Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/04/26
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]austin wrote >>> Imagine if you had to pay your landscaper every time you used your lawn. You paid him to do the work, so why should you pay him for the use of his work that he did FOR you after the fact? He was creative in performing his 'art'. He was not an employee...yet no landscaper in the world asks for 'use royalties'... <<< The difference is that you don't charge someone for every time they look at your picture, you charge them for every time a client uses it in a new context. Because he's getting paid (now or later) for that further use. In the end, even editorial is basically backdoor advertising, as it gets people to look at the magazine which advertises the products. Since this is so, the editorial photographer takes a cut (usually miniscule), effectively, of the total advertising + circulation take of the magazine. Look at it this way: it's not the toaster but the design of the toaster which is copyrighted (patented). If someone wants to use that design to produce their own toaster they _do_ have to pay rights to the developer of the design. Just imagine Salgado or anyone who produces a beautiful image (for whatever purpose) being paid once only for its use. Take the example of the late Raghubir Singh, a brilliant Indian colour photographer. He was regarded as "difficult" because he wanted to be paid for his exhibitions. Of course, the curator, the framers, and everyone else got paid. And the museums charged entrance. But Singh was supposed to be giving it away for free. The problem is not that greedy photographers are getting paid too much, far from it! They have to struggle to get paid even for the first use, let alone in the museum twenty years later! Photographs don't generally get used in a commercial context unless the user is making (or hoping to make) money out of their use. And if the user is making money, so should the photographer (who is supplying the draw). The amazing thing about Korda is that as far as I know he has earned virtually nothing for one of the most used images of the last forty years. We all had that image on our walls as kids and the poster companies paid him nothing for one of their best selling products. If he's complaining now, I would be inclined to believe his stated motives. Rob. Robert Appleby and Sue Darlow Via Bellentani 36 41100 Modena Italy Tel/fax [39] 059 303436