Best Business Practices for Photographers [215]
Electronic Distribution
Within the context of the ever-growing field of digital/online distribution, knowing how the images will be used is key.
Here are a few digital/online distribution types:
Email blast. "Distribution of a promotion, marketing, sales, or advertising message to a large quantity of specific recipients via a specific Internet protocol."
This is very similar to:
Broadcast email. "Email distribution of a large quantity of messages containing promotion, marketing, or advertising."
Website. It is important to specify here whether the use will be limited to the client's website, company blog, or even in a video on the company's website. It is possible that a company website video could be easily embeddable into other websites, as businesses look to have their videos used in a viral manner. Defining a website use is something along the lines of "use by client on their website only, as illustrated by a single website that exhibits a unified graphical appearance and is physically located on the same server on the Internet." This is, in this case, an incorporation of the definition of website from PLUS: "A collection of Internet accessible pages interconnected by HTML links, usually including a home page," along with the additional information that the PLUS definition page provides, "All web pages within a website typically exhibit a unified graphical appearance and are physically located on the same server on the Internet." Avoid using the phrase "web use," because it is extremely ambiguous and could mean all of these electronic distribution categories just as easily as it means one.
Web banner ad. "A marketing or promotion announcement embedded in a particular Internet page, usually placed at the top or bottom of the screen."
Blog. "A personal or professional diary or running commentary on an Internet page that May contain words, images, or other content."
Downloadable file. Whether you are referring to a PDF, a movie (.MOV) file, an eBook, or any other type of downloadable file, defining what you mean when you say "downloadable file" is important.
I have several clients who consistently hire me to shoot images of their senior executives in action around Washington, for the sole purpose of illustrating client activities in and around Washington, as they write blog articles, so don't underestimate the value of blog licensing. Blogs, in many ways, are an informal version of a brochure or company newsletter/communication.
Caveats and Other Considerations
There is, of course, a time when you have the right to license an image, but not exercising that right is the better part of valor. I have, over time, worked for both the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee. In each case, I have photographs of politicians with people who found themselves in uncomfortable news situations, and, had I licensed those images (as was my right to do), it would have placed the politician and, in turn, my client in a less-than-positive light. Thus, when a call might come in from a publication, saying, "Do you have any photographs of [politician X] with [donor/celebrity Y]?" my response has been, "I don't have anything for you. Sorry."
Other factors in licensing come up when there are multiple parties potentially involved. In Chapter 14, I addressed the issue of multi-party licensing agreements, where, for example, you have prospective clients for an architectural shoot that might include the architects, builders, contractors,