--Hi
>The message I got from the art directors, (which I should have put in my
>post) was that you can insist on useage rights but to work for them you will
>be signing your rights away for all time. Their clients require this so they
>can use the photo's anywhere and anytime they see fit. I wasn't suggesting
--This is unethical, without MUCH higher pay than usual - better join that pro
--photographers group quick, so you folks can stick together on this (if some
--photographers are handing over all rights, it is hard for the rest to hold --out, and the law IS on their side).
>that these people scoff at the idea of deceiving a photographer and using a
>photo without their permission but that they wouldn't hire the photograper in
>the first place if the photographer insisted on useage rights. BTW thanks for
--Looks like the art directors have joined to set the conditions of working -
--I would try to shift things to the photographers, if you want to make a
--living at this.
>the info, you certainly know your subject. Personally, if someone hires me to
>take a photo for them I would expect that the person who paid to have the
>photo made would have sole rights to the photo. I seee their side that they
>are paying for the photo to be made, just like I pay a builder to build me a
>house, when its done, I own it completley, not the builder. Now stock photo's
--I used to think the same way ("I can always take another photograph just as
--good as the one I am parting with."), but that attitude kills the market -
--why hire more work, when the client has accumulated a bunch of photos which
--may now be used for free? Heck, the author gets paid again for the 2nd, 3rd
--etc. use of an article, the composer gets more royalties when more records
--sell, etc. You have to live on something. Art directors of any stature
--are used to paying going rates and using normal rate structures. And they
--are set up in the copyright law.
>are a completley different subject of course. Do most art directors require
>you to sign away your rights for all time?
--NO!!!!!!! If they request ownership, they pay me WELL! (The equivalent of
--many uses to compensate for the uses I cannot sell from the photograph.
>Regards, Mark.
>
--David Ruether