, and Margaret Vincent of Stocksy. Tackling bias in AI, with Joe Naylor moderating was next with Tonia Osadebe from Google, Tiffany Gilron of Shutterstock and Mark Milstein of vAIsual. In a first, this year's conference saw a panel discussion on the role of DAMs and MAMs in content operations. This panel attracted an all star team of speakers: Misti Vogt, Chief of Staff (Orange Logic) Jake Athey, VP Go To Market and Sales (Acquia) Lara Guerard, Principle/ Founder (Media Magnet Consulting) Wendy Walker, MAM Delivery and Support Coordinator (NEP Group, Inc.). Eric Wengrowski of Steg.ai and Ken Sickles of Digimarc then led a roundtable on watermarking AI generated assets. Day One wrapped up with a DEI roundtable discussion, moderated by Christina Vaughan, president of CEPIC and founder of Cultura, and paneled by DeSean Brown, Co-Founder, pocstock, Lori Rodney, Head of Global Communications, Shutterstock, Debbie Grossman, Group Manager, Strategic Business Development Global Initiatives, Adobe Stock.
In between all of the highly informative panels, attendees visited sponsor tables and got into deep discussions on everything from distribution relationships, content marketing and, of course, generative AI.
IDMLC Day Two - put disinformation and misinformation front and center, with Leslie Hughes moderating a panel on the subject with Pam Fisher from IPTC, Andrew Kaback from the CAI and John Horodyski from Salt Flats. This was followed by Surviving and Thriving in a World of Generative AI with myself as moderator, and Eric Wengrowski, Founder at Steg AI Mikayel Khachatryan, CEO of Wirestock Michael Francello, Director of Innovation, and Shutterstock Chip Schenck, Independent Consultant, former Shutterstock. After the morning fog burned off, the weather and the views from the main hall continued to amaze, with nearly everyone commenting on how unbelievable the location was, and how enjoyable it was finally being back in person.
Not suprisingly, the Tales from the Trenches session, moderated by Jonathan Wells, proved to be one of the most memorable panels. Jonathan's panel, consisting of photojournalists Paul Kuroda, Ethan Swope, Skyler Greene, and noted photojournalism author and professor Ken Kobre, reminded everyone of how powerful a storytelling tool photography can be and forever will be. After lunch, we found ourselves immersed in the world of studio operations, getting insights into how companies as varied as The Gap, Pixelz, Red Bull Media, EyeQ and ID/W are leveraging an arsenal of new tools to streamline production, edit and manage their content and improve the quality of every outputted asset.
Moderator Thomas Ladefoged, CEO at Pixelz was both dynamic and informative. The panel, made up of Alex Ashton, Managing Principle at ID/W, Curren Calhoun, Director of Photo Production and Technology at The Gap, Kelly Elaine Garthwaite, Photo OperationsTeam Lead at Red Bull, and Brad Malcolm, Preisdent and CEO of EyeQ, added numerous layers of insights into an area most attendees rarely had an opportunity to see. Our next panel focused on video discovery, with myself as moderator and Michael Liou, from Chooch, Pam Fisher of IPTC, Mick Reed of MiMojo, and Analisa Goodin of Catch + Release showcasing how tech and AI in particular have given users the power to finally gain keen insights into video and improve discovery and monetization. Our last panel, Content Marketing and Monetization Trends, looked at the bottom line, and didn't disappoint when it came to giving us useful insights. Moderator Thomas Smith of Gado Images, together with panelists James Allsworth of Alamy, independent consultant Chip Schenck and Alina Volchek of Depositphotos, talked about new developments in content, how to license images for AI training, how they approach marketing their new products, as well as other areas that directly impacted everyone's content licensing bottom line.
It wasn't until I was back in New York that I was able to finally give serious thought to all of what I heard and learned from this year's conference.
It's true that generative AI has brought about significant changes, and the landscape is indeed evolving. But first, and foremost, for all of the doom and gloom that first accompanied the early headlines of generative AI's impact on our industry, it's clear that the majority of our members have embraced the technology and, interestingly, have working strategies that are solving problems to their advantage.
Instead of being resistant to change, DMLA members and conference attendees are actively seeking ways to integrate this technology into their operations. This is a statement to the industry's ability to evolve and stay competitive. I do not remember hearing anyone say that they didn't think they'd ever incorporate at least one or two elements of generative AI into their operations; whether it was licensing their library of digital content for datasets, using generative AI to give their libraries higher levels of discoverability with more accurate metadata or licensing synthetic photography or music to actually increase their revenue bottom line.
Finally, one of the most thought provoking comments I heard from an attendee came days later in a LinkedIn post. He wrote that “with the growing amount of generative AI content [flooding licensing platforms], the market is attempting to reassign roles by involving customers in the content creation process.” “A customer is not a prompt engineer,” he went on to say. “They simply want to stay a customer.” This observation might prove to be crucial.
We might, as an industry, have to re-examine the role of what it means to be solely a content provider. The notion of involving customers in the content creation process is a significant paradigm shift. It suggests that customers are not just passive consumers but can play an active role in shaping the content they consume.
Let that sink in. Lots to imagine and act upon, and more reasons to be a part of DMLA; the true center of gravity for the content licensing industry.
See you in 2024.