Books
When customers first requested rights to use images in both print and
online it seemed reasonable to charge a supplemental fee for the online
use that was much less than the print price. Today, electronic use is at
least equal to print and tomorrow it will be the predominate use of all
imagery. If we continue to price electronic as a lesser usage we will
be offering a huge discount on the price for the majority of our future
licenses. Therefore we must come up with an entirely new strategy for licensing electronic uses.
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) has reported that e-Book
sales in February 2011 were $90.3 million, up 202.3% compared to
February 2010. Higher Education sales for January and February
2011 were $406.9 million, down by 5.6% vs the same period in 2010. K-12
sales for the same two-month period were $173 million, a decline of
8.9% compared to 2010.
Anyone who earns significant revenue from producing or licensing stock
images for educational purposes should be looking, as soon as possible,
for another line of business. Why? It is rapidly becoming
impossible to earn enough from licensing images for educational use to
cover the costs of producing them. For decades photographers have been
willing to license rights for limited usage of their images with the
understanding that if a greater use is made the photographer will
receive additional compensation. This system was originally developed to
help publishers limit their risk in the event that some of the book
they produced did not sell well or generate as much revenue as hoped.
Educational publishers regularly set up “preferred provider” agreements
with image suppliers who represent large collections. Publishers outline
certain standard terms and uses. The image provider is then asked to
stipulate a fee that will be charged for each use. Based on the fees
providers agree to charge the publisher decides which supplier to use. McGraw
Hill School Education Group has recently requested quotes from
potential preferred providers and they have introduced a new concept for
determining circulation of the product. Instead of talking about the
number of copies printed McGraw Hill now refers to the number of “unique
users.”
Federal appeals court judge Denny Chin has rejected Google’s proposed
settlement of copyright claims arising from the company’s digitization
of books. Since the case is a class action, the court, and not the
parties, must determine whether the settlement is fair, adequate and
reasonable.
Science Photo Library, has signed a licensing agreement with
Global Grid for Learning, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cambridge University Press and one of the most comprehensive digital educational content collections in the world.
Those who license rights to use photos in textbooks should include
language in their invoices that requires publishers to provide the
licensor with a password to any web site where the licensors images are
used.This story explains why it is important and provides recommended language.
Recently, I posted on the “Stock Photography: buy and sell photos” group
on LinkedIn.com some of the information about photography revenue
relative to printing revenue that is found in this
story. Peter
Dean came back with a related question that deserves some careful
examination. He asked, “Approximately how many more images are used
these days in print compared to 10 years ago?” He also wanted to know
whether print revenue is Static? going Up or going Down?
If you license rights to your photos for textbook use then here are a few articles you should read.
Hawaii photographer Douglas Peebles is exploring a new market for his
images – iPhone Apps. During his more than 30 years of photographing the
Hawaiian Islands he has produced
18 books
and a number of pocket guides to the various islands. He currently has
seven iPhone apps which give him another way to reach consumers.
Do educational publishers place much value on the pictures they use
in their
books? Based on
what they are willing to pay for such images, the role pictures play in
the educational process has declined significantly over the
last 10 to 15 years. The fees paid for images used in textbooks have
not kept up with changing usage demands. There may be little
photographers can do to alter this trend, but they need to be aware of
and understand the problem as they plan future production for this
market.
Many believe the concept of business ethics has become an oxymoron. Do a Google search and you’ll find reams and reams of explanations of what ethical business practices are, or should be. Every major corporation has a place on its web site that outlines the company’s ethical principles. Some companies test all employees annually to insure that they clearly understand the company’s ethical policies and procedures.
Often these principles seem to boil down to two over riding rules: (1) Maximize Shareholder and Manager Wealth and (2) Do What Is Legal.
The use of images for educational purposes has always been about 20% of
the total market for stock images. For some agencies and photographers,
educational sales represent a much higher percentage of their gross
revenue. However, as a result of technological developments and industry
consolidation, it has become extremely difficult for creators to earn
enough from licensing images for educational uses to enable them to
continue to produce imagery for this purpose.
Copyright lawyers Dan Nelson and Kevin McCulloch provide some background on how major U.S. textbook
publishers have been—and, indeed, still continue to—systematically
infringe photo the copyrights of the photographs they use in
textbooks and various other materials. They explore some of the
various factors that allowed this situation to occur and go unnoticed,
despite being an industry-wide practice that has given rise to some of
the most egregious cases of copyright infringement in recent memory.
Photographers whose business it is to produce stock images that are
designed for use in textbooks should IMMEDIATELY look for another line
of work. For years the major textbook publisher -- not fly by night
organizations -- have been paying fees based on minimal press runs.
Then, with no regard whatsoever for the written contracts they executed
with the sellers, they have made extensive additional uses of the images
without making any attempt to compensate the image creators in any way
for the use that exceeded the original license agreement. These
additional uses have resulted in millions of dollars of extra revenue
for the publishers. Such actions were not occasional oversights, but
policy.
There are two primary factors that should be considered when quoting a
price for textbook use: image size (1/4, 1/2 or full page) and size of
the print run. This article provides a historical perspective on pricing images for textbook uses and offers an update for the current economic climate.
Photographers should be alert for textbook publisher requests for new
image licenses to extend print runs on books that have already been
printed without obtaining such licenses. In many cases, image owners may
be entitled to high retroactive usage fees for copies already printed
and distributed, as well as a fee for the new books the publisher
intends to produce.
Traditionally, the primary uses of still pictures were in printed
products such as magazines, newspapers, books, brochures, direct mail
promotions, catalogs and—to a much smaller degree—posters and product
packages. An estimated two thirds to three quarters of all revenue
generated from stock pictures (in the range $1 billion worldwide) comes
from print image uses, but this demand has steadily declined for a number of years.
Stock image producers often have two misconceptions about
subscription licensing services: They believe subscription licensing is
simple and that for a very low monthly fee customers are allowed to use
any image for any purpose. Neither is true.
U.S. educational publishers are admitting to more and more unauthorized
uses during the past decade and quietly entering into out-of-court
settlements with an increasing number of image suppliers for large
numbers of uses. In cases where the original license fee was well under
$1,000, publishers are now paying multiple thousands of dollars to
settle claims.
Is it time to institute a system of floor prices for the use of
rights-managed images for editorial purposes? Is there any price so
low—$50, $30 or $20—that the image creator would prefer not to make the
sale?
In the next few years, there will be two major trends in the education
business: There will be less demand for books as a teaching resource.
Electronic “learning objects” will be used to a much greater degree in
classroom and online instruction. Photographers
who agree that these changes will occur, and who supply images to those
producing materials for educational use, should begin to restructure
their businesses and produce content that will be in demand by this new
educational delivery system.
The opportunity to interact with editors from publishing companies, picture researchers, stock agents and photographers at the American Society of Picture Professionals' Reinvention Weekend in Boston provided a clearer picture of where the business of producing images for publication is headed.
For those who think that the use of photography in education will remain the same, here are some numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Only a couple years ago, a researcher for a major book publisher said the company would never use microstock for a textbook, because of the "difficulty of securing rights." Though that was puzzling given typically solid microstock releases, I came away believing that maybe the textbook market was a last bastion of hope for photographers trying to license images at rights-managed prices. But things have changed.