Been asked to shoot work for a series of prints that will be sold online via the clients website, please help with licensing, royalties, pricing?

<p>I have been approached by a new company that is developing websites to sell artwork on. I know of the person through someone else who's opinion I trust and value. They have a good marketing plan and target market, and seem very talented in the areas of marketing and building web pages, so I am interested. I believe they could be very successful. They have agreed to pay me hourly to shoot the series. Then they have talked about licensing the images and collecting royalties. This is new territory for me. What kind of license should I agree to? Also how much would be a fair amount to receive for royalties? Is there a certain % I should receive of their sales for the royalties? Also wondering if anyone has a good sample contract for a situation like this. Thanks for any help you can give me!</p>

<p>Maybe they are planning to hire you on an hourly paid, work for hire basis, then they own the images and license them to other parties and they collect the royalties, not you. You need a lot more information from them first.</p>

 

<p>They do all the work, build the business, put up the money and pay you both an upfront fee and royalties? Sounds too good to be true, but if indeed they are taking all the risk, I'd say a 50/50 split on all income generated from images you provide less your original fee.</p>

<p>If "they" brought up the subject of (Licensing), then it is NOT a "Work for Hire" scenario.</p>

<p>Pricing is done one of (2) ways.</p>

<p>1) Research. This is the preferred way.<br>

2) Voodoo Economics. This is NOT the preferred way.</p>

<p>Although anyone can write a license, the <strong>value</strong> should be based on (<strong>Usage</strong>) of the imagery, your time and your creative talents.<br>

This is where your research comes into play.</p>

<p>1) <strong>Who</strong> is using it?<br>

2) <strong>Where</strong> will it be displayed?<br>

3) <strong>What</strong> purpose? (Commercial, Editorial, Retail)?<br>

4) Duration?<br>

5) Exclusive or Non-exclusive?<br>

6) Your future relationship with this company.<br>

7) Your goals as a photographer.</p>

<p>Royalties indicate future follow-on sales such as greeting cards, fine art etc... Your post says nothing of <strong>WHAT</strong> the images are for.</p>

<p>In a effort NOT to sound rude, these sort of questions come up on PN with ever increasing frequency, perhaps due to the ease of "Shoot & Delete."</p>

<p>Too many seem to treat their images like something you simply buy at the corner market like fish heads.<em> "I'll take that one." </em></p>

<p>Hourly Wage? Do you have any idea how much time you will invest in this project?</p>

<p>Do your research and re-post your question.</p>

<p><em>"The business of photography is a way to ruin a perfectly lovely hobby"</em></p>

<p>Can't remember where I read that, yet it smacks of truth. ;)</p>

<p>I'm thinking that it will be EXTREMELY difficult to get them to agree to a perpetually renewable usage licence where you hold the rights. After all, that effectively limits them as to how they can use the images and WILL cause problems with potential clients.</p>

<p>I would give them an offer for the full rights and offer the second option as an alternative if they balk at the first price.</p>