THINGS U SHOULD KNOW PART (3) : What is Royalty Free ?

For those of u who are following along , ud probably know we have an ongoing series of posts titled Things U should know , parts (1) and (2) discussed copyrights , and licensing , today we will be discussing the term Royalty Free .

What is royalty free (RF)?


Royalty free refers to the category of images that are available for a flat rate with unlimited usage, regardless of placement, number, or length of uses. Generally the images are supplied on a CD that costs anywhere from $100 to $500, and contains fifty, one hundred, three hundred, or more images that the purchaser may then use and reuse wherever and whenever they choose for as long as they like. Some larger stock agencies offer RF images that may be downloaded one at a time for an even lower fee, sometimes as little as five dollars.
While the temptation for photographers, especially those just starting out, to submit images for consideration in an RF collection is one of immediate cash, photographers who wish to be in business for the long term should avoid RF situations for several reasons. First, as stated in the question on licensing, the right to control and profit from our images lies with us, their creators, as guaranteed by copyright law. Why would we ever part with that right except in an exceptional situation and for an appropriately exceptional fee? Selling your work for royalty free never comes close to compensating you fairly for all of the potential lost payoffs that you are sacrificing by signing away all rights to your work.
Second, the existence of RF images diminishes both the financial and the creative value of professionally created images. If a buyer can purchase an RF disc of 100 images for $300, they begin to assess the value of each image at no more than $3. Never mind that there may only be one or two images that are really good enough to ever get used from that set, the perceived value of the images is now only three bucks each. In addition, a collected version of RF photography gives the impression that these images are quick and easy to produce, that they're a dime a dozen. This perception makes it much harder for a talented professional who not only supplies his or her clients with great quality images tailored to their exact specs, but also all of the necessary suppliers, contacts, legal protections, and professional services that a client demands, to convince that client that an appropriate fee is considerably more than $3 per image. If you sell images to RF collections as an emerging photographer, you may very well find yourself competing later for paid assignments with the very work you sold outright, and placed such a low premium on, earlier in your career.
And finally, RF photography can be seen to threaten the existence of independent photographers by eliminating many potential assignments from the total pool. While arguments could be made that clients who are looking for cheap RF images would never pay the price necessary for original images, RF imagery still takes stock sales away, no matter how small, from independent photographers who could otherwise continue to license and re-license rights to their images.
While many clients see only the positive sides of an RF image, price and accessibility, they fail to understand the pitfalls. First, in order to appeal to the greatest possible number of buyers, RF images are often very generic and "canned". Discriminating viewers will recognize the "corny" look and feel of most RF imagery and will associate that with the client's product or message. But more importantly, a client using an RF image has no idea where or how else that image might be used. By their very nature, RF discs are available to thousands of users, many of whom might be seen to be working at cross purposes to one another. Imagine the chagrin of a designer working for an environmental advocacy group, who puts a full page, full color RF image of a beautiful waterfall on the cover of their report to Congress, only to discover the same image being used to promote a particularly fresh smelling underarm deodorant? By using rights-protected imagery, clients can be assured that their chosen images will not embarrass or disappoint them.
While RF images fill a need for users with extremely low budgets, photographers who sell images to RF collections provide only a short-term solution to a long-term problem and muddy the very waters that they will need to sustain their own photographic careers in the future.
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