Selling Digital Files? – what are you waiting for...

Selling digital files does not mean that you are giving up your copyright to the photo. Copyrights are created the moment you take the photo and they are valid 70 years following your death. By selling digital files to your customer, you are in control of what rights are given as part of the consideration. If you want to relinquish all rights for a price then do so. If you just want someone to be able to make prints or other products with the photo for their own personal use, then by all means that is your right. Copyrights are not an all or nothing game. They are a negotiated based on what the artist, you the photographer, are willing to part with for the sum of money given. If you want to sell a low resolution web photo to be used on social networking sites such as MySpace.com or Facebook.com, go for it and price it appropriately with written limitations that clearly state the rights that you are giving to the buyer. Same goes for a high resolution digital file that is sold to a portrait customer that may want to make prints in the future, upload to their own photo sharing site and/or create a photo book.

Supply and demand are still the same in the digital world - it is the price and product that changes. Just as print sizes determine pricing in the analog days, resolution and transferred copyrights determine pricing in the new digital era. To better understand your copyrights, here are a few links that will assist you in determining what you have and how you can price your digital files to best fit your business:

Learn all the facts:
http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html

Different licensing options:
http://creativecommons.org/about/license/

Don’t be afraid of selling digital files, however do your homework and make sure you are comfortable with what you are selling. If your photos are showing up on social networking sites, web pages or blogs that means that photo is of value to the person who placed it there. Give them an opportunity to pay you for its use rather than just getting angry that they didn’t purchase a print from you. This doesn’t mean that prints are dead, they are just one of many uses for a professional photo. Tying your professional service into an old commodity like a print will only hurt your ability to meet the changing demands of your customers. The game has changed so adjust your product offering to include digital files before your competition renders you irrelevant.

Share your ideas and thoughts on this subject – post a comment or e-mail me at gmcfarland@expressdigital.com.