Erin Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 I'm brand new here - my first 4 passed, and I uploaded another 6 for review - I have tons online that are just waiting for me to send in. After reading many of the threads it sounds like as a newbie here - that I stand a very very little if any chance of ever making a sale - but - will still give it a try. I've read the descriptions about rights reserved, rights managed and royalty free - what is the most frequently selected choice out there? I was pretty clueless when I was in there managing my four little photos Thanks for any tips!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Endicott Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Rights Reserved => Images that are only represented by Alamy and that you won't be making available through other agents. Royalty Free => Images where you have a model release for every person (or part of a person), that don't have any recognizable brands or branded items, (such as the three stripes on Adidas sweat pants, or the Izod alligator on a shirt, or the branding of a clothing item on a zipper such as 'YKK'), that are not taken on private property requiring a property release. Rights Managed => Everything else (though you can license those royalty free eligible items as rights managed). Generally speaking - buyers prefer royalty free; photographers prefer to sell rights managed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 "Generally speaking - buyers prefer royalty free; photographers prefer to sell rights managed." IME, textbook, retail book, and print magazine publishers still prefer RM images, and these are usually the best paying editorial markets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Endicott Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 "Generally speaking - buyers prefer royalty free; photographers prefer to sell rights managed." IME, textbook, retail book, and print magazine publishers still prefer RM images, and these are usually the best paying editorial markets. My comments are based on this 2014 Survey.... http://visualsteam.com/Visual_Steam___2014_Art_Buyers_Survey.html?utm_source=Stock+Agecies&utm_campaign=dc0552ce7b-2014_Survey_9_17_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_019e6acd71-dc0552ce7b-96660609 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dlmphotog Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 Ed, Thanks for the informative link. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiskerke Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 +1! Send it to Alamy HQ too ;-) (Alamy is hardly on the radar in the US) wim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 "Generally speaking - buyers prefer royalty free; photographers prefer to sell rights managed." IME, textbook, retail book, and print magazine publishers still prefer RM images, and these are usually the best paying editorial markets. My comments are based on this 2014 Survey.... http://visualsteam.com/Visual_Steam___2014_Art_Buyers_Survey.html?utm_source=Stock+Agecies&utm_campaign=dc0552ce7b-2014_Survey_9_17_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_019e6acd71-dc0552ce7b-96660609 Interesting survey. Thanks for the link. All I can say, is that I've never had a book or magazine client ask for an RF image, but then I don't lease many images on my own any longer (an understatement). I wonder how many of those RF images that sell elsewhere really are legitimate RF -- i.e. have model and property releases when necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 +1! Send it to Alamy HQ too ;-) (Alamy is hardly on the radar in the US) wim True, unfortunately. Hopefully that will change, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill Morgan Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 "Generally speaking - buyers prefer royalty free; photographers prefer to sell rights managed." IME, textbook, retail book, and print magazine publishers still prefer RM images, and these are usually the best paying editorial markets. My comments are based on this 2014 Survey.... http://visualsteam.com/Visual_Steam___2014_Art_Buyers_Survey.html?utm_source=Stock+Agecies&utm_campaign=dc0552ce7b-2014_Survey_9_17_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_019e6acd71-dc0552ce7b-96660609 Interesting survey. Thanks for the link. All I can say, is that I've never had a book or magazine client ask for an RF image, but then I don't lease many images on my own any longer (an understatement). I wonder how many of those RF images that sell elsewhere really are legitimate RF -- i.e. have model and property releases when necessary. I was browsing one of the RF only agencies and their are many crowd scenes - 200-300 people which either say "Model Released" or "No releases necessary" Jill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stokie Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 Thanks for the link, very informative. I'm surprised, and disappointed, that Alamy hardly featured in buyers thoughts. Perhaps a few strategic adverts from Alamy might help? John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sami Hurmerinta Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 I was browsing one of the RF only agencies and their are many crowd scenes - 200-300 people which either say "Model Released" or "No releases necessary" Do you mean that you suspect that they don't have a model release for all those people? Sorry, If I've misunderstood your meaning, but a lot of agencies don't require model releases for RF images of crowds if there aren't single people who stand out from the crowd. Again, sorry if I misunderstood and just stated the obvious. Sami Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 "Generally speaking - buyers prefer royalty free; photographers prefer to sell rights managed." IME, textbook, retail book, and print magazine publishers still prefer RM images, and these are usually the best paying editorial markets. My comments are based on this 2014 Survey.... http://visualsteam.com/Visual_Steam___2014_Art_Buyers_Survey.html?utm_source=Stock+Agecies&utm_campaign=dc0552ce7b-2014_Survey_9_17_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_019e6acd71-dc0552ce7b-96660609 It ties in with the 'mission statement' of a Getty VP a year or so ago and the way that Getty have reorganised their own website. It matters how they are reacting, since they are very much client-led at the high-end of stock and are still the major supplier for trad' stock. On Alamy it matters little, the RF requirements here don't match the wider market hence discrepancies in what's allowed for RF but since most Alamy sales are editorial, many clients are using either at set prices. Personally, I set RF for anything (in commercial terms) that is more web suited/graphic/visually simplistic. I set RM for those agencies where I have to (i.e. they don't do RF) and also where i can see a higher use, maybe a good ad use, being a reasonable expectation. I always think of the conversation that a sales rep would be having to a client..... what's the answer when the client asks ...."and why should we pay more for this image?" If the image content makes the answer easy, then RM IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Endicott Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 I prefer RM. My sole reason (and maybe it's my own cynicism) is when I contributed to the micros I found many images in use without being licensed. RM gave me more control over my images. Another reason is I'm currently hearing of (not from me personally) some large 4 and 5 figure licenses being sold at a couple different agencies and these are for images that compete with RF and microstock images. I want my images to be in the higher priced pool in case the opportunity ever comes up (rather than just writing them off as being available for a lower price). One thing you'll notice in the survery is the comments on the last page....especially the comment (almost a paragraph) indicating the quality of RF is decreasing and buyers are having to go to RM collections to get what they need. I mentioned this in another place, but I see this as a positive in that there is a clear resistance to the licensing of images at lower RF prices from photographers. It appears that photographers are starting to educate the buyers (finally). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betty LaRue Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 I recently had two of my RF images licensed. Kind of a surprise since I have only about 100 or so of my images set as RF. Made me stop and think a bit. Betty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 "Generally speaking - buyers prefer royalty free; photographers prefer to sell rights managed." IME, textbook, retail book, and print magazine publishers still prefer RM images, and these are usually the best paying editorial markets. My comments are based on this 2014 Survey.... http://visualsteam.com/Visual_Steam___2014_Art_Buyers_Survey.html?utm_source=Stock+Agecies&utm_campaign=dc0552ce7b-2014_Survey_9_17_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_019e6acd71-dc0552ce7b-96660609 It ties in with the 'mission statement' of a Getty VP a year or so ago and the way that Getty have reorganised their own website. It matters how they are reacting, since they are very much client-led at the high-end of stock and are still the major supplier for trad' stock. On Alamy it matters little, the RF requirements here don't match the wider market hence discrepancies in what's allowed for RF but since most Alamy sales are editorial, many clients are using either at set prices. Personally, I set RF for anything (in commercial terms) that is more web suited/graphic/visually simplistic. I set RM for those agencies where I have to (i.e. they don't do RF) and also where i can see a higher use, maybe a good ad use, being a reasonable expectation. I always think of the conversation that a sales rep would be having to a client..... what's the answer when the client asks ...."and why should we pay more for this image?" If the image content makes the answer easy, then RM IMO. Geoff, doesn't this mean that you risk having some of the same images selling as RF on one agency and RM on another? Or do you not consider that an issue? Is it kosher for an image to live a double life as both RM and RF? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dustydingo Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 "Generally speaking - buyers prefer royalty free; photographers prefer to sell rights managed." IME, textbook, retail book, and print magazine publishers still prefer RM images, and these are usually the best paying editorial markets. My comments are based on this 2014 Survey.... http://visualsteam.com/Visual_Steam___2014_Art_Buyers_Survey.html?utm_source=Stock+Agecies&utm_campaign=dc0552ce7b-2014_Survey_9_17_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_019e6acd71-dc0552ce7b-96660609 Certainly very interesting write-up of the survey . . . but . . . I could find no reference to how many participants in the survey. Did I just miss that info ??? . . . I'm always wary of surveys that don't give the full picture of their genesis. Doesn't mean the survey is invalid, but it's hard to determine just how valid in the absence of more information (which, as I say, I simply might have missed). dd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erin Posted September 25, 2014 Author Share Posted September 25, 2014 Great info - and I'm afraid to ask this next half of my question, please forgive my ignorance.....if I have a photo listed as royalty free - on this website - and on the hopes of anyone actually wanting to buy it / use it - then what "cut" would I get? I see where images are being used for over $200 - with rights of use up to 5 years - but how much does the photographer take away from that? I've seen posts on this board where people are making pennies in some cases, others just $9.00 - I looked for a site tutorial - to sort of show me the ropes and how to navigate but no such luck. Again, please forgive my ignorance. Just trying to learn what to expect from this site - I am very excited to "try" - even though it sounds like my pictures will always be buried. