I've been contacted by a group working with some local doctors offices here in town. They are looking for several photographers to furnish images of the inside of offices. The catch is - they want to do their own printing and have me sign off on a one time use rights of the image. They said I'll be able to give final approval of the print quality.
They are looking for a ball park figure as to how much I charge for the rights to print my image. They are interested in printing 3 to 4 images sized 20 x 30 and perhaps one image four to five feet long on the width.
I need to respond back to them today - so I would appreciate all input/suggestions as soon as possible. Thanks so much!
I would think a bare minimum would be whatever your price is for a print that size - regardless if you print it or not. Just as important would be that there be a written contract/agreement specifying the "one-time" rights to create a print. Otherwise, what's to prevent them from making 20 prints? AND subsequently re-selling them to other docs.
OR, you could require a percentage just like a gallery might work out with you. No doubt this organization is selling their service to the doctor offices. You could negotiate a percentage. Just a wild guess, between 25-40% since you're not doing any printing or buying any material. But never forget, they are buying your intellectual capital, your work and it has value.
Hope this helps and good luck.
Lon
Posted by Bill Brennan on July 14, 2011 at 11:16 AM
Michael, in your negotiations on price, start with .8 your price for prints that you sell. Then finalize the price considering the value of the exposure that you will get. Put the deal in contract form to protect against additional unauthorized use.
That's a hard question. What is this group? Is this a group that provides art for more than just Doctor offices? Are they saying "one time print" for ONE office or "one print" for EACH of the offices (which would NOT be a "one time print license). So, they want a print of the inside of a Doctor office to put in a Doctor office? That's kind of different (strange?!).
I was contacted by a company called artcollectors, I think. They wanted an image of an Eagle to place in a new veterans medical office that had contacted/contracted them for images to hang (like your situation). They wanted to print the image themselves. They were only willing to pay $100 for the electronic image plus giving photographer credits. I looked them up on the internet and they looked to be a legitimate company. I felt it was worth the $100 since I had no costs at all and I already had the image. I asked where the image would be used and got the site name and address. I then wrote them an acceptance email stating the price and that the rights given were for them to utilize the electronic version of the image to produce ONE useable print (other than prints used for quality assurance) to be hung at the specific address. After acceptance of the print by the medical office personnel, all rights to utilize the electronic version of the image were revoked. If the office decided not to use the print after all, then the print should be destroyed and all rights to the electronic image were revoked and the electronic version file should be deleted on all systems where it had been copied. After acceptance by the office of the print, the electronic version should be deleted from all systems it was copied to and all rights to the electronic image were revoked. Their acceptance of this email contract would be confirmed by their REPLYING (so the contract was attached) to my email that this was acceptable and that also by their sending me a check for the $100 was further confirmation to the terms of the rights given in the contract. That was that, they agreed, I sent the image, and they sent me the check (faster than I expected, too!).
And now I have a print with my credit hung in a veterans medical office!
This is about the best you can do without getting things too drawn out and find they dismiss you. I know this is not the usual contract professionals use, but it worked for them and for me.
So, you need to get all the info you can on the EXACT usage they have in mind. They are printing your images a tad larger than mine. Be SURE that your image(s) are suitable for printing that large (especially the banner size image). It is up to you to decide pricing for prints that large. These businesses are trying to make money, too and THEY found you the client. So, do not expect to get the same dollars that you would get selling your print on the street or having made the client yourself.
Then, perhaps use my example to cover yourself and the office contracting you for the prints. You could let them know you are protecting them with your contract so that a few years later someone in their office doesn't stumble across your image and use it again not knowing it was attached to a one time license.
Oh yeah, ALSO, write the terms of the contract into the ITPC data in the image!!!!!!!!!!!! You should already be writing ITPC data in your images with your name and email and phone number to HELP prevent use of "orphan" images.
Your situation is a bit different. It appears that they want you to create a NEW image(s) by doing an on-location shoot. And then it appears they only want to pay you for the image; not your travel time, set-up time, shooting time, etc. That's kinda crappy. I would shoot for adding dollars in for an on-location shoot. I would also charge more for the banner. Try and find out where they are going to have the prints made. They may be going to the UPS-Store, or Staples, or Office Depot that does acceptable prints for their requirements. These are on cheaper paper and they charge less than if you had an actual professional lab make quality archival prints. This will give you an idea of how much the printing is actually going to cost them. They will look at their printing costs plus your prices plus whatever mounting option they will use, plus the profit they want to make. If this adds up to more than their client is willing to pay, obviously, they will go to someone else.
Hope this has helped in some way! Let us know the outcome!!
