licensing

Licensing Photos for Revenue Starts with an Archive

It may seem obvious to some of you but I’ve presented this material enough to know that it’s best to never assume everyone understands what an archive actually is, how to create one, and, ultimately, how to leverage it for income. So let’s just start with a clear definition of a photo archive.

Photography Copyright and Licensing Simplified and Explained

Although professional photographers may deal with copyright and licensing regularly, it is not right to assume that clients are just as versed. For that reason, an architecture photographer has put together a simplified explanation to help business owners better educate their clients on who owns the produced photos and how they can be used.

Reddit is Asking to Use Photos in Ads for Free Without Credit

It's no secret that Reddit makes huge amounts of ad revenue off content that's often posted without the copyright owners' permission. But did you know the company is also asking photographers to use their photos for commercial purposes without any payment... or even credit?

500px Updates Terms, Sparks Fresh Outrage Among Photographers

If you're a 500px member who hasn't logged in to the photo sharing and selling service for a while, you may be asked to agree to an updated Terms of Service document upon logging in. The latest agreement is causing an uproar (and a new wave of account deletions) among many photographers, but it doesn't appear that anything has changed from a legal or rights standpoint.

Yes, Apple WILL Pay Photographers for Its ‘Shot on iPhone’ Contest

On Tuesday, Apple launched a new Shot on iPhone Challenge that asks photographers to submit iPhone photos for a chance to be featured in a worldwide marketing campaign. The announcement sparked concern and controversy over whether Apple was asking for photos in exchange for purely "exposure." Apple clarified things today and yes, photographers will be paid.

I Opted Out at 500px But Getty Images is Selling My Photos Anyway

When Getty Images set up its contributor agreement with Flickr in 2008 to allow Flickr users to sell their photos, I enabled the feature. While not a professional photographer, I had been approached a couple of times in the past about licensing some of my shots and thought the opportunity to sell through Getty Images could formalize this process.

Kodak Stock Shoots Up 300%+ Thanks to Cryptomania

Kodak made waves yesterday when it announced that it will be joining the cryptocurrency craze by launching a new cryptocurrency of its own, called KodakCoin. And because it's 2018, Kodak's once-hopeless stock price was up over 300% when the market opened today.

How to Read a Licensing Contract as a Photographer

So you’ve spent years honing your photography skills, perfecting the art of puppy fashion photography. You’ve set up a website to share your marvelous work with the world, and one day you’re contacted by a corporation who wants to use one of your photos in its ad for doggie perfume. You’re thrilled; you’ve worked and hoped for this day!

I Wish More Photographers Were Like Prince

The passing of Prince gave the world pause to consider the nearly peerless artistic success and untimely death of an iconic musician.

Getty Goes After Google in Europe, Accuses them of Enabling Photo Theft

Getty Images is making waves today after filing a formal complaint against none other than search and tech giant Google with the EU Antitrust commission. The complaint accuses Google Image Search of promoting piracy, "resulting in widespread copyright infringement [and] turning users into accidental pirates."

GoPro to Launch New Video Editing App and Content Licensing Portal

GoPro has reason to celebrate, as shares of the company’s stock rose 1.23% and revenue for their second fiscal quarter increased by 72%. The company is looking to build upon this momentum with ambitious new initiatives: GoPro has a mobile video editing app in the pipeline, and it's also launching a content licensing portal that helps GoPro users monetize the content they create.

Be Careful When a Big Brand Asks for Your Photo

If you're ever asked for permission to use a photo, be sure you know the scope of what you're agreeing to before saying yes. Photographer Nikki MayDay Guardascione tells us that she got quite a surprise yesterday when a seemingly-simple photo request from Miller Lite turned out to be for much more usage than she originally thought.

Man Who Shot South Carolina Police Shooting Wants $10,000 Per Use

A white police officer in South Carolina is facing murder charges after shooting an unarmed black man in the back and killing him as he ran away. A bystander named Feidin Santana witnessed the whole incident on April 4th and managed to capture cell phone footage, which then became widely seen around the world and sparked fresh new outrage about police brutality.

Now, nearly two weeks after the shooting, the video is at the center of a new discussion: news outlets are being asked for a $10,000 fee if they wish to share the video.

Flickr Now Lets You Add Public Domain Photos and Release Shots to the Public Domain

Last week SpaceX posted its photos to Flickr and released them to the public domain. Unfortunately for the company, Flickr didn't have any public domain designation they could use, so even though SpaceX founder Elon Musk said the photos were public domain, the images were shared under a Creative Commons license that required attribution.

That has now changed. Flickr announced yesterday that it has created two new options for members in the copyright dropdown panel: public domain and CC0, which allows users to release content to the public domain.

SpaceX is Now Publishing Its Photos Into the Public Domain Thanks to a Tweet

NASA is a government agency, so the photographs it creates are released to the public domain and can be used by anyone for any purpose. Now that private companies such as SpaceX are getting involved in space exploration and collaborating with NASA, the copyright of mission photos becomes a little more murky.

All that cleared up in a big way this past weekend: SpaceX is following NASA's lead and will now be releasing photos to the public domain.

Flickr Takes on 500px and Getty with New Commercial Licensing Platform

Flickr announced this morning the addition of a new licensing program to their lineup. Describing the program as a way for photographers to “partner with photo agencies, editors, bloggers and other creative minds who are seeking original content,” Flickr seems to be taking strike at 500px and others to get their hand in on the licensing game.

Motley Crüe Licensing Agreement Won’t Even Let Concert Photographers License Their Own Images

A couple of days ago, we received an email from a concerned concert photographer who had apparently earned the right to photograph an upcoming Motely Crüe concert.

The photographer, who preferred not to identify him or herself, shared with us what they claimed to be the Red White & Crüe Inc. photography licensing agreement, bringing our attention to wording that seems to indicate photographers can't even license their own images without the company's express consent.

Pixels.com Promises Photographers Full Licensing Control of Their Images

In an attempt to potentially flip the imaging licensing market on its head, Pixels.com has launched a new platform that puts the photographers in control for a change. By allowing image creators to manage every aspect of the process -- from prices, to what the license entails -- they're hoping to completely change who holds the power in the image licensing marketplace.

500px Prime Goes Live, Will Offer Photogs 70% Off the Top Instead of 30%

When 500px announced that it was introducing its own photo licensing feature, 500px Prime, the company received a lot of backlash from photographers who thought a 30% cut was far too little.

Well, it looks like 500px was listening. Because Prime went live yesterday with a significantly more favorable payment breakdown.

Getty Embed Tool Already Subverted: You Can Crop Out the Credit Line

Update: It looks like it's already been fixed. Kudos to Getty for the quick response.

Getty's embed tool has been live for less than 24 hours and ALREADY somebody has figured out how it can be taken advantage of. It turns out that all it takes is some extremely simple code to remove attribution entirely.