Licensing Photography

Licensing Photography  (Edited and updated version from Nov 2014 post)

I have been researching this mysterious medium of licensing lately.  Ever since I took my trip out to the coast and was inspired to shoot all of those images of cairns (stacking rocks) I could see a use for them in media production.

The best book I read on the subject is "Licensing Photography" by Richard Weisgrau and Victor S. Perlman.  Although published in 2006, it seems up to date with current trends.

I am no expert on this vast subject, but I feel I have come to a better understanding of where I am heading in regard to licensing my images.

I am also fortunate to be back on Fine Art America  where they now offer licensing, although one can easily get lost in a sea of doubt and questions in spite of their detailed explanations.  You still have to research the going prices.  At least they, like the book, have listed Getty Images and others as guides.

So far I have followed the books advice and registered on Getty for my research.  You have to do this to see the actual prices.  I had to learn the difference between Royalty Free (RF) and Rights Managed (RM) licensing.  I am choosing RM for now as it seems to give me more control of how the images will be used.

Unfortunately, when I went to apply the books' guidelines to my Fine Art America's format I hit a snag.  It's different, but with a little intelligent reasoning I think I have at least created a beginning format for myself.

Their actual licensing site is http://licensing.pixels.com  , but the site layout looks just like Fine Art America, which is the mothership behind it.  Their layout is terrific and user friendly for both the listing artist and the buyer - the latter being the important entity here.

The ground work you have to do is decide how you want to license your images and what to charge.  The breakdowns are detailed and I have only scratched the surface so far.  I basically just listed what I understood.

The time consuming work is researching images on Getty that are similar to your own and noting the prices there, as that seems to be the industry standard.

Why not just list on Getty?  Because I understand the artist is only paid about 20% of the fee.  Fine Art America is letting artists set the fee and they are marking up their percentage, just like they do with their print sales.

Licensed images are useful for a variety of products such as brochures, business cards, note cards, letterhead, you name it.  Artists could collaborate in many ways.

Update:  As of late 2015 I created my own licensing agreement based on a template.

I will keep updating this article as I learn more.