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Steve Parr
29th of August 2007 (Wed), 07:40
Would you do this and, if so, what would you charge?

A friend of mine e-mailed me concerning a gig for next weekend. The Temptations and The Four Tops are performing in San Diego. The person who wants to hire me produces compilation CD's and DVD's of music that's largely of interest to baby boomers.

Anyway, I got this e-mail from my friend, on the behalf of the client:

On Thurs, Sept 6, the Temps are playing Humphrey's on a bill with the Four Tops, and my friend and one of his cohorts are gonna present the sole remaining original Temp, Otis Williams, with the platinum DVD plaque near the end of their show, when they do their introductions. Amy and I are helping to coordinate that, and working with media, etc. to get some pub. David mentioned that in addition to having his own 2-man camera crew there to video the presentation for his archives, he'd like a still photog to shoot the presentation.

The only stipulation he made is that he wants to own the negatives---or the disc if it's shot in digital---so he can use the images any way he wants in the future. If you were to shoot this, you'd be welcome to post images in your website and use them in a portfolio, etc., but he wants unlimited rights to use them for his own purposes

I don't make a living with my camera. I do, however, want to know that, if I do this, I'm fairly compensated. The problem is that I don't know what to charge. My clients are bands that normally can only afford a few hundred dollars for photos they're going to put on their website. The client in this case is someone who wants to be able to use the images on CD and DVD covers that sell in the millions.

The first number that popped into my head was $2,500.00. My immediate second thought was that's too low.

So, my questions are these: Would you do the shoot with the stated stipulations and, if so, what would you charge the client?

Thanks for any and all input...

donboyfisher
29th of August 2007 (Wed), 08:10
i'm no pro, but signing over the rights for something like that makes 2.5k seem on the low side . . . . especially if you were handing over a good number of photos.

how many hours is it going to be for? you can get typical hourly rates on here. that has to be covered in the cost minimum.

Then lets say you go a few *really* great images that you could sell for stock elsewhere . . . going by threads in this section, that could be hundreds of dollars each for a photo.

Even at the low end, a single stock could be along the lines of:

1yr exclusive : $100
2yr exclusive : $200
5yr exclusive: $400 ( i dunno )
unlimited: $800 ( i.e. beyond reasonable exclusive timeframe )

But you'd likely have a lot of photos , any multitude of which could make a cover / be part of a cover .... 2.5k now seems on the low side to me.

Ask for 10k and see where it gets you !

RiveraRa
29th of August 2007 (Wed), 08:47
Dont forget that just because you are giving them full unrestricted rights does not mean that you are signing over the ownership of the actual copyright. You still own the copyright, they just have full unrestricted commercial use.

blackshadow
29th of August 2007 (Wed), 08:50
Sounds like they want to buy out the copyright as well... not just the usage rights by the way the the person states they want to "own" the images.

Steve Parr
29th of August 2007 (Wed), 08:51
Dont forget that just because you are giving them full unrestricted rights does not mean that you are signing over the ownership of the actual copyright. You still own the copyright, they just have full unrestricted commercial use.

Oh, true, and the client has already acknowledged that.

It's the "unlimited use" part that gets me. That's essentially what I give to bands for photos used on their websites, so I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't do it here, and just adjust the level of compensation...

Steve Parr
29th of August 2007 (Wed), 09:37
I also posted this in the "Performing Arts" section, and it's getting far more responses there than here.

Feel free to lock this thread.

Thankyouverymuch...