Stock Agencies

Licensing The Photos
Of Many Photographers

By Andrew Hudson

The stock agency hosts the photos; provides search capabilities, order fulfillment and billing; and pays the photographer commission on a regular basis. For this service, the agency keeps a percentage of the transaction.

There's an overwhelming number of stock agencies. Many are owned by the "big three" -- Getty, Corbis and Jupiter. Differing agencies provide differing prices, commissions, qualities, and subjects, but they share one thing in common: licensing. There are just two general types of license: "rights-managed" and "royalty-free." In the trade, this is shortened to "RM" and "RF."

Rights-Managed and Royalty-Free

Stock photos are generally licensed in one of two ways:

• Rights-Managed ("RM") is the traditional method, used for high-end photos. The fees are relatively high; are variable, dependent upon the use; and are per use. The cost of a photo for use in a magazine, for example, would depend upon the magazine's circulation, market, and how large the image will be printed. If the publisher wants to use the photo again, they have to pay a usage fee again (the fee is per use, not per image).

• Royalty-Free ("RF") is the newer, Internet method, used for generally lower-end photos. The fees are less and per image (e.g. the buyer can use the image any number of times and for multiple purposes without paying more). The fee is often based on the image size (number of pixels), a smaller image costing less than a larger image.

Professional stock photographers generally supply rights-managed photos through traditional stock agencies. However, these agencies are exceedingly selective about which photographers they'll work with and the quality they'll accept. So, as a new photographer, if you work with an agency, you'll likely be in the royalty-free market.

It's hard to get into a big agency, as they already have photographers, demand very high quality, and are very picky as to who and what they accept. But there is one place to start -- at the bottom. Today, there's a proliferation of smaller, web-based agencies, some of whom actively request your work.

Next page >>

| Start | Table of Contents | Home | Email |