Author Topic: RM - which agency? (Read 12732 times)

onepointfour · « **on:** April 28, 2014, 02:51 »

I have bunch of RM images sitting around and still not sure what to do with them. I'm not motivated to upload to Alamy. Any recommendation which RM agency I can consider?
I'm looking at Blend Images. But I don't have 1000 images to qualify for their 50% royalty rate so I have to be content with 20%. Also, anyone has any idea what are they royalty rates like through their partner program? As an example, if an image licensed through Getty as partner, does that mean Getty will be paying them 30% and 20% of this amount will go to the photographer?

cuppacoffee · « **Reply #1 on:** April 28, 2014, 06:20 »

What is the difference between an RM vs a RF image these days? I know how these 2 types of images were different in the past (I used to purchase RF images for advertising many years ago) but isn't the only dif now what an agency considers them to be? RF used to be images of a specialized subject but I see all subjects being sold as RF these days. RF used to mean that the price was negotiable and could only be sold for a specific use for a specific time. How does one determine if an image is RF worthy? And more important, how does one convince any agency that an image should only be sold as RF? Just asking because I'd really like to know what the determining factors are today other than exclusive use of an image that isn't spread around everywhere (which so many subjects are these days).

onepointfour · « **Reply #2 on:** April 28, 2014, 07:32 »

Well, I always keep work that can't be replicated easily as RM. I don't mean my works is out of this world until it can't be replicated, but it takes a lot more effort to be replicated. The rest go to my RF bin.
From my previous experience with RM licensing, another thing I noticed that the company that purchased want to make sure the same photo is not being used by their competitor.

ShadySue · « **Reply #3 on:** April 28, 2014, 20:08 »

Quote from: cuppacoffee on April 28, 2014, 06:20

What is the difference between an RM vs a RF image these days? I know how these 2 types of images were different in the past (I used to purchase RF images for advertising many years ago) but isn't the only dif now what an agency considers them to be?

RF used to be images of a specialized subject but I see all subjects being sold as RF these days. RF used to mean that the price was negotiable and could only be sold for a specific use for a specific time. How does one determine if an image is RF worthy? And more important, how does one convince any agency that an image should only be sold as RF? Just asking because I'd really like to know what the determining factors are today other than exclusive use of an image that isn't spread around everywhere (which so many subjects are these days).

I'm really confused. What you're saying about RF is/was usually said about RM.

shudderstok · « **Reply #4 on:** April 28, 2014, 20:37 »

what amazes me is how far too many photographers in the microstock crowd do not know the difference. i have had this "discussion" on these forums before.

http://asmp.org/articles/rights-managed-stock-vs-royalty-free-stock.html#.U18AVYGSySo
http://asmp.org/tutorials/licensing-guide.html#.U18BboGSySp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_photography

at one point in time this was all just so common sense.

RF has it's place as does RM.

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #5 on:** April 28, 2014, 20:40 »

Quote from: ShadySue on April 28, 2014, 20:08

I'm really confused. What you're saying about RF is/was usually said about RM.

It's not you. cuppacoffee is confused, or their keyboard has several keys switched.

cuppacoffee · « **Reply #6 on:** April 28, 2014, 22:24 »

My bad, I wrote my reply/question before I had my first cup of coffee this morning. I did switch them around. I really do know the difference. Either way haven't the lines between the types of images designated as one or the other been blurred these days? The types of images that I used to pay a license fee for are now common but maybe it's just that there was no microstock then. Sorry guys. Bottom line, I was trying to ask what makes one different than the other in terms of content or subject matter, not cost or trackable limited use. If an image was sold as RM in the past is it ok to sell it as RF today especially if it had been licensed several times and the license periods have expired. Or if it was offered as RM in the past and never sold. Should one try and sell it as RF instead? Or should one try to sell it as RM again and for how long?

onepointfour · « **Reply #7 on:** April 28, 2014, 22:50 »

I don't mind changing some of RM photos to RF. There are some photos that I will never let go as RF. I don't mind if it's not selling at all. At worst, I will save it indefinitely for photo competition or for Image Brief. This is purely an example - a photo of a newborn identical twins with his great grandpa and his (identical) twin. No, I will not sell it at 0.25 cent. Call me naive or foolish, but I have been lucky with a couple of huge RM sales to continue believing that there are places for these type of images.

MichaelJayFoto · « **Reply #8 on:** April 29, 2014, 00:01 »

Quote from: onepointfour on April 28, 2014, 02:51

I have terminated my contract with Getty and have a bunch of RM images sitting around and still not sure what to do with them. I'm not motivated to upload to Alamy. Any recommendation which RM agency I can consider?
As most of my models are Asian, I'm looking at Blend Images. But I don't have 1000 images to qualify for their 50% royalty rate so I have to be content with 20%. Also, anyone has any idea what are they royalty rates like through their partner program? As an example, if an image licensed through Getty as partner, does that mean Getty will be paying them 30% and 20% of this amount will go to the photographer?

