Advice on getty please.

mattd85

mattd85

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Matt
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Alright guys,

Its been a good week with photography monthly magazine and Getty wanting my images.

Getty have emailed today asking to licence and use 10 of my images for commercial use. I've read good and bad things about Getty which is confusing me on what to do. One of the images they want is the 'sailing ant' picture that was POTW on here, an image I feel may sell well and therefore is it worth trying to sell on myself?

In a way I'm very happy to have my work sought after but I could really do with some advice from you all :)

Thanks

Matt
 
Some moneys better than none I suppose.

I don't use getty but they have requested quite a few of my pictures via Flickr.

My understanding is that once licensed to sell via them you cant sell else where and they take a huge cut of any money.

Not sure how much normaly, but im sure someone said via flick its 60% to them.
 
Very gratifying to be asked isn't it?
If others have wanted to pay for its use, and Getty want exclusivity whether they use or not, I think Id want some dosh up front as a holding fee. Is it gone for good or can you withdraw after so long?
They have MUCH more chance of selling it than you.
One can be too greedy and success tends to breed success. Good luck.
 
It always feels like someone's taking the proverbial when they take half your money, (if the 60% figure is correct), but the important thing to remember is that to earn as much money from the image without Getty, you're going to have to sell the shot twice as often as they can. Thats going to be tough to achieve.
 
pooley said:
It always feels like someone's taking the proverbial when they take half your money, (if the 60% figure is correct), but the important thing to remember is that to earn as much money from the image without Getty, you're going to have to sell the shot twice as often as they can. Thats going to be tough to achieve.
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Maths not quite right here.

If Getty make 10 sales and keep 60% of the money, then you only need to make 4 sales (of the same value) in order to earn the same amount. Not 20 sales.

That still might be tough, of course. I'm not qualified to offer an opinion on that score.
 
StewartR said:
Maths not quite right here.

If Getty make 10 sales and keep 60% of the money, then you only need to make 4 sales (of the same value) in order to earn the same amount. Not 20 sales.

That still might be tough, of course. I'm not qualified to offer an opinion on that score.
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I think I may just see how it goes with Getty, thanks again.
 
pooley said:
D'oh back to school for me.... :coat:
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I thought you where right actually..

sale to getty =1.. they then sell it 10 times and take 60% and you get 10 times 40%

to equal that.. your going to ahve to make a lot more sales than..... the ONE to getty :)
 
Personally, I would take the easier buck than take the gamble and have to work hard for the potential 2 1/2 bucks! Then again, I'm a lazy bat fasterd anyway!!!
 
KIPAX said:
I thought you where right actually..

sale to getty =1.. they then sell it 10 times and take 60% and you get 10 times 40%

to equal that.. your going to ahve to make a lot more sales than..... the ONE to getty :)
Click to expand...

You don't sell it to Getty. Getty include your image in their collection (stock library) and look to licence it on your behalf.

Yes they take 60% and you could get 100% if you sell it yourself, but after that the simple maths above fall down on the basis that

a) Getty are likely to be able to licence your image for more than you are on a like for like usage basis.

b) Getty are more likely to licence your image multiple times, and additionally then recover repeat usage from the same licence, than you are.

I'd rather have 40% of £1000 than 100% of £50.
 
personally i wouldnt touch getty wiht a bargepole.. I would rather 100% of earnings from my work.. the scenarios given of earning thousands just from 40% is..well...you know..
 
meonshore said:
You don't sell it to Getty. Getty include your image in their collection (stock library) and look to licence it on your behalf.

Yes they take 60% and you could get 100% if you sell it yourself, but after that the simple maths above fall down on the basis that

a) Getty are likely to be able to licence your image for more than you are on a like for like usage basis.

b) Getty are more likely to licence your image multiple times, and additionally then recover repeat usage from the same licence, than you are.

I'd rather have 40% of £1000 than 100% of £50.
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You're being a little overly optimistic about Getty's generosity there Mike.

It's 70/30 for RM and 80/20 for RF!
 
Matt,

Phone up Barcroft Media and offer it to them before you accept the Getty deal.

You've got some bloody good shots there which are right up their street.

They also pay 60/40 in your favour when I last checked!
 
DemiLion said:
Matt,

Phone up Barcroft Media and offer it to them before you accept the Getty deal.

You've got some bloody good shots there which are right up their street.

They also pay 60/40 in your favour when I last checked!
Click to expand...

Just to do a slight thread hijack ...

Is it easy to get barcroft media interested in images? I'm assuming they want quirky high quality ones. Is there anything else they're interested in?
 
DemiLion said:
You're being a little overly optimistic about Getty's generosity there Mike.

It's 70/30 for RM and 80/20 for RF!
Click to expand...

I didn't know myself - was just using the quoted numbers above.

That said on 70/30 for RF I'd still bet that over a period of 5 years you'll make significantly more from Getty licensing your images than by yourself....

unless you are a very highly focussed, and business savvy, stock shooter and probably well connected to the media and outlets.

In this situation if there are a set of images then there is no harm in pushing them to Barcroft or the like and seeing if they will pull a feature around them - they'll also take a cut of course....

...and then if they use them you can always stick them up to Getty afterwards, or if they decline send them in right away. As a freelance sports photographer I completely understand why you wouldn't like Getty, as a stock shooter you would have a different opinion - unless you have a very specialist collection then being in the Getty or Corbis libraries is still a far better place to be than the alternatives.
 
Are the photo's just going to sit on your hard drive?

Yes Getty will only pay 20-30% but I get a regular income every month from them. Some months a very decent one. My work has been sold all over the world to some very large companies such as apple, Hyundai designs, Bath & Body store, ING Bank and loads more.
I am also with Alamy who do give you far more percentage but I earn more from Getty.
This is just my experience.

For me, photography is about the numbers game and having my fingers in a lot of pies. e.g. Weddings/events, product, portraits, landscape and stock.
Add them all up and I do Okay.
 
I've decided I will except there offer , the photos were only sitting on the hard drive as mentioned above anyway.

Now comes the model release part, I've downloaded the PDF and printed a few out, I will keep one for a copy mother to save reprinting etc.

Only problem is now I don't have a scanner to scan them back, will taking a picture of them suffice?

Thanks again all.

Matt
 
I always use a scanner but if it is the same outcome by photographing it then I don't see why not. Upload it as a jpeg anyway. Scanners are very cheap now though.
 
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