Standard to challenge RF
The originators of a new initiative that aims to standardise the ways in which buyers and sellers handle rights-managed imagery hope that it will challenge the dominance of the royalty-free sector. Katie Scott reports on the latest developments
A major new international initiative has been launched to standardise licences for rights-managed images.
The Picture Licensing Universal System (PLUS) has been set up by a coalition of picture providers and picture buyers in the US with the mission of simplifying and facilitating the licensing of images. Major sponsors include Adobe and picture libraries Jupiterimages and Getty Images. And the initiative is already gaining support elsewhere with both the British Association of Picture Libraries & Agencies and the Association of Photographers lending their support.
A non-profit organisation, PLUS is the brainchild of Jeff Sedlik, Jeffrey Burke and Jane Kinne. The CEO of PLUS, Sedlik, an American photographer with 20 years and past president of the Advertising Photographers of America, explained to BJP: 'I noticed a glaring absence of standardisation. The process of buying rights-managed images was rife with miscommunication and liabilities for image buyers.
'For example, clients might use certain terms when speaking to a licensor. But what they mean is different from what the licensor believes them to mean. There was simply not enough clarification before terms and conditions were drawn up. Because of the subsequent problems, clients were shying away from rights-managed images to royalty-free images and sacrificing their exclusivity because the latter were easier to use. Clients do need royalty-free images and there is a market for them. But my idea was to make rights-managed better, with less risk involved and easier to use.'
Seven years ago, Sedlik set about collating a list of the basic terminology that was being used for selling and buying rights-managed images.
This list was then sent to volunteer participants who performed a review function. From this list, a 1500 term glossary was formed, which is one of the three key aspects of PLUS.
The second aspect is the Media Matrix, which, explains the PLUS site 'uniformly specifies international media categories and organises them by type, with universal billing codes co-developed and approved by image providers and users alike'.
Finally, a new development is the licence format a 'machine-readable data form, which ties the entire system together, providing a single, worldwide standard for describing licences. So licensors and licensees can leverage new technologies to write, read, track, store and analyse the details of every image licence much more easily'. Sedlik explains that these three tools are designed to transcend languages so that image sellers and buyers can communicate without complications.
Eugene Mopsik, a representative board member of PLUS and the CEO of the American Society of Media Photographers told BJP: 'The over-arching goal was to create a common language to facilitate the licensing of rights-managed imaging. There is currently an immediacy to royalty-free licensing that hasn't existed to any real degree for rights-managed licensing. This was the piece in a puzzle that will help facilitate the online sale of rights-managed images.'
Sedlik further explained that it is hoped parties such as Adobe, which is backing the initiative financially, will incorporate the PLUS tools into their own software or working practices. He added: 'We also hope that photographers will use the glossary and embed the new licence format into their own licences as they capture images.'
However, Sedlik added that the glossary, which is the basis of the initiative, will be constantly updated, with plans to incorporate regional terms from countries other than the US that are country specific. BAPLA is to be involved in this process in the UK and is now on the PLUS Advisory Council.
Linda Royles, BAPLA's CEO explained to BJP: 'Any industry agreement that assists the image buyer gain a clearer understanding of rights and the framework of buying images has to be a good thing. Similarly any initiative that enables photographers and their representatives to be paid directly and accurately for image usage has BAPLA's backing.'
Sedlik also added that the organisation plans to look for new means of financing the initiative, including membership fees and money from selling printed glossaries.
He explained that the glossary will be translated into a minimum of 21 languages. He concluded: 'Access to the glossary and other standards is free. All we ask is that people register with us.'
Visit www.useplus.com for further details.
