Licensing

If you are selling your photographs through an agency, you may have the choice of selling them ‘Royalty Free’ (RF) or ‘Rights Managed’ (RM), also known as ‘Licensed’ or ‘Editorial’.)

What’s the difference between them? Which one should you choose?

Here’s a brief rundown on the pros and cons of each licensing choice …

Royalty Free – Once a buyer has bought an RF image he/she can use it again and again – within the limitations of the agreement – without having to inform the copyright holder (you) or agency, and without further payment.

These rights are not transferable, meaning that the buyer cannot sell the image on, but they give him/her considerable latitude. Most RF images are used for commercial purposes such as advertisements, illustrating brochures, catalogues, web sites and so on. With a higher level of RF licensing a manufacturer can use the images to illustrate T-shirts, mugs, mouse mats and so on.

The disadvantage of RF to you, the seller, is that prices are generally low. And, when the agency’s taken its cut, there’s even less for the photographer. However, the same image may sell over and over again, sometimes hundreds of times. So, in balance, you may end up getting just as much income from one particular image.

The disadvantage of Royalty Free to the buyer is that they have no way of knowing who else is using the image, and for what purpose.

In the past this may not have mattered so much. But today, with hordes of bloggers scouring the internet day and night, someone is bound to notice. And gleefully tell the world. Here’s a tale of that.

So, if a company wants a unique image for their advertising they will buy a Rights Managed image

Rights Managed (also known as Licensed) – For you, the photographer, this is the equivalent of renting out your image. The buyer uses it for one purpose only, and if it is to be used at any other time, for any other purpose, a new license needs to be bought.

Of course, the advantage of this to the buyer is that they can find out exactly how the image has been used previously (if at all) and further usage can be controlled – for example, if they want exclusivity so that it is associated only with them. Think of a picture of the Matterhorn representing a Swiss bank. If you have the good fortune to sell exclusive rights to a photograph it will bring you big bucks.

But that means, to the buyer, the photos are more expensive … sometimes a lot more expensive … depending on the usage.

Although RM images generally sell for more and the photographer gets more money on a sale-by-sale basis, they sell far less frequently. Really top-notch RF images may sell 100 times a month or more. You’d be extremely lucky to sell any one RM image more than 2 or 3 times a year.

So … it’s swings and roundabouts.

Another aspect concerns releases (see here for details on model and property releases). RF photographs are most often used for commercial purposes, i.e. to sell things. And as usage is difficult to control once such an image has been bought, to avoid legal complications, any recognisable person in it should have signed a model release.

By contrast, licensed images (RM) are very often bought to illustrate newspaper and magazine articles, books, newsletters and the like. This usage is called editorial, and in the UK and USA no model releases are required for people appearing in such images.

So, if you’re taking pictures in the street, at crowded markets, sports events, you can’t get model releases but you’re hoping to sell them, sign up with an agency that will deal with editorial images, selling them under license.

In all other cases, get your photographs model released.

One other thing to be aware of – don’t, under any circumstances, sell the same image RF with one agency and RM with another.

Why not?

Because you may find yourself in big, and possibly expensive, trouble.

Imagine … a company buys one of your photographs because they feel it fills their needs  perfectly. They want to use it as part of their brand image and they pay you a lot of money for an exclusive license.

Then they find every Tom, Dick and Harry using the same image because you have it up for sale RF with another agency.

They ain’t gonna be pleased. And you could be in expensive trouble.

(Disclaimer: This page is for general information only and should not be taken as definitive legal advice.)