How much to sell rights to photograph?

[wrpsyd]

I got back from Hawaii a little over a month ago and took over 800 photographs. One of the photos I gave to my brother who does web design to use for one of his clients.

Turns out his client would like to buy the rights to the photograph.

1) what is actually involved in giving up the rights to a photo?

2) Can I still use the photo for personal uses (ie showing the image to my family)?
3) How much do people usually ask for when selling the rights to a photo?

I'm under the assumption that selling the rights means that I can no longer claim ownership of the image.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[ProPhotographer]

I got back from Hawaii a little over a month ago and took over 800
photographs. One of the photos I gave to my brother who does web
design to use for one of his clients.

Turns out his client would like to buy the rights to the photograph.

1) what is actually involved in giving up the rights to a photo?

You would need to explicitly state on your invoice that you were assigning copyright.

2) Can I still use the photo for personal uses (ie showing the
image to my family)?

No, you no longer own that image. You would need to buy a licence from the new owner.

3) How much do people usually ask for when selling the rights to a
photo?

You should NEVER sell the copyright to your image but should LICENCE it instead. The client buys a lcence to use the image.

Recommended rate for copyright "buyout" is 750% of standard three year use fees, or more depends on its worth.

Remember the only reason the client wants to buy your image is because copyright is WORTH $$$$ to them. Once they own it they could use it; sel it on; sell the image multiple times via a stock library earning them $$$.

That's why you need to hang onto your copyright which, as the creator, is yours by default unless you assign it. #

Go to http://www.alamy.com and price up web use for say three years at xxxpixels long for their industry sector. You'll be surprised how much it costs.

PP

 

[wrpsyd]

Thanx so much for replying so quickly.

Your responses were exactly what I was hoping for.

I still dont know exactly what I'm going to do, but your advice has definitely pointed me in the right direction.

Thanx again!

 

[ProPhotographer]

No problem - here to help.

I'd price it up on Alamy and use that as a basis for negotiation.

Good luck!

PP

 

[Richard Katris]

What rights is the first question....I routinely sell rights...one time book rights, 5 year greeting card rights, North American rights, English language rights etc. Usually all those limits ...as many as I can get included are used in a contract... limit the usage to the least possible uses you envision the client will accept.

First examine what your buyer wants to do with your image. Then figure out a way to write a contract delineating...that usage that you think they want ONLY. Then you need to explain to your buyer that the price for that usage...limited by contract to those particular uses...would be priced at $xx.xx. Work out different pricings for additional uses if they indicate that they would be interested in them.

In the industry....additional languages are typically 25% additional per language just for example....a typical book use contract might specify:

One time, North American, English language, book use.

As you can see from above....adding Europe would add cost, adding Spanish, or French could add cost....and in this case this is ONE TIME USE....so additional different titled books/uses ...would be at additional costs....

After having explained all that....as was stated earlier....750% above the cost for World Rights, all languages...would be a good starting point...if they insist they want to "OWN" the image.....They may decide they don't actually need to OWN the image....but that they may want to limit who, or how you might sell the image to others...and they may be agreeable to a contract that does that...though be VERY careful of this type of contract to make sure it will not so limit your usage of the image that you might as well have sold it to them as they now propose....

Hopefully the buyer will recognize somewhere along the way that he REALLY DOESN'T NEED....to own the image outright....and settle for a reasonable usage fee and usage license... If he walks away...OH well....usually you will be happier later if you had any concerns about selling "all rights" ... as you seem to have now....you would really be annoyed at the whole deal 5 years down the line anyway...so not doing it isn't a great loss.
--
Richard Katris aka Chanan

 

[Park Street]

I believe Emily Vickers, Jay Maisel's studio manager, used to ask if the client really needed billboard rights in Bolivia. Often the client will ask for all rights or a buyout because they think it is easier for them. Just make sure you approach them from the basis of let me save you some money by not selling you something you really have no use for.

Good luck.

 

[MrPhotoBob]

I got back from Hawaii a little over a month ago and took over 800
photographs. One of the photos I gave to my brother who does web
design to use for one of his clients.

Turns out his client would like to buy the rights to the photograph.