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYCat Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 We get 50% for direct Alamy sales. Sales through a distributor leave us with only 30%. The problem is that sometimes the sales price is low. Paulette Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 Erin, your images won't necessarily get buried (at least not right away). Alamy tells us that they will be given a middle ranking initially and then move up or down, depending on number of views, zooms, sales, etc. Make sure you pay a lot of attention to captions (add lots of description) and keywords. That should help. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 "Generally speaking - buyers prefer royalty free; photographers prefer to sell rights managed." IME, textbook, retail book, and print magazine publishers still prefer RM images, and these are usually the best paying editorial markets. My comments are based on this 2014 Survey.... http://visualsteam.com/Visual_Steam___2014_Art_Buyers_Survey.html?utm_source=Stock+Agecies&utm_campaign=dc0552ce7b-2014_Survey_9_17_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_019e6acd71-dc0552ce7b-96660609 It ties in with the 'mission statement' of a Getty VP a year or so ago and the way that Getty have reorganised their own website. It matters how they are reacting, since they are very much client-led at the high-end of stock and are still the major supplier for trad' stock. On Alamy it matters little, the RF requirements here don't match the wider market hence discrepancies in what's allowed for RF but since most Alamy sales are editorial, many clients are using either at set prices. Personally, I set RF for anything (in commercial terms) that is more web suited/graphic/visually simplistic. I set RM for those agencies where I have to (i.e. they don't do RF) and also where i can see a higher use, maybe a good ad use, being a reasonable expectation. I always think of the conversation that a sales rep would be having to a client..... what's the answer when the client asks ...."and why should we pay more for this image?" If the image content makes the answer easy, then RM IMO. Geoff, doesn't this mean that you risk having some of the same images selling as RF on one agency and RM on another? Or do you not consider that an issue? Is it kosher for an image to live a double life as both RM and RF? Sorry, I might have been a bit confusing in how I phrased it. If an agency only does RM then any images sent to them regardless of RM 'merit' obviously go as RM. Same image would not go to an RF channel. The RF V RM issue is only for agencies where there's a choice. I don't have images set as RM on one and RF on another. I do change old RM to RF when it gets moved. I've just left Getty and all commercial images going to Blend went as RF, even though some had previously sold very well as RM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl Skepper Posted November 5, 2014 Share Posted November 5, 2014 "Generally speaking - buyers prefer royalty free; photographers prefer to sell rights managed." IME, textbook, retail book, and print magazine publishers still prefer RM images, and these are usually the best paying editorial markets. My comments are based on this 2014 Survey.... http://visualsteam.com/Visual_Steam___2014_Art_Buyers_Survey.html?utm_source=Stock+Agecies&utm_campaign=dc0552ce7b-2014_Survey_9_17_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_019e6acd71-dc0552ce7b-96660609 Certainly very interesting write-up of the survey . . . but . . . I could find no reference to how many participants in the survey. Did I just miss that info ??? . . . I'm always wary of surveys that don't give the full picture of their genesis. Doesn't mean the survey is invalid, but it's hard to determine just how valid in the absence of more information (which, as I say, I simply might have missed). dd Been a while since I was able to put some time into my small collection here but now I can devote my time to it. Also playing catch-up on the forums too so apologies for resurrecting an old post but thought this needed answering My thoughts exactly. I did a quick search to see if I could find anything in relation to this. Whilst not specifically for the 2014 survey, their news page has a quote relating to their identical survey in 2013 that states they surveyed thousands of US art buyers, art directors, creative directors, and service managers about their needs and preferences buying stock imagery......This is the first of what will become an annual survey http://www.visualsteam.com/Visual_Steam___Press_Releases.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lionel Posted November 6, 2014 Share Posted November 6, 2014 Ed, thanks for that link, very, very informative. Regards Lionel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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