On Tue, 18 Jun 1996 22:10:46 -0700 Anne M. Derousie wrote: >The discussion of photographic reproduction rights comes at a time when >our museum has instituted a new policy regarding the fee schedule for >such rights. We have experienced a great deal of resistence to the new >fees and that raises the following questions I would like to ask of other >institutions: Resistance will wear away quickly. Museums are notorious for having been naive in pricing, and our clients have to get used to the idea that we have "grown up" and joined the ranks of other businesses. The "product" we sell is by no means worth less -- and is often worth more -- than that they can obtain from other sources. > > > What is your fee for one/time, one/publication use of a > photograph? (For printed use) > For commercial users? Depends on type of publication, print run, distribution area (world rights in all languages, world rights in one language, North American rights only, etc. etc.). This is the model used by commercial photo libraries/agencies, and publishers are used to it. Ask them "what rights do you want to license?" Check with local photo agencies and museums to get going market rates. You can also charge according to size of reproduction: 1/4 page, 1/2 page, full page, double spread. Cover use is billed at a much hight rate. For example: for a typical coffee-table book with a print run of 10,000, for a reproduction up to 1/2 page, world rights one language, we would take $100; for North American rights only, $75. Cover: $250-300. > > For non-profit users? Non-profit is purely a tax status. It does not exempt you or us or any non-profit organization from paying the same price as anyone else for what it purchases from any supplier. Special rates for non-profits are a tradition, not necessarily a sound business decision. One should weigh the idea (together with one's financial officers) and decide. It usually makes more sense to discount to "repeat clients", that is, organizations with which the museum has a lot of dealings, rather than any random or single request from an organization which happens to be non-profit. > > For commercial, but small scale (ie a book with limited > local interest? Again, we take our model from the commercial photo libraries/agencies: small print run books are charged less (25% less, on average). Small scholarly publications (those of interest to a handful of specialists) are also charged less (up to 50% less). Your museum can also decide to waive reproduction rights fees to small scholarly publications -- but you will still need to charge enough to cover costs, including overhead! > > What if a user wants ten different images for one publication > Do you still charge the same rate per photograph? No. Again, we use the model of commercial photo libraries: quantity discount (e.g. 20% for 10 or more images). As in any business, if the order is large, negotiations are certainly in order. > >The answers to these questions may help us resolve this issue for our >institution. Thanks in advance. > >Anne M. Derousie >[log in to unmask] >Seneca Falls Historical Society >Seneca Falls, New York 13148 > Hope this helps. You can contact me on or off list if you need further information. ------------------------------------- name: amalyah keshet director, visual resources / the israel museum, jerusalem e-mail: [log in to unmask] date: 06/19/96 visit our Web site at http://www.imj.org.il -------------------------------------