1) what is actually involved in giving up the rights to a photo?

Depends on what length of time the client wants use of the image. I have sold images for a one time publishing right, if you sign over all rights to your image there is nothing stopping the client that you sold your rights to from selling that image to another client. I would find out what they wish to do with your image and I would ask them if I would be receiving any written credit for the image. If they are asking for all rights to the image, I would be asking if they have any plans to sell that image in the future or what. In other words find out what they are going to do with your image and if you will have to give up all rights to that image from here on.

2) Can I still use the photo for personal uses (ie showing the
image to my family)?

Once again it depends on how you sold your rights to that image.

3) How much do people usually ask for when selling the rights to a
photo?

I believe that the first image that I sold was for $325 for a one time publishing right but that was quite a few years ago, but at least you have a start. The image was published and my name was published with the image. I had another magazine contact me to ask to purchase the rights to my image also, but I refused them the rights because they did not wish to pay my price, but only offered me some where around $25 for the rights to it.

I'm under the assumption that selling the rights means that I can
no longer claim ownership of the image.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Matt-tav]

Hello,

Im an amateur photographer and my camera is a cropped sensor.

A organization want to buy a photo I taken recently they want exclusive full commercial rights, this photo received so much attention in less than 2 days. its quality is good and they can't find similar image or reshooting it isn't easy too.

So how I should set a price? any suggestion?

 

[ashleymorrison]

So how I should set a price? any suggestion?

I would suggest you start by letting them know what your base rate for 'standard use' would be first... which I talked about here a few weeks ago: https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/65359462

Also read:

What is it worth?

How much to charge for licensing

As this is basically what you will be asking them to pay you to fill out, sign and then provide them with along with a digital copy of the photograph:





--
Cheers
Ashley

 

[Sean Locke Photography]

Go to an RM site like Getty and pretend you’re buying a license for what you described.

Giving you a form for them to fill out is a little useless.

 

[ashleymorrison]

Go to an RM site like Getty and pretend you’re buying a license for what you described.

Yes, that would work.

However, if Matt-tav doesn't know exactly what all they will want to use the image for (the Media use, the Period of use and the Territory of use being the 3 main things that he will need to know to use their RM calculator ) or if he thinks they will want to use the image in Multiple Media or even in All Media, then as you can see when he gets to this stage...


(https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/purchase/price-calculator/sb10069475ab-001)

.. they will say he needs to call them or email them about a "All advertising pack" - which he may not want to do, especially if he is just pretending to buy and doesn't know the answers to some of the questions they may ask... to see if he is for-real or not.

Because him saying "they want exclusive full commercial rights" could mean anything, as far as I would be concerned. One could assume they are talking about this...


(Example of the boxes that I would tick on the 'Licence to use' document, if I were agreeing to let someone use my images exclusively, in All Media for 10+ Years throughout the World)

.. however, they may actually only need to use the image for this...


(Example of the boxes that I would tick on the 'Licence to use' document, if I were agreeing to let someone use my images exclusively, in 1 Media for 2 Years in 1 Country or Region)

.. or may only have the budget to pay for that amount of use at this point in time!!

So until you know what they actually need (rather than would like) to use the image for, the best you can probably do is start by letting them know how much you would liked to be paid for standard use, i.e. for the use of your image in either 2 media for 1 year or 1 media for 2 years, in 1 country or region - and then wait for their reply before spending them a 2nd quote, etc, etc.

--
Cheers
Ashley

 

[Ellis Vener]

I got back from Hawaii a little over a month ago and took over 800 photographs. One of the photos I gave to my brother who does web design to use for one of his clients.

Turns out his client would like to buy the rights to the photograph.

1) what is actually involved in giving up the rights to a photo?

first: deciding which rights you want to sell and the clients wants to purchase. The spectrum of possibilities runs from all rights in perpetuity (bigger bucks) to smaller slices or even bites of the pie for a limited period of time in just one locale.

2) Can I still use the photo for personal uses (ie showing the image to my family)?

If you sell absolutely all of the rights, even If it’s strictly for personal use it would be a very bad idea to send it in an email to anyone even your sweet old mother, or use it on your Instagram, etc.

