THINGS U SHOULD KNOW PART (2) : What is Licensing ?

In continuation of the series we started , heres part 2 of things u should know as a photographer (whether amateur or pro)..

What is "licensing" an image and why should I care?
First of all, licensing is the law. As independent creators of intellectual property, we have the exclusive right to control and authorize the reproduction, distribution, public display, or performance of those works. Second of all, licensing is what allows us to limit the usage of our images to certain clients, in certain manners, during certain timeframes, and thereby allows us generate additional fees in the future when other clients wish to use our images for something else. Certain stock images might sell over and over again for years to come, thereby generating thousands, or tens of thousands, of dollars in future revenue. A highly publicized recent stock sale went for over $150,000, and many images routinely generate revenue over several years, if not decades. If you are giving up or giving away this right to control your own images by signing over "all rights" or a "rights transfer" or by doing work for hire (see the related question on WFH), then you are not only depriving yourself of future licensing income, but you are diminishing the number of potential future assignments for yourself and your profession. Editorial assignments pay little enough as it is. For the ridiculously low fees most clients can offer, they should be entitled to one-time print use only. Additional uses require additional fees paid.
End-users of copyrighted material have the legal responsibility to obtain permission to use the work before doing so, and this permission is granted with a usage license from the copyright holder. A usage license is merely a simple written contract which grants limited rights to use an image to someone else in exchange for money or services. A licensing agreement need not be more complicated than aclause which is incorporated into your invoice for the assignment or for the use of a stock image. Because photographers should be fairly compensated for each and every use of our images, being as specific as possible in our wording helps eliminate usage "loopholes" and therebyhelps us avoid losing revenue.
A license for a photograph should specifically state who the user is, how large the image may be used, where it will appear and how many times, in what specific media format(s), and for how long. t should also state any exclusivity restrictions, or should state "non-exclusive". By law,any uses not specifically granted in a license remain with the copyright holder. For examples of a typical editorial usage license and other important language, see: www.editorialphoto.com/forms