Selling prints of your digital art or photography is a great way to make some extra money. But to take your artist business to the next level, you might want to sell certain usage rights of a photo to a client. So how do you license a picture? This guide explains how to write a Digital Image License Agreement, step by step. Plus, you will get a FREE License Agreement Template that you can adapt to your personal needs.
A Guide on how to write a Digital Image License Agreement – with FREE License Agreement Template
Offering prints and digital files of your works is a great way to promote and sell your art.
When you sell a print to someone, there’s not much to worry about what the person could do with it. Print usages are rather obvious.
The buyer might put your print in a frame and hang it up on their wall. If the print is a postcard, the person might write some nice words on it and send it to a loved one.
However, when selling digital files of your work, things look different. Especially if you sell high-resolution pictures of your photography or artwork.
Just giving away such pictures without knowing what the other person may do with them, doesn’t feel good.
Understandably, you want to have some control over what the client, who buys your digital photo, can do with it. Of course, you don’t want to loose all the rights to your image by selling it. And last but not least, you want to decide how much you charge for the image rights.
That’s why you need some form of image use agreement. It’s like a contract between you and the buyer. The agreement defines the conditions under which you sell digital files of your work.
You give someone the permission to use your picture in a closely defined way. In return, you receive a monetary benefit. This is exactly what an Image License Agreement is for. Sounds good? Let’s get into it!
Need a bit of inspiration on how to write a digital image license agreement?
What is a Digital Image License?
An image license is a contract between the creator of the image (the ‘licensor’) and the person who buys it (the ‘licensee’).
As the creator, you own all the rights to your image. You can decide at what conditions you want to make a particular image available to the licensee. You can set usage rights and restrictions for your work.
The licensee is free to use the image within the scope of usage you determined in the image license agreement.
Figuring out how to license your pictures can be a bit overwhelming at the beginning. There are plenty of image licenses out there. That can make it hard to work out which license is the best for your purposes.
To find out which image license type fits your needs best, let’s have a look at the different types of image usage rights.
What are Image Usage Rights?
There are different types of image usage rights. These usage rights can be broken into the following image license categories:
Non-Commercial Rights Image License
A Non-Commercial Rights Image License allows the buyer to use your image for personal purposes only. The image may not be used in any context that helps the buyer to generate money.
Let’s have a look at some examples of non-commercial usage:
Non-commercial usage occurs when the buyer uses the image on their personal website, blog, or as a screensaver on their computer. The licensee may also choose to print a poster, a postcard, mouse pad or other item for their personal needs.
Commercial Rights Image License
Granting the buyer commercial rights allows them to use your image for selling, promoting and marketing their own products or services.
Basically, the buyer may use the image in any context that enables them to generate a financial gain for their business.
For example, the client may use your image in advertisement brochures, catalogs, and company presentations. The client may also choose to create a product with your image and resell the product.
Exclusive Rights Image License
With an Exclusive Rights License you sell the client your copyright to the image. The buyer will become the sole owner of that image and can start using the image in whatever way they wish.
Exclusive Rights are usually sold when the client wants to create their own logo or other brand item with your image. If you sell the Exclusive Rights to one of your images, you mustn’t display this image in your portfolio anymore or resell it again.
This license type is typically the most expensive one, as it transfers all intellectual rights over to the buyer.
Rights Managed Image License
In a Rights Managed License, you can define all rights and restrictions of usage to your image individually.
You can make your image available for particular scopes of usage and associate a different fee with each one.
Rights Managed Licenses often put a time limit on certain rights of usage. Once the usage period expires, the client will have to pay another time if they wish to continue using the image.
Royalty Free Image License
The Royalty Free Image License is very similar to the Rights Managed License. The main difference is that with Royalty Free, the client pays for the image only once. After that, they can use the image for any amount of time within the scope of use.
Of course, you can also choose what permissions and constraints you want to apply to your image.
This is probably the best license for you as the creator, because it enables you to exert the highest control over how your image is used.
Most image licensing websites use this model. They apply certain constraints on the usage options. For example, they limit the permitted number of copies, medium of usage (print or web), or the usage period of the image.
Although there may be some restrictions on Royalty Free images, the usage rights are generally way less limited than in Rights Managed Licenses.
Creative Commons Image License
Creative Commons is a common license (pun intended) that is free of charge. So if you wish to make money off your work, you wouldn’t want to go for that license.
Creative Commons are basically a marketing strategy. The central objective of Creative Commons is to help creators gain exposure.
By contributing images for free that anyone can use within a certain frameset of conditions, artists may attract a broader audience to their work. Eventually, they may be able to sell other images under a different license.
Editorial Use Image License
An Editorial Use Image License is the only option to sell an image if the image depicts any logo, trademark, brand, building or person (for who you don’t have a model release).
Such items or persons are protected by public authorities and copyright laws.
You need to be careful not to use any other license than Editorial Use if that’s the case with the photo you want to sell. The protected item can be as big as a skyscraper or a MacDonald’s sign in the background down to a tiny brand logo on a bag or a Starbucks cup.
Editorial Use allows photos to only be sold for the use in so-called ‘news-worthy’ editorial contexts. This can be a newspaper or magazine article online or in print, or a news-related blog post on a website.
How do you write a licensing agreement?
