# Selling Photo Rights to Advertising Agency



## jordanmcrae (Sep 2, 2011)

Hello Photo Form!I was looking for forums that could possibly help me as I am facing a dilemma, and came across Photo Form! Hopefully you guys can help! 

I received an email today concerning an advertising agency looking for a picture of a panoramic picture of a UFC crowd that I had taken months ago. Below is a copy of the email conversation I had with him:
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Hi Jordan,

Congrats for your work. Good stuff!!

I work for an advertising agency in Brazil and we liked so much your work that we want to use one of your photos in a campaign.

The work is for a Chinese truck manufacturer and the photo is the one with the panoramic image (HDRI) of the UFC arena. The ad is for a light truck and the concept explores the strength of a light weight UFC fighter. José Aldo is our guy. Your image is the ad background with José Aldo in foreground.

Media includes: press (magazines and newspaper), internet and trade shows. ALL LOCAL.

Image rights for one year.

How should we proceed, Jordan? Could you provide the cost, please? What other information do you need?

Best regards,

Osmar B.
(Agency Name)
(Telephone Number was here) com
(Telephone Number was here) cel

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I replied with:

Hi Osmar,
Great to hear from you!

I just have several questions and areas of concern. First off, is this the photo you are interested in?: www.flickr.com/photos/jordanmcrae/5677313976/
Secondly, there are some logos associated with the photo that I am concerned with in terms of copyright infringement (UFC, Bud Light, etc.). I would be willing to sell the rights to this photo with the removal of these logos. I could very discretely remove these. Since I do not have the rights to these logos or anything associated with them, that is my main area of concern.
We will establish a price after we have an agreement on the removal of any corporate logos that are in this photo.

Regards,
Jordan
--
He replied with: 

Jordan,

That is exactly the photo we are talking and we agree that all corporate logos should be removed.

Could you send your proposal as soon as possible, please? Well present all related costs to the client next monday.

Regards,

Osmar B.
(Agency Name)
(Tele #) com
(Tele #) cel
--

After the removal of all corporate logos included in the photo, and anything else that may hold me responsible for copyright infringement, I have NO idea where to even start in terms of pricing. I have been researching where other people have faced similar situations, but I have come to the conclusion that it totally depends on the agency, and the product/activity or area of interest being advertised. 

Sorry for the long-winded post, but any help would be greatly appreciated! 

Thanks in advance!

-Jordan


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## imagemaker46 (Sep 2, 2011)

Sounds swell, I don't know of any big compaines or agencies that cruise flickr looking for photos.


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## tirediron (Sep 2, 2011)

imagemaker46 said:


> Sounds swell, I don't know of any big compaines or agencies that cruise flickr looking for photos.



Key word search?  

I would ball-park something in the area of $5 - 10,000 for this.  Have you researched the company?  They seem to be asking the right questions, giving the right info, but cold-calls always make me just a little suspicious...


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## kundalini (Sep 2, 2011)

All they needed to add was an off handed comment about North Korea or the Nigerian Delta oil fields and surely the planet would explode.  Sorry.   <<cynicism activated>>


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## jordanmcrae (Sep 2, 2011)

Thanks for the replies everyone! I actually looked into the man himself a little further, and stumbled across some of the other work he was involved in. It looks like he was involved in an advertisement involving Matchbox in Brazil. To be honest, I could care less about this photo, or if he is planning on poaching this, but I am getting the feeling that it is not the case. Live and learn, right? I'd rather learn from this photo as opposed to one of my others. 

Would you guys recommend starting high? And if so, how high? I've never been contacted for selling the rights to a photo so this is completely new to me.

-Jordan


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## kundalini (Sep 2, 2011)

jordanmcrae said:


> Would you guys recommend starting high? And if so, how high?


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## jordanmcrae (Oct 10, 2013)

Sorry to resurrect a dead thread, but I sold the rights for 1 year for $1000. They took the offer instantly. I now know what to expect in these situations, and I feel that it would be better to start higher. If they want the photo, they'll bargain for it.


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## KmH (Oct 10, 2013)

There is no need to apologize for bringing the thread back to the top by letting everyone know how it worked out for you.

Of course, you got $1000 you weren't necessarily expecting.

You leave out a lot of details that would help to assess the value of the use of your image.
It seems the use was for a 12 month national print advertising campaign (like in several national monthly magazines) in Brazil for a foreign trunk maker?
Did you or the advertising agency wrote the use license?
Was the use exclusive or non-exclusive? Was print the only media type granted in the use license?


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