MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => General Stock Discussion => Topic started by: eendicott on December 07, 2006, 18:13
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I posted this on the DT forum but haven't had any responses. Would love to hear the opinions of folks here...
I was having a discussion with a photographer yesterday evening that does a lot of model work. I expressed my general concerns with model releases, sensitivity issues, usage, etc., etc. and he had in interesting idea.
It appears that this particular photographer includes a buyout clause for his models on his releases. He obtains a release as any photographer would, but he includes a paragraph in the release that each photo produced can be taken off the market should the model decide to change his/her mind about the release. The standard price to purchase all rights (copyrights included) to each image is $1,000 per photo as compensation for the time it took to initially take the photo, post-process, etc., etc. Naturally, if the image has already been sold, then the model understands s/he has no control over that.
I thought this was an interesting concept and have been thinking about it a lot. On one hand, there is an "out" for the model. On the other hand, I wonder if from a legal standpoint, the buyout clause can be construed as a form of blackmail towards the model.
Would love to hear about any opinions or experiences anyone has relating to the idea.
Thanks.
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Interesting concept, but kind of pointless. Most models would only want to do this if they saw a photo used in a way they didn't want, but they wouldn't have a right to do anything about it.
I'd also like to point out that if you added this "buyout clause" to your model release then you couldn't legally sell it as RF, so you couldn't sell the photo on DT, SS, IS, etc! You would have to sell it as Rights-Managed.
It also defeats the whole purpose of the model release. It invalidates the indemnity clause, which is the main purpose of the release.