web site rights

[momoe]

ok, putting a package together for live performance shooting. how does the license on images for publishing them on their web sites work? is it sort of a license to print?

[TeenPhotog]

you need to be a little more specific on your situation. Whats your relation to the website? When I just freelance and email PR companies often the agreement is that the photos are now their's and they can use them for anything and will attempt to give you credit wherever it is due. You can also use them in your portfolio but cannot profit off them in anyway.

Sound about right?

[bacchanal]

you need to be a little more specific on your situation. Whats your relation to the website? When I just freelance and email PR companies often the agreement is that the photos are now their's and they can use them for anything and will attempt to give you credit wherever it is due. You can also use them in your portfolio but cannot profit off them in anyway.

Sound about right?

That doesn't sound like a great business model. It sounds like you're basically shooting for fun and shooting your fellow performing arts photogs in the foot (unless you are actually getting paid and not just a "credit"). At the very least (imho), you should attempt to retain your copyrights and put some limitations on photo use, even if you are shooting for free. TBH, I've actually done one shoot that was a "shoot and burn", I basically handed over my RAWs after the shoot and haven't seen them since, copyright and everything are long gone...but I ended the evening with a nice check in my pocket.

To the OP: basically, since you own the copyrights, you can license them any way you want to. It is up to you to determine what is feasible and acceptable. If you are selling to a blog/zine site, you may treat them like a magazine (consider "circulation" and time the photo is run). If you are selling to a venue or label, you might license the photos sold for advertisement. If you are selling to a band for myspace/web use, you might license the photos for web promotional use only and exclude things like print rights, derivative works, resale, etc.

Personally, I license the vast majority of my (web resolution) stuff with CC, non-commercial, no-derivatives...I give it away. For full resolution files and photoshoots I charge enough to make it worth my while and don't worry too much about the licensing, though I do include an info file that explains copyright and licensing terms.

[TeenPhotog]

Oh I know, It's terrible, but I'm just getting started with concert photography and I feel bad about it, but it's like I have no other choice. I'm freelance and I need I talked to a pretty big area city news paper. Not huge but like that second tier, and we are using some of my shoots to see if I can regularly contribute.

Also bacchanal, I have an agreement which I haven't signed yet from a pr firm. Could I send you a copy to see if there is anything that I have a chance in changing with them?

[bacchanal]

Oh I know, It's terrible, but I'm just getting started with concert photography and I feel bad about it, but it's like I have no other choice. I'm freelance and I need I talked to a pretty big area city news paper. Not huge but like that second tier, and we are using some of my shoots to see if I can regularly contribute.

Also bacchanal, I have an agreement which I haven't signed yet from a pr firm. Could I send you a copy to see if there is anything that I have a chance in changing with them?

First a disclaimer: I shoot for free approximately 97.6% of the time and I try to keep myself out of the commercial end of the business...though sometimes the temptation to shoot "so and so" is just too much and I cave (but I don't give away my copyrights or unlimited usage rights). Typically the bands I shoot are my friends or bands that my friends or I set up a show for.

I understand the desire to sign on and be able to use the paper for access to shows, but if you're shooting for them for free now, you'll likely be shooting for free in the future. I could be wrong, but that is just an assumption based on what I know about the newspaper business (which isn't much). If you want access to shows and want to shoot shows for free, you could just shoot smaller shows. Or shoot for an internet blog/zine or start your own...often it doesn't take too much clout to get you a photo pass. Just don't start out expecting to shoot Radiohead and Beyonce. Once you build up a solid portfolio of images, then you can start talking to larger publications about shooting for them, perhaps for pay even.

Again, I'm not a professional photographer by any means, but I'll look at your agreement if you want me to (I do read certain types of contracts on a daily basis). The problem is that it is unlikely that the PR firm is open to any changes...they would probably just move on to the next photographer that is willing to shoot for free, and I suspect that there are more photographers willing to shoot for free than there are PR firms.

Take all of this with a grain of salt really...I just skirt around the fringes of the music business. I feel like I've seen enough that I'm just as well being on the outside.

Someone like Narlus or Blackshadow could probably offer way better insight.

[TeenPhotog]

I see what your saying.
Also yeah I don't plan on shooting huge bands, but I mean still people who are touring the country is what I'm signed up for now.
I'll shoot you that document on a pm