Pro-Imaging

Increasing pressure on individual photographers to diversify their business models have many considering stock as a way to achieve this goal. While most engage in Rights Managed licensing, some are considering the Royalty Free model. Confusion about the differences between these two licensing models has left many photographers concerned how their decisions could impact their bottom line as well as that of the overall photography industry.

The StockArtistsAlliance, a global trade organization has created this white paper to assist photographers in making a better, more informed business decisions on how to best market their images so that their businesses will continue to proposer in the years ahead. SAA advocates the Rights Managed licensing model vs the Royalty Free model as we believe it to be the most equitable for all parties involved.

IMPORTANT: This is a text version of the Stock Artists Alliance White Paper. It has been reproduced here so that it can be read in non-PDF format. The original document can be found here:

http://www.stockartistsalliance.org/PDF_Docs/SAA_StockLicensingModels.pdf

Please note that the above document is still available, however the Stock Artists Alliance closed its doors in 2011 due to dwindling resources.

Definitions

The basic distinction is that a Rights Managed license is defined by USE, whereas Royalty Free is a license defined by UNIT.

Rights Managed (RM) license fees are based on specific USE. Since all uses are recorded, clients will know ahead of time if there is any conflicts or concerns. The RM model allows clients to license an image with varying degrees of exclusivity, such as by category or geography in a specified time period.

Royalty Free (RF) licenses are based on UNITS and the RF license fee is essentially a standardized ‘purchase price’ for that unit.  A unit could be a single image, a collection of images, or even a subscription period allowing unlimited access to images. The terms of an RF license grant clients virtually unlimited usage rights, so that the same image can be used by any company for any number of uses with few restrictions.

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