The only thing comparable we've ever done in which we didn't also provide the printing and framing service was to provide all the images for the patient rooms, offices, common areas and meeting rooms in a hospital expansion. Price varied with the size of the print (16x20 for patient rooms up through 40x48 in some common areas). The single-use license we negotiated varied from $50 for the smallest up through $300 for the largest. The negotiating point they ceded for such a large spread was the extra measure of image processing and care required as the prints got larger and larger. Could we have negotiated more? Maybe, but we might also have killed the goose that promised golden eggs. As it was, we got great exposure for our work while not giving it away for free. In fact the fees topped $5k.
That was 10 years ago, and I have no idea how current those prices would be.
Discussion
4 repliesThey are looking for a ball park figure as to how much I charge for the rights to print my image. They are interested in printing 3 to 4 images sized 20 x 30 and perhaps one image four to five feet long on the width.
I need to respond back to them today - so I would appreciate all input/suggestions as soon as possible. Thanks so much!
Michael
I would think a bare minimum would be whatever your price is for a print that size - regardless if you print it or not. Just as important would be that there be a written contract/agreement specifying the "one-time" rights to create a print. Otherwise, what's to prevent them from making 20 prints? AND subsequently re-selling them to other docs.
OR, you could require a percentage just like a gallery might work out with you. No doubt this organization is selling their service to the doctor offices. You could negotiate a percentage. Just a wild guess, between 25-40% since you're not doing any printing or buying any material. But never forget, they are buying your intellectual capital, your work and it has value.
Hope this helps and good luck.
Lon
Bill Brennan
I was contacted by a company called artcollectors, I think. They wanted an image of an Eagle to place in a new veterans medical office that had contacted/contracted them for images to hang (like your situation). They wanted to print the image themselves. They were only willing to pay $100 for the electronic image plus giving photographer credits. I looked them up on the internet and they looked to be a legitimate company. I felt it was worth the $100 since I had no costs at all and I already had the image. I asked where the image would be used and got the site name and address. I then wrote them an acceptance email stating the price and that the rights given were for them to utilize the electronic version of the image to produce ONE useable print (other than prints used for quality assurance) to be hung at the specific address. After acceptance of the print by the medical office personnel, all rights to utilize the electronic version of the image were revoked. If the office decided not to use the print after all, then the print should be destroyed and all rights to the electronic image were revoked and the electronic version file should be deleted on all systems where it had been copied. After acceptance by the office of the print, the electronic version should be deleted from all systems it was copied to and all rights to the electronic image were revoked. Their acceptance of this email contract would be confirmed by their REPLYING (so the contract was attached) to my email that this was acceptable and that also by their sending me a check for the $100 was further confirmation to the terms of the rights given in the contract. That was that, they agreed, I sent the image, and they sent me the check (faster than I expected, too!).
And now I have a print with my credit hung in a veterans medical office!
This is about the best you can do without getting things too drawn out and find they dismiss you. I know this is not the usual contract professionals use, but it worked for them and for me.
So, you need to get all the info you can on the EXACT usage they have in mind. They are printing your images a tad larger than mine. Be SURE that your image(s) are suitable for printing that large (especially the banner size image). It is up to you to decide pricing for prints that large. These businesses are trying to make money, too and THEY found you the client. So, do not expect to get the same dollars that you would get selling your print on the street or having made the client yourself.
Then, perhaps use my example to cover yourself and the office contracting you for the prints. You could let them know you are protecting them with your contract so that a few years later someone in their office doesn't stumble across your image and use it again not knowing it was attached to a one time license.
Oh yeah, ALSO, write the terms of the contract into the ITPC data in the image!!!!!!!!!!!! You should already be writing ITPC data in your images with your name and email and phone number to HELP prevent use of "orphan" images.
Your situation is a bit different. It appears that they want you to create a NEW image(s) by doing an on-location shoot. And then it appears they only want to pay you for the image; not your travel time, set-up time, shooting time, etc. That's kinda crappy. I would shoot for adding dollars in for an on-location shoot. I would also charge more for the banner. Try and find out where they are going to have the prints made. They may be going to the UPS-Store, or Staples, or Office Depot that does acceptable prints for their requirements. These are on cheaper paper and they charge less than if you had an actual professional lab make quality archival prints. This will give you an idea of how much the printing is actually going to cost them. They will look at their printing costs plus your prices plus whatever mounting option they will use, plus the profit they want to make. If this adds up to more than their client is willing to pay, obviously, they will go to someone else.
Hope this has helped in some way! Let us know the outcome!!
Troup Nightingale
That was 10 years ago, and I have no idea how current those prices would be.