I can't recommend an agency because I'd guess it depends on your location and the kind of images you shoot. There are too many different agencies, all with their own approach.

With regards to distribution: Yes, you get whatever your share is (40%? 50%?) from what your agency receives from distribution partners. If Getty is one of the distribution partners, you might end up getting 50% of 30%... or... none of those numbers are a given. I believe distribution agencies receive a bit more from Getty and Corbis than direct photographers get. Reasonable because they already do the editing and keywording etc. But it depends on the specific contract the agency has.

But then again, if you upload images to Getty, you might see them on Corbis as well. So in the end, you might be getting 30% of 50% of what the customer paid. It's very confusing and very intransparent. In the end, you just have to trust the agency you choose to distribute your images as good as they can.

onepointfour · « **Reply #9 on:** April 29, 2014, 00:37 »

Quote from: MichaelJayFoto on April 29, 2014, 00:01

Quote from: onepointfour on April 28, 2014, 02:51
I have terminated my contract with Getty and have a bunch of RM images sitting around and still not sure what to do with them. I'm not motivated to upload to Alamy. Any recommendation which RM agency I can consider?
As most of my models are Asian, I'm looking at Blend Images. But I don't have 1000 images to qualify for their 50% royalty rate so I have to be content with 20%. Also, anyone has any idea what are they royalty rates like through their partner program? As an example, if an image licensed through Getty as partner, does that mean Getty will be paying them 30% and 20% of this amount will go to the photographer?

I can't recommend an agency because I'd guess it depends on your location and the kind of images you shoot. There are too many different agencies, all with their own approach.

With regards to distribution: Yes, you get whatever your share is (40%? 50%?) from what your agency receives from distribution partners. If Getty is one of the distribution partners, you might end up getting 50% of 30%... or... none of those numbers are a given. I believe distribution agencies receive a bit more from Getty and Corbis than direct photographers get. Reasonable because they already do the editing and keywording etc. But it depends on the specific contract the agency has.

But then again, if you upload images to Getty, you might see them on Corbis as well. So in the end, you might be getting 30% of 50% of what the customer paid. It's very confusing and very intransparent. In the end, you just have to trust the agency you choose to distribute your images as good as they can.

Thanks so much Michael. Appreciate your input.

ShadySue · « **Reply #10 on:** April 29, 2014, 03:35 »

Quote from: cuppacoffee on April 28, 2014, 22:24

If an image was sold as RM in the past is it ok to sell it as RF today especially if it had been licensed several times and the license periods have expired. Or if it was offered as RM in the past and never sold. Should one try and sell it as RF instead? Or should one try to sell it as RM again and for how long?

1. It would depend what the RM terms were. The rights purchased might simply have been the right to use the image in a particular way, in which case, there is no problem in subequently making the file RF [a].
If they had e.g. 'Calendar, five years, France, sole use' (actually, I don't know if the term is 'sole use', but I mean they'd paid for the rights for no-one else to use the image in a calendar in France for five years) - then you shouldn't sell RF during the five years, as you couldn't stop someone using it in that way (unless there's some RF agency which would let you put a geographical block on certain images. I'd better not say 'couldn't ever'.)

2. If it never sold, or if all license periods had expired, there would be no problem in re-assigning as RF. [a]

[a] some agencies may make you wait a certain period after deactivating an RM file.

And indeed, if a file had been offered RF and never sold, you could offer it with full RM possibilities. If it had sold, you might be able to offer it RM on certain agencies (e.g. Alamy, which isn't of interest to the OP) provided you remembered that it had been sold so wouldn't enter into any unique deal (which are very rare on Alamy, apparently).

Hobostocker · « **Reply #11 on:** April 29, 2014, 04:18 »

Quote from: onepointfour on April 28, 2014, 02:51

I have terminated my contract with Getty.
Any recommendation which RM agency I can consider?

none because in one way or another they all sub-licence to Getty and Getty is still nr.1 for RM.
i'm afraid you just shot yourself in the foot.

you can make some sales at Alamy, AGE, and the others, but it will be a pain in the as-s to reupload and rekeyword and their sales are no big deal compared to Getty.

onepointfour · « **Reply #12 on:** April 29, 2014, 04:37 »

Quote from: Hobostocker on April 29, 2014, 04:18

Quote from: onepointfour on April 28, 2014, 02:51
I have terminated my contract with Getty.
Any recommendation which RM agency I can consider?

none because in one way or another they all sub-licence to Getty and Getty is still nr.1 for RM.
i'm afraid you just shot yourself in the foot.

you can make some sales at Alamy, AGE, and the others, but it will be a pain in the as-s to reupload and rekeyword and their sales are no big deal compared to Getty.

