A recent proposal a use-based pricing model generated many subscriber comments, which this article endeavors to address.
A key element of a use-based pricing model is licensing all images for non-exclusive uses. Photographers who choose to use this model would give up all hope of licensing exclusive uses to their images—just as those who license rights to royalty-free images have done.
However, the simplified pricing structure of the use-based model is an equally important point.
Betsy Reid of the Stock Artists Alliance suggests that the PLUS Packs developed by the Picture Licensing Universal System are a “streamlined and flexible form of use-based licensing” that could offer a viable solution to the industry’s problems.
PLUS has two separate and distinct aspects: the PLUS Coalition’s approach and PLUS Packs. I must confess I have been confused by the differences between the two for some time.
The PLUS Coalition’s approach is similar to current rights-managed licensing strategies, except that it also provides a unique identifier for each specific use type. This identifier can be printed on invoices and embedded in the IPTC header of the file delivered, to hopefully prevent unauthorized uses of licensed images. The identifier is designed to give customers a clear understanding of the exact rights purchased and to embed that information in the image file, so anyone accessing that file later can easily determine the extent of the license.
A much bigger issue that should take priority is licensing more images at reasonable prices, as opposed to, for example, the pricing of Getty Images’ Premium Access. If anything, the PLUS Coalition is making rights-managed pricing more complicated rather than less, with a very elaborate set of variables.
To license more images, the industry needs a pricing strategy that is simpler than the current rights-managed strategy. As Tim McGuire said, “the big problem is the perception/image problem the ‘rights-managed brand’ has among a sizable portion of the buyer side of this industry.” The rights-managed philosophy of adjusting the price for every little variable is becoming less and less useful in today’s market. Something that has totally separate and distinguishing characteristics from rights-managed is needed to catch the attention of buyers.
The PLUS Coalition’s offering is still a beta version of the full PLUS rights-managed matrix; it has not been implemented by any organization. In its current form, the matrix structure is too complicated for most customers—certainly those with low budgets—but the developers are finishing up a calc-builder that will allow agencies to remove submenus from any media code and thereby simplify, perhaps greatly, the choices. As is, to price a brochure use, the buyer is required to make decisions about: Usage, Media, Detail, Format, Size, Version, Quantity, Duration, Region, Region Detail, Language, Industry and Exclusivity. There are 8 choices of usage and, if you pick advertising, 12 additional choices of media just to get started.
PLUS Packs are a separate pricing system, similar to Getty’s rights-ready model and preferable to the PLUS Coalition strategy. PLUS Packs also use PLUS identifiers, but the number of variables is greatly reduced.
The basic PLUS Pack categories are well thought out, but several additional breakdowns for small and personal uses (see pages 10 and 11) should be included in order to reach the huge number of customers who have been attracted by microstock. I also believe the industry must abandon the idea of pricing based on duration, the geographic area of image use and license start date.
My preferred Modified Rights Ready strategy differs from PLUS Packs in that it would add several distribution/circulation variations to each PLUS Pack category, thus allowing for some pricing variables within each. If the user’s circulation falls between two of the specified prices, or there are other special circumstances, he is free to call to negotiate. Prices below $50 are non-negotiable and offered on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. Finding a price requires two clicks at most, and only one in some cases. The rights allowed are for unlimited use, forever, anywhere in the world, as long as the use is within the category and with no greater total circulation than that authorized in the license.
I like PLUS Packs’ idea that the customer is asked to provide the end-user’s name, product or service name and industry, but those questions are only asked just before checkout, rather than before receiving a price.
One look at a user-based pricing system like the one described above, and buyers would immediately recognize that it is not at all like rights-managed licensing. Rather, it is more akin to the traditional royalty-free model, but with prices as low as microstock for many uses and with simpler overall system than most microstocks.
Rights-managed licensing needs to be retained for those few photographers with very unique images, or those who only want to aim for the top of the market. However, these sellers must also recognize that the demand for images that can command high prices is rapidly declining.
If pricing for small uses is competitive with microstock, then small-use customers would experiment with the new model given the broader selection of imagery offered.
Jake Wyman asked: “How are you getting this proposal in front of the decision makers?”
The answer is: by publishing it in Selling Stock. They are aware. I agree that if this idea is to go anywhere, it must be adopted by some industry leaders. If a few with large distributors and good customer bases were to adopt it, everyone else would quickly follow.
The problem is inertia. Industry leaders want to make small adjustments to something that is working halfway, rather than take some risk to think outside the box and go after something that might not work. The other problem is that perhaps, given the state of the economy and the state of the industry, they really do not have a choice.