Best Business Practices for Photographers [214]
Another example is the story of the U.K. photographer, name unknown, who had scandalous photos of a member of the monarchy. As the story goes, he licensed a rolling periodic exclusivity as each of the editions of competing papers came out. So, the paper that paid the most for the photographs got an exclusivity from 6:00 a.m. through 8:00 a.m. that morning for the first editions, and the paper with the second highest bid got an exclusive for the morning editions until noon, and the third paper got an afternoon exclusive on the images. This, as rumor has it, is an extreme example of periodic licensing exclusivity, but when the photos are such a big deal, these types of deals are workable.
One example that I have is an image I made for a client on assignment. The client was very concerned that the photo I dreamt up and presented in concept could end up being licensed to their competition. The only assurance that worked for them was exclusivity language by industry.
Markets You Will License Within
There are several different umbrella markets you will find yourself licensing within. They are:
Consumer. PLUS defines a consumer advertisement as "commercial communication that is directed to members of the general public," whereas a consumer magazine is "a periodical targeted to the interests of, marketed and distributed to the public at large."
Trade. PLUS defines a trade advertisement as "advertising that is directed to specific industries, professions, or special interest groups."
Editorial. PLUS defines editorial use as "a use whose purpose is to educate and/or convey news, information, or fair comment opinion, and which does not seek or accept sponsorship to promote a product, person, service, or company."
Personal. PLUS defines personal use as "only for private purposes and not related to business or commerce. No reproduction rights granted," and suggests, as an example, "She purchased a print for personal use and will hang it in her office."
What defines the use in each market is how a specific image is used. For example, if I made an image of a bride tossing her bouquet in front of the U.S. Capitol, that might be an image that could easily appear in a commercial advertisement for a bridal shop. It could also appear in the local magazine for editorial purposes about great locations to be photographed on your wedding day. Were the image used in the trade category, it could be in a trade magazine ad for bridal gown designers showcasing the popularity of that designer's work or in an article about the latest trends in gowns. Lastly, and the most obvious use of this photograph, would be for personal use by the bride in her wedding album. In many of these examples, I would, of course, be required to have a model release from the bride to exercise those rights.
In the end, the use of the image defines the market, not necessarily the party who initially commissions the work.
Rights Managed versus Royalty-Free
There is a great deal of debate over these two terms. Let's first define them, again courtesy of PLUS:
Rights Managed (also referred to as "RM"). "A licensing model in which the rights to a creative work are carefully controlled by a licensor through use of exact and limiting wording of each successive grant of usage rights."
Royalty Free (also referred to as "RF"). "Denotes a broad or almost unlimited use of an image or group of images by a licensee for a single licensee fee. License agreement typically specifies some limitations (e.g., resale of the image to a third party is usually prohibited)."
It should go without saying, but I will say it anyway, that a long-term strategy of success