Exclusive Royalty Free!!

Posted on 2/17/2004 by Jim Pickerell | Printable Version | Comments (0)

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EXCLUSIVE ROYALTY FREE



February 17, 2004

Image Source has launched a ground-breaking new images licensing system called
Easy Rights (tm). This enables them to offer exclusive rights to some of the
images they produce that will eventually be sold as Royalty Free.


For buyers, one of the major disadvantages in using RF images has been that
their competitors might end up using the same image. Now, buyers who move
quickly once certain RF images are offered for sale, may lock up exclusive
rights to the image if they choose.


The images available under Easy Rights(tm) have been specially commissioned
and then made available for the first three months of their life in a special
section of the Image Source web site. Customers looking for RF images, but
needing exclusivity, can limit their search to only those images in the Easy
Rights(tm) collection. If they find nothing and exclusivity is an absolute
necessity, then they know they must go to an RM option. This makes it possible
for RF to compete with RM for exclusive sales. The fact that images only
remain in the Easy Rights(tm) collection for three months before they go into
the regular RF offering ensures a freshness and relevance of this imagery
that is not necessarily true of all RM images.


Another interesting thing about Easy Rights(tm) is that if a buyer sees an ER
image he would like to use, but does not need exclusive rights and would prefer
to pay the normal RF price he can't do it for the initial ER period. For the
first three months it is Easy Rights(tm) or nothing.


The Easy Rights(tm) licensing system allows customers to purchase images with
total exclusivity for their chosen territory and time period, which are set in
simple blocks. Customers can purchase images instantly online at
www.imagesource.com in a
straightforward procedure - guaranteeing that during
the licensed period, the image is not being used at all commercially in the
licensed territory.


All sister images are covered and will be withheld from the market for the
period of the Easy Rights(tm) license within the licensed territory. They are
selected before the images are uploaded to the site and will be withdrawn
automatically should one of its similars be licensed.


They have divided the world into three different zones - EMEA (Europe, Middle East
and Africa), The Americas, Asia/Pacific - and the fees for using an image in any
one of these zones is the same whether the payment is in Euros, U.S. Dollars, or
English Pounds. Prices are higher if the customer wants to use the image in
more than one zone. All prices are fixed and non-negotiable. The prices are
listed below.





























Price in Dollars or Euros   

     

     

     

     

     

3 months   

6 months   

9 months   

12 months   

1x Continent   

9,000   

16,200   

22,950   

28,800   

2x Continent   

16,200   

22,950   

28,800   

33,750   

3x Continent   

22,950   

28,800   

33,750   

37,800   
































Price in English Pounds   

     

     

     

     

     

3 months   

6 months   

9 months   

12 months   

1x Continent   

£ 6,300   

£ 11,340   

£ 16,065   

£ 20,160   

2x Continent   

£ 11,340   

£ 16,065

£ 20,160

£ 23,625

3x Continent

£ 16,065

£ 20,160

£ 23,625

£ 26,460




"Customers have frequently mentioned their frustrations with the complexities
of purchasing images under current rights managed systems, whilst also feeling
that this system did not guarantee them the exclusivity they needed." comments
Christina Vaughan, founder and CEO of Image Source. "We wanted to address this
with Easy Rights(tm) - a license based on the absolute simplicity of the
royalty free model but where each image is also completely new and totally
exclusive within the chosen territory."


Francis Hodgson, Creative Director at Image Source, is enthusiastic about the
new offering: "Nobody tries to tell you that the price of a car will be
different if you intend to become a Cairo taxi driver. If you can afford it,
you can use it as you wish. That's how Image Source believes pictures should
be sold. That's the basis of how we have always sold them under royalty free
arrangements. What you do with pictures is (within reason) your business. But
sometimes you need just a modicum of protection. It is nice to have
exclusivity when so much of your identity is bound in with the pictures you
use. Now you can have affordable exclusive picture usages without entering
into tiresome rights negotiations. Fully automated if you want to buy online
or we can guide you through the process."


Image Source is exercising strong editorial control over images that go into
Easy Rights(tm). They have doubled their production team in terms of headcount in
the past four months and will be doing some productions specifically for Easy
Rights(tm) and others for regular RF. They aim to have a constantly evolving pool
of approximately 2000 Easy Rights(tm) images.


The Easy Rights(tm) images are only available via Image Source's wholly owned
website - the .com; .co.uk; .de and .nl sites. They have invested
significantly in the technology to support Easy Rights(tm) and, at this time, they
are not confident that their distributors are able to make the same investment.


Copyright © 2004 Jim Pickerell. The above article may not be copied, reproduced, excerpted or distributed in any manner without written permission from the author. All requests should be submitted to Selling Stock at 10319 Westlake Drive, Suite 162, Bethesda, MD 20817, phone 301-461-7627, e-mail: wvz@fpcubgbf.pbz

Jim Pickerell is founder of www.selling-stock.com, an online newsletter that publishes daily. He is also available for personal telephone consultations on pricing and other matters related to stock photography. He occasionally acts as an expert witness on matters related to stock photography. For his current curriculum vitae go to: http://www.jimpickerell.com/Curriculum-Vitae.aspx.  

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