Understanding licensing types: Rights Protected or Exclusive image licences
A rights protected image license (abbreviated as ‘RP‘) is essentially an extended version of a traditional rights managed image licence. It grants (normally for an extra payment or higher price than a normal RM licence for the same usage) exclusivity of the image for a particular use so the buyer can be sure that no competitor is going to use the same image.
If you are not sure what a photography licence is then I suggest you read this post here and then return to this page.
What do you mean by exclusivity?
Exclusivity means the ability to buy an image that gives you exclusive or sole use for either the:
- media type (what media will your image be used in – print, web, press ads, point of sale, billboards)
- territory (where will your image be seen – Region/State only, Country only, Continent, Worldwide)
- duration of license (how long will your image be used for – 3 months, 1 year, 2 years)
or a combination of all three.
The price of the licence will vary depending on the exclusivity areas required and prices are normally 25% or so higher to gain exclusive use than the equivalent cost of the image if bought under a standard rights managed licence.
Why would a buyer want exclusivity of an image?
Many image buyers now are turning to stock instead of commissioning work to be shot by a photographer. Sad but true. There is more visual media now available to buyers than any time before. Buyers spending big money on an advertising campaign which may include press ads, tv ads, posters, billboards etc. want reassurance that the image they are buying won’t suddenly pop up on a competitors website or ad. This has happened more than once, especially with royalty free images where usage is not controlled.
As they are buying stock and not commissioning photography, exclusivity is not guaranteed (it normally is with commissioned photography) so a rights protected or exclusive license gives the image buyer peace of mind that they have sole use of the image for the duration, media, or territory of their campaign (or all three!).
But what if I have images in several stock libraries, can I still sell exclusivity?
- Yes. But you must have really tight control over your stock portfolio and be able to add usage restrictions to your RM images immediately. I’ll write another post with examples about adding usage restrictions because its really important if you are offering exclusivity.
Is this the same as having an image of mine exclusively with one library only?
- No. Some libraries like Getty Images want you to only place your images with them. This means the library has exclusive sale rights. It’s not the same as selling exclusive rights to an image buyer.
If I offer my images as rights protected or exclusive can they still be sold as regular rights managed?
- Yes. Rights protection is an additional benefit that the buyer may wish to purchase. It won’t stop your image being sold as regular RM if the image buyer does not need exclusive use of your image.
Can a royalty free image be sold as exclusive?
- No. Exclusivity can only be granted to rights managed images because only rights managed images are sold with a manageable usage history.
I hope that helped you understand the concept of rights protection and exclusivity in image licencing.
PP
Tags: copyright, licences, licenses, Photography Business, rights protected, RM, RP, Stock Photography, usage
