Forum Moderators: phranque
Because most of the photos aren't mine I can't sell them, which I understand.
What I would normally do is explain to them copyright issues, explain to them that most of the photos aren’t mine and ask for a list of photos they are interested in, when I get the list, normally they want a few photos I contact the photographers and say, this person wants to purchase your photos, get in contact with them to negotiate.
Depending on how many photos they want from how many photographers this can take a while, having to write the emails in multiple languages, follow ups etc. For 1 request I would be send anywhere between 10-20 emails back and forth, All this for no real benefit to me.
Are there any ideas on how I can benefit from all of these people asking me to do all of the chasing for them either $$$ or sponsorship or something.
I have the option for donations and other initiatives on my website, but I don’t feel comfortable with asking for money to do this, most of the time I can’t be bothered doing all of the chasing as I get nothing from it, sometimes they will say we will link back to your website, but because they are new websites there isn’t much benefit there either.
Does anybody have any suggestions on how I can earn money from these requests without having to say “I will do all of this for you if your give me $100” or "if you sponsor my site then I will do it" for example.
Thank You.
Unsure Webmaster
Well, first of all, regardless who's the ownner of the photoes anyone would admit the fact that it's your site that helps people to find those quality pics. Logically, you have the right to get a commision for the service you described. I share your opinion that asking your visitors to pay for it doesn't actually sound agreeable, so, to my opinion, the ones who's to pay the price are the owners of the photographs. I think, they are supposed to be extremely interested in what you do for them both in terms of profits and spreading their popularity and authority. Contact them on the subject.
Good luck,
I would simply write a generic email saying 'Thank you for your interest in the photos on this site, blah blah blah... Since I spend too much time answering such requests, I now request that a small fee is paid for such services. I respect the privacy of my users, so I cannot give out contact information, but if you are willing to pay $xx/owner, I would contact the owners of the photos you are interested in and arrange them to contact you back'..... Anyway, you get the point - charge whoever is interested in purchasing the photos for the time it takes you to contact the users and arrange a contact back...
OTOH if the photographers are uploading the images themselves, you could look at the business model of companies such as iStockPhoto, just sold to Getty Images for $50 million.
For example, if they contact the photo copyright holder and say, "I'll pay you $100 for this photo.", that's fine. But they are not doing that directly. They are using you as sort of a, "go between" to get access to the copyright holder.
I would simply attach a small, $25 service fee and each request would cost them $125. You keep your $25 and pass the rest ($100) to the copyright holder.
FWIW, a standard photo library deal is a 50:50 split between the library and the photographer, and that's what I generally do if money is offered unsolicited. It was quite nice to be able to phone up my mum once and say "Would you like $3000 for one of your photos as a 50:50 deal?" and thus was able to complete quickly to everyone's satisfaction and surprise!
Rgds
Damon
Now this only applies to digital images hosted on your site, but... If you have an image on a webpage, and it is not in a password protected area or not behind some form of agreement, then once someone views that page, depending on cache settings, then they already have the image on their hardrive. Now depending on which country they live and any agreements you may force them to check "I agree" before viewing the pages with these images on them. Then they already own the image.
The fact is that once a page is viewed by someone on a computer then they now have a legal copy of that image on their harddrive and you are the one who put it there by placing the image in the source of your webpage.
Unless people want to buy paper copies, higher resolution images or some nice glossys then people are trying to buy something from you they already have some fair use ownership to.
To get around this you can set an agreement that people must take action to agree to(checking a box saying "I agree") You state in your policy something to the effect of:
"Any data transfered from this site is still the legal property of the original owner and that cached images and the like must be deleted withen a resonable amount of time."
Hope this helps.
Indeed!
> If you have an image on a webpage [...] once someone views that page [...] then they already have the image on their hardrive [...] [t]hen they already own the image.
Hardly! Viewing any page, and its associated files, does NOT grant ANY ownership rights to the viewer, regardless of the fact that the data is residing on the viewer's hard drive.
> they now have a legal copy of that image on their harddrive
Yes, but a legal copy does not confer ownership.
> they already have some fair use ownership
No, the "fair use" provisions in various nations' copyright legislation does not confer ownership.
I know what you are saying is true in the USA but I am telling you that isn't the way it is every where in the world. Unless there is some explicit agreement then once I have that image on my computer I am free to print it. I am free to view it, I am free to use it as my wallpaper on computers that are on display where ever I want, including stores.
Basically I am free to use it as I want. Now there are issues if I want to sell it and make a profit but even still it is hard to rebute the argument that if an image is placed onto my computer by the owner of that image or by a legal vendor of that image then weather I paid for it or not I got it through legal avenues and did not infringe on any agreements I entered into, then yes, it is my image simnply by browsing a webpage.
The legal sticking point is if the owner or legal vendor of an image places that image into your computer's memory without entering into a contract with you... the image is yours. Not sure but that argument may even hold up in a court in the USA, I know for fact it is true here.
