Image Licensing Explained

My images are available for rights-managed stock photo image licensing to art directors, magazine editors, interior decorators, and just about anyone else who uses photos for their business. I will explain to you here what that means.

The most common picture licensing methods from photographers or stock photography agencies consist of rights-managed, royalty-free, and microstock. See below for an explanation of rights-managed / rights-protected stock photography image licensing, and the pros and cons.:

1. Rights-Managed: Specific uses and resulting licensing fees are agreed upon by both the photographer and the person requesting for each usage. Any usage future needs beyond the terms agreed upon must be re-negotiated with the photographer or representative.

Benefits:

a. As the potential client, you can be assured that your competition has not licensed the same or similar images from the same source because the photographer should be keeping record of the licensing history of the photos. This could save you from potential PR disasters resulting from utilizing other licensing methods such as royalty-free. An example of an embarassing PR blunder due to not using rights-managed licensing would be: A conservative Christian church decides to license a royalty-free image from a stock photo agency of a flying pigeon silhouetted against a setting sun. They make a nice little newspaper ad and have a prominently-placed quarter page. When the newspaper is published, the church reacts in horror as a tattoo parlor has used the same photo for their own ad on the facing page. Word gets out, and the story is posted on blogs throughout the Internet and makes it onto the humor section of Yahoo.com's news website.

Another embarassing example due to royalty-free image licensing could be a christian book publisher using a photo for one of their books. The book cover looks great. When it arrives at Border's Books, the book is being sold next to a sexual techniques book on the new release shelf. Ooops.

b. Of benefit to the photographer is they are fairly compensated for each usage of their artwork. Plus they know exactly what their photos have been licensed for. Photographers need to eat too, and it is nearly impossible to do that when their "product" is being used for repeatedly without compensation, or worse yet being "licensed" for pennies and cents aka. microstock websites. There are industry standards for licensing fees and they should be abided by all self-respecting photographers. Low-balling benefiits everyone except for photographers.

c. Generally rights-managed images are higher quality photos than royalty-free photos which tend to be amateurish, generic and/or cookie-cutter looking. When a photographer has a special talent, there is no reason why they shouldn't be charging licensing fees for each use of their photos unless it's for a pro bono cause. Other photographers aren't going to have the same images. Most successful professional photographers that license their photography as stock utilize the rights-managed licensing model.

d. Having a rights-protected image ensures that your company's brand identity will not be in conflict with a competitor. For an extra fee, picture exclusivity within your market for an agreed upon time period can be negotiated ensuring that your brand or product identity is unique to your company.

Cons

a. All uses must be negotiated, paid for and agreed upon otherwise the client might be subject to lawsuits.

b. Both the photographer and the client are expected to know and keep track of the terms of usage and comply. Not doing so would be unprofessional for the rights-managed / rights-protected stock photography image licensing model and could get both parties in hot water in the future both ethically and legally.

Request for a stock photo license price quote

2. Royalty-Free: Like buying a product. Unlimited photo usage with a few restrictions. For certain uses, rights-managed images might actually be less expensive than buying a royalty-free image. As a company though, do you want your corporate identity to be mixed up or shared by another company's? I will show you examples for potential PR blunders in the following illustrations.

The images on this page are presented for the basis of demonstrating a personal opinion, commentary, and example for public review or critism of factors that are involved with licensing photos under certain types of sales models.

Negative consequences for licensing royalty-free images.

Negative consequences for licensing royalty-free images.

Negative consequences for licensing Royalty Free Photos

Negative consequences for licensing Royalty Free Pictures

Negative consequences for licensing Royalty Free Stock Images

Negative consequences for licensing Royalty Free Stock Photos

By licensing rights-managed stock photos, you can request for exclusive rights for an agreed upon period of time to certain markets and usage categories therefore preventing any of the PR blunders illustrated in the examples above.

Request for a stock photo license price quote