Kris D'Amico Photography

September 4th, 2009 by Kris

So there’s this discussion going on right now on APANet about a usage agreement in a contract, although this is lengthy discussion for another time I wanted to post this little jem by Larry Gatz.

Without too much back story, he’s talking about the question of value of intellectual property; specifically value over a period of time with a written contract with a use license.

“I went to buy a car the other day…price was $15,000.

I budgeted $10,000..all I could afford.

Guess what…the car dealer said no thanks, come back with more money.

I went to Sears to buy a new washing machine…they wanted $650 for the model I wanted…and they would not accept the $500 I offered to pay.
This happens all the time to me…

My photography is priced by the project and includes a use license which is spelled out in the original contract. When the client relaly likes the images and wants to use it for somehting not included in our agreement, a new use license is written with a fee for a specific use.

I am doing this right now…client asked for a web banner, 976x222pixels…loves the shot…wants to know if they can use the “whole photo” too. (Who could have seen this coming?) Yes, right after I retouch the electrical wires (retouching fee) out of the shot that do not appear in the banner photo and we agree on a additional use fee.

Key is that they “like” the shot.

When using a use license, there is some incentive built in for the creative genius to work harder thus opening the opportunity for wider use, more fee to be earned.

More value to the end user, more earned income to the creator.

If your photos are such that anybody walking down the streeet could come back with similiar images, you position is weakened.

Larry Gatz”

Anyone have any thoughts on this? How can you strenthen your position though the quality of your images?