I do miss the occasional RM sales there except the Premium Access. I don't regret leaving them because I really hate the way they treat the contributors there. It was a difficult decision but it's liberating to finally end the dysfunctional relationship with them. My focus will be more on microstock now and I'm looking for places for a small collection of my RM photos that I dont intend to offer them as RF.

EDelaney · « **Reply #13 on:** April 29, 2014, 22:04 »

Quote from: onepointfour on April 28, 2014, 02:51

I have terminated my contract with Getty and have a bunch of RM images sitting around and still not sure what to do with them. I'm not motivated to upload to Alamy. Any recommendation which RM agency I can consider?
As most of my models are Asian, I'm looking at Blend Images. But I don't have 1000 images to qualify for their 50% royalty rate so I have to be content with 20%. Also, anyone has any idea what are they royalty rates like through their partner program? As an example, if an image licensed through Getty as partner, does that mean Getty will be paying them 30% and 20% of this amount will go to the photographer?

onepointfour, perhaps you can give Inmagine a try - newbielink:http://submission.inmagine.com/ [nonactive] . You get 50% when your image gets sold and paid for. Besides, it is a non-exclusive contract. However, my advice, don't submit the same images that are on your microstock portfolios to them. High possibility that your images will get rejected, as it did with mine. Other than that, they seem pretty fine. If you are interested, just give them a try

onepointfour · « **Reply #14 on:** April 29, 2014, 22:47 »

Quote from: EDelaney on April 29, 2014, 22:04

Quote from: onepointfour on April 28, 2014, 02:51
I have terminated my contract with Getty and have a bunch of RM images sitting around and still not sure what to do with them. I'm not motivated to upload to Alamy. Any recommendation which RM agency I can consider?
As most of my models are Asian, I'm looking at Blend Images. But I don't have 1000 images to qualify for their 50% royalty rate so I have to be content with 20%. Also, anyone has any idea what are they royalty rates like through their partner program? As an example, if an image licensed through Getty as partner, does that mean Getty will be paying them 30% and 20% of this amount will go to the photographer?

onepointfour, perhaps you can give Inmagine a try - http://submission.inmagine.com/ . You get 50% when your image gets sold and paid for. Besides, it is a non-exclusive contract. However, my advice, don't submit the same images that are on your microstock portfolios to them. High possibility that your images will get rejected, as it did with mine. Other than that, they seem pretty fine. If you are interested, just give them a try

Thanks eDelaney. I juct check them out and my first impression is they seem to favour people on white background and images that are shot and staged purposely for stock. I'm afraid I don't have a lot of those.

jorgophotography · « **Reply #15 on:** April 30, 2014, 00:51 »

I've been chipping away at RM for six months through 5 outlets:

inmagine.com
agefotostock.com
alamy.com
coverpicture.com
imagebrief.com

No sales to date

though my port can't give a good indication of revenue just yet as its relatively small (400 images) and would also be considered LCV.

Im going to continue to hammer on though, i would rather support these fair trade agencies than the greedy giants.

EDelaney · « **Reply #16 on:** April 30, 2014, 01:50 »

No probs, onepointfour. Have a great day!

onepointfour · « **Reply #17 on:** May 01, 2014, 21:45 »

Quote from: EDelaney on April 30, 2014, 01:50

No probs, onepointfour. Have a great day!

I went ahead and applied. I just got accepted by inmagine. Thanks again for your recommendation.

EDelaney · « **Reply #18 on:** May 01, 2014, 23:01 »

Quote from: onepointfour on May 01, 2014, 21:45

Quote from: EDelaney on April 30, 2014, 01:50
No probs, onepointfour. Have a great day!

I went ahead and applied. I just got accepted by inmagine. Thanks again for your recommendation.

Glad that you got accepted by them, onepointfour. Hope all works out well for you with them!

iandmph · « **Reply #19 on:** June 23, 2015, 04:46 »

Quote from: Sean Locke Photography on April 28, 2014, 20:40

Quote from: ShadySue on April 28, 2014, 20:08
I'm really confused. What you're saying about RF is/was usually said about RM.

It's not you. cuppacoffee is confused, or their keyboard has several keys switched.

I find this very useful. Tnx!

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Author Topic: RM - which agency? (Read 12732 times)

onepointfour

cuppacoffee

onepointfour

ShadySue

shudderstok

Sean Locke Photography

cuppacoffee

onepointfour

MichaelJayFoto

onepointfour

ShadySue

Hobostocker

onepointfour

EDelaney

onepointfour

jorgophotography

EDelaney

onepointfour

EDelaney

iandmph

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