Now that we’ve covered the basics of image licensing, we can jump into the nitty-gritty of how to write a digital image license agreement.
No matter what type of license you eventually opt for, there are a couple of points that every license must contain.
I’ve broken down the essential regulations to include in your licensing agreement into 6 main categories.
Following these points step-by-step will make it easier for you as you’re learning how to write a digital image license agreement. Just make sure you include all of them, and then your photo licensing agreement is basically bullet-proof! 💯
Let’s jump right into that and see what these points are.
1. Parties
Every license description must mention the names of the contracting parties.
On the one hand, that’s the name of the Licensor – which is probably your name. If you’re the creator of the work and you make it available to use to somebody else, you put your name here.
On the other hand, it’s the name of the Licensee; the person who buys your image.
In some cases, you may also have to add the name of the End User. This is necessary when the licensee and the end user are not the same person or party. The end user is the person who will ultimately use the image.
2. Image Information
The Image Information describes the image(s) that are licensed under the agreement as precisely as possible.
It’s very important to describe the image or the images that are sold with the particular license. If you include multiple images in one digital image license agreement, state the quantity of the images included.
If possible, you should mention the title of your image and/or its file name.
3. License Information
The License Information notes all formal details concerning the licensing transaction.
This is usually the transaction date, the client’s order number, maybe the client’s invoice number if it’s different from the order, and other relevant information.
4. Permissions
The permissions specify in what context the client may use the image.
Here you can detail all the usage permissions that you want to give the client to your image. You can say exactly how and to what extent they are allowed to use your image.
Two things you should not forget to mention in your permissions description are the following: make sure to state in what types of media and in what format you allow the client to use the picture.
These two points are very important, so let’s have a look at them one by one:
Media Permissions
The Media Permissions set forth in what kind of media you allow the client to reproduce your image. Media are usually split into the core categories of Print and Web.
So you decide: Can the client use the image for printed media only? Can they use the image on the Internet only? Or both?
You may also narrow down these usage permissions. For example, you can grant the client permission to only use the image in a particular print magazine advertisement. Or you may allow them the use of your image on a particular website only. For instance, only on the client’s main business website.
Distribution Format
The Distribution Format defines in what type of format the client may distribute your image.
May they distribute the image only in print or also as digital download from their website?
The difference between Media Permissions and Distribution Format is in the word ‘distribute’. The Media Permissions give the client certain rights where to ‘use’ the image.
The Distribution Format states in what forms the client may ‘distribute’ the image. Meaning, in what format the client himself or herself is allowed to make your image available to others.
5. Constraints
A Constraints section is basically an extension to the Permissions section. It has the objective to detail or limit certain usage rights granted in the Permissions.
There are several points that are typically being restricted in some form under Constraints. This includes the license start and end date, and the duration of the license. Here you can also put a quantity limit on the number of copies your client is allowed to make of the image.
Besides that, other constraints are also possible but relatively more seldom. For example, you can put a limit on the maximum file size of the image. You can also apply restrictions on the region or language in which you allow your image to be used.
With that said, let’s look into the more common constraints that are often used in a digital image license agreement.
License Start Date
License End Date
You would state a License End Date if you grant the client usage rights for a limited period of time only. This would be the case, for example, in a Rights Managed License. The License End Date marks the day on which the granted rights of usage expire.
If you decide to give the client an unlimited time of use, you would state that here as well.
Duration
The Duration determines the time period during which the client may use the image. This can be six months, one year, two years etc.
The license start date plus the duration equals the license end date. However, you should still mention both to leave no room for ambiguity in your digital image license agreement.
Quantity
The Quantity limits the maximum number of copies the client is allowed to make of your image. This can be applied to print and electronic media.
For instance, your client may only be allowed to print 100,000 brochures with your image. Or your client may only sell a maximum of 250,000 website templates that they created with your image.
Exclusivity
Exclusivity applies if you sell your copyright to the image to the client. This would be under an Exclusive Rights Image License.
If the client receives only non-exclusive rights to your picture under any other image license type, you would mention this here as well.
6. Other Requirements
This section includes all those things that don’t fall into one of the above categories.
Here you can mention any additional terms and conditions that apply to the license. For example, payment and transaction details, or the obligation for the client to credit you each time they use the photo.
You may also refer to your terms and conditions with a link to your website or add them to your digital image license agreement.
Are you still a bit clueless on how to write a Digital Image License Agreement?
Don’t worry. I have two license agreement templates here for you that you can download for free from the Freebie Library.
One is a Royalty Free Digital Image License Agreement Template and the other one is an Extended Royalty Free Digital Image License Agreement Template.
Both templates come as .DOCX and .RTF documents and are fully editable. You can modify the license terms, insert your logo, and convert the license agreement into a PDF. Once you’ve adapted everything to your personal needs, you can use it to sell your own photography, digital art, etc. – at your conditions!
What you will get with the Digital Image License Agreement Template:
- 3-5 Pages (each licensing template)
- Fully editable text
- DOCX and RTF
- Logo placeholder
- Image description field
- First part: Overview (image & license information)
- Second part: Detailed regulations adaptable to your personal needs
Grab your FREE License Agreement Template now
I hoped this post on how to write a digital image license agreement was helpful! Feel free to share it with other artists who also consider selling their images! See you in the next post, Angie ^^
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