3) How much do people usually ask for when selling the rights to a photo?

it depends on the photo and the use. The more unique it is and the more usage rights they want to purchase, you could be talking many thousands of dollars.

I'm under the assumption that selling the rights means that I can no longer claim ownership of the image.

if you sell all of the rights, that’s correct.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Dont sell yourself short. Remember: the price is determined by how much the potential buyer wants it.

 

[Jacques Cornell]

So how I should set a price? any suggestion?

I would suggest you start by letting them know what your base rate for 'standard use' would be first... which I talked about here a few weeks ago: https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/65359462

Also read:

What is it worth?

How much to charge for licensing

As this is basically what you will be asking them to pay you to fill out, sign and then provide them with along with a digital copy of the photograph:

You always provide clear and useful insight on such topics.

In this case, the client wants "exclusive" rights. That could be a "buyout" (transfer of copyright), or simply granting exclusive rights within a defined scope of uses. In any case, exclusivity increases the value and thus the price. Do you have a multiplier in mind? This comes up very rarely for me, but I have, on occasion, applied a 2x multiplier to my "standard" rate for transfer of copyright for images that weren't particularly valuable to me.

--
"I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it." - George Bernard Shaw
http://jacquescornell.photography
http://happening.photos

 

[Jacques Cornell]

Go to an RM site like Getty and pretend you’re buying a license for what you described.

Yes, that would work.

However, if Matt-tav doesn't know exactly what all they will want to use the image for (the Media use, the Period of use and the Territory of use being the 3 main things that he will need to know to use their RM calculator ) or if he thinks they will want to use the image in Multiple Media or even in All Media, then as you can see when he gets to this stage...

If he doesn't know the answers to these questions, he has no basis for pricing his work. Gotta collect the info from the buyer first.

(https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/purchase/price-calculator/sb10069475ab-001)

.. they will say he needs to call them or email them about a "All advertising pack" - which he may not want to do, especially if he is just pretending to buy and doesn't know the answers to some of the questions they may ask... to see if he is for-real or not.

Because him saying "they want exclusive full commercial rights" could mean anything, as far as I would be concerned. One could assume they are talking about this...


(Example of the boxes that I would tick on the 'Licence to use' document, if I were agreeing to let someone use my images exclusively, in All Media for 10+ Years throughout the World)

.. however, they may actually only need to use the image for this...


(Example of the boxes that I would tick on the 'Licence to use' document, if I were agreeing to let someone use my images exclusively, in 1 Media for 2 Years in 1 Country or Region)

.. or may only have the budget to pay for that amount of use at this point in time!!

So until you know what they actually need (rather than would like) to use the image for, the best you can probably do is start by letting them know how much you would liked to be paid for standard use, i.e. for the use of your image in either 2 media for 1 year or 1 media for 2 years, in 1 country or region - and then wait for their reply before spending them a 2nd quote, etc, etc.

--
"I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it." - George Bernard Shaw

Landscape & Wedding Photographer - Jacques Cornell

Jacques Cornell Photography - landscape, travel, portrait and art reproduction

jacquescornell.photography

Happening Photos - Event Photography in New York City

Event Photography in New York City and Around the World - conferences, sales meetings, fundraisers and more.

happening.photos

 

[ashleymorrison]

 

[Box Brownie]

AFAIK in all jurisdictions "rights to use" is nothing to do with 'selling copyright' but a license agreement between you(the copyright holder) and them the client.

NB I have in the past read of similar situations where the client appears to know diddly squat about copyright & licensing.....seeing copyright ownership as the only way to make use of an image, or perhaps trying to hold the (amateur) photographer to a sort of "take or leave it" form of blackmail. IMO amateur or pro, if a company or individual wants an image usage for commercial purposes there is a price to pay and not just a 'credit line' as to who took the photograph.

As suggested you're aim is to sell them a license to use the image but limited to their specific needs and if they insist they wish to buy the copyright there is a consequential significantly higher fee compared to a license.

I hope you can come to an equitable arrangement that you are happy with

 

[Leslee]

You might regret selling the rights eventually.

 

[Leslee]

I’m glad we have NFTs now, a lot of our works will appreciate into reasonable sums.