Terms of Use??

flyingdagger

Hi All,

Just needing some advice. I run a blog and have some gig photography posted. I received an email this morning from a representative of an artist, whom i took live shots of a few months back.

The general spiel was "We love this photo and would love to have a high res version to use on her website, MySpace and promo materials. Would you be willing to send us the image along with your terms of usage"

What would you advise re terms of use? Would you ask a fee or would you use it to get your name out there,as i've been thinking of setting up a photography site and putting more work into gaining experience.The musician in question is well known and growing in popularity.

Any advice would be great as I've done google searches but am still unsure

Tactical

I'd look to be paid for this to be honest.

The artist is going to be earning money and advertising promotes the artist enabling more money to be earned.

I'd first send a contract for usage before sending a high resolution image.

What the cost, terms & conditions are is totally up to you and how you value your work.

Sell yourself too cheap and it'll be hard to go upwards, on the other hand being too expensive won't work either. A middle of the road price will be best but you'll need more information from the artists representatives first.

Is the shot simply to be used for the website or will it be used in print? The fact that the representative is looking for a "high res" copy of the image could mean a lot (or simply the representative may know relatively little about such things).

Rather than sending your terms of use why not ask how they intend to use the image, i.e. purely for web use or will it be used in print also e.g. advertising in magazines, newspapers, posters, album sleeve shots, album cover shots etc... Then put a value on the usage envisaged. Then put a contract together detailing the specified usage (once you are happy with what is proposed) and a clause that sates "no usage outside of the agreed in this contract may be undertaken without specific permission of the copyright holder" or something similar that is very clear. Only when the contract is signed and returned to you should you release the image. Terms of payment are up to you.

There are many threads on the internet about how much to charge and you are the only one who can put a value on your work. Don't worry about charging a reasonable price as if you value your work others will value it too. Sell yourself too cheap on the hopes of getting more work and you'll be expected to work at that price all the time.

AnCatDubh

sounds like an ideal opportunity for a "term of use" of attribution / linkages.

a fee yes, if that's what you are hoping for but it sounds like at this stage attribution may give you more payback.

smelltheglove

I would agree with above, promo materials means they most likely want to use it for advertising posters etc, possibly even album material so I would be asking for a fee, in the terms I would include how long you would allow them to use the image for i.e. one year unlimited use for €.... or promotional posters for one year €... and album material useage for €....

flyingdagger

Cheers for the advice.I'm gonna do more research before getting back to them

Borderfox

Under terms of use list only the places and amounts of use you will approve of, all my work goes off to magazines with terms of use listing single use only and any other use has to be approved