Thanks for your reply Sue. So it seems impossible to find out what kind of deal they had and even if an EL was needed. I'm tempted to contact the shop and ask them where they got it from,
Usually, this use would need an EL of some sort.
However, I've read that some agencies have a sort of honour system whereby the buyer doesn't have to pay for an EL unless they actually sell the goods with our image on it. Ludicrous at micro prices, and almost impossible to police unless like you, we happen to find the goods being sold.
They paid out of their own pockets for printing of the canvas, and frames, and possibly placement in the shop. The only thing they didn't pay for was the art itself. Why is the art free until they sell something?
And btw, how will anyone ever know if the art sells? They're trusting someone who didn't pay upfront to come back and pay after the fact. I'm sure the printer didn't allow that.
I'm just amazed at how our work is ok to use for free, but not everyone else's. I don't agree with those terms and conditions, honestly. If they have the money to pay for printing up front, they have the money to pay a lot less for licensing the image.
Thanks for your reply Sue. So it seems impossible to find out what kind of deal they had and even if an EL was needed. I'm tempted to contact the shop and ask them where they got it from,
Thanks for your reply Sue. So it seems impossible to find out what kind of deal they had and even if an EL was needed. I'm tempted to contact the shop and ask them where they got it from,
How many places do you have it up for license? FT allows printing like this with a basic download. Why did you point to Shutterstock?
| Standard Licence | Extended Licence | |
| Derivative Products Intended for Resale | Not allowed | Unlimited |
Also apparently the customer can buy an EL till one year after using it ([url]http://www.shutterstock.com/subscribe?clicksrc=full_thumb[/url] ([url]http://www.shutterstock.com/subscribe?clicksrc=full_thumb[/url])). Which would mean I can't do a thing and have to wait at least a year to take action?
This sort of craziness is why I'm right on the edge of shutting down my remaining microstock accounts. I'm now making more money on print sales, and it looks like the microstocks are basically competing with me, with my own work.Something like this already happened with hostings. When hosting company had a disaster on their side, they proposed "help" and clients should pay to third party company with which they did an agreement. I insisted that they have to restore accounts for free. This time ok. Anyway they wanted clients to pay for their low qualification.
We're drifting into a tacit agreement that someone with your image has the right to do anything with it that you, the creator, don't explicitly act to to prevent. There are now companies in the business of searching for usages of your work, allegedly to spot violations - for a fee of course. The next step for the micros will be to simply tell us to start using those companies if we want protection.
I'd call this 'rights creep' an it's only going to get worse.
We also need to stop calling microstock companies "agencies".
This sort of craziness is why I'm right on the edge of shutting down my remaining microstock accounts. I'm now making more money on print sales, and it looks like the microstocks are basically competing with me, with my own work.
This sort of craziness is why I'm right on the edge of shutting down my remaining microstock accounts. I'm now making more money on print sales, and it looks like the microstocks are basically competing with me, with my own work.
How do you sell your prints?