How much should I ask for my photograph if it will be used on a Holiday card?

November 4, 2009 11:59 AM

There is a photo I took, which a firm wants to use on the cover of a Holiday card. Quantity would be around 30.000. One time use. They will credit me on the back. I have no idea how much can or should I charge for it. What do you think? Thanks.
posted by procrastinator to work & money (5 comments total)

I live in USA, btw.
posted by procrastinator at 12:07 PM on November 4 [1 favorite]

Try this out first, it should a least give you a baseline.
posted by infinitefloatingbrains at 12:08 PM on November 4

Fotoquote is telling me $400-800 or $700-1400 for "major" usage. That's for a print run of 25-50k. Try looking up a similar, rights-managed image on Getty and see what it says too.
posted by bradbane at 12:14 PM on November 4

The other big question is rights. Are they going to have exclusive rights to the image or are you going to maintain rights to the image and allow them to print off a run of 30,000 and that is where their rights to the image will end?
posted by ztdavis at 1:08 PM on November 4

The other big question is rights. Are they going to have exclusive rights to the image or are you going to maintain rights to the image and allow them to print off a run of 30,000 and that is where their rights to the image will end?

That sounds like a misunderstanding of exclusivity and rights to me. By licensing the image, you have transferred some of the image rights to the company for a specified period of time/circulation size. Traditionally, exclusivity is an agreement that competing publications/businesses cannot license the same or similar image for a certain period. The photographer still owns the rights to the picture. Exclusivity comes at an additional price on top of the nonexclusive licensing fee.

Oh, and here's a previous answer I posted to AskMe that discusses my thoughts behind the "can I charge for it" part of this question.
posted by msbrauer at 4:22 PM on November 4