Royalty Terms

[Creon]

Hi All,

I've just finished a commission for Diversity Week for a Local Council Institution. There is some potential for reproduction in magazines etc which would be good exposure, but I was wondering what kind of terms after sale regarding copyright etc seems reasonable. To be honest, they're a pretty decent client and I'm not expecting any underhandedness, but it'd be a useful learning curve to hear your thoughts/experiences on this or similar issues.

Thanks in advance...

[evomedia]

You sure really have a contract sorted before doing any work, in that contract you should always include that copyright ownership remains with you, if they want to question that you can always arrange additional payment if they want to buy the rights, also stating what you own, like all orginal footage remains the property of etc.

Also you should specify what usage they are allowed, ie not for resale, or not for broadcast or specific terms,

Generally if its a decent client I'd let them use the work as they want if they paid a reasonable fee to start with but I'd still include copyright info in the contract, most of the time the main point of specifying copyright is too ensure they dont just try and steal the work or get part of a project done and then skip off before payment, or at worst start pulling videos out of your work for use in other projects etc.

You can generally download ready done contracts on the web with a bit of looking, or view the copyright info on media companies sites

Stuff like
http://www.contractstore.com/consultant-contract-terms

I personally like this one
http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/17/865818#865818

[Creon]

Originally Posted by evomedia

I personally like this one
http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/17/865818#865818

Mmm... How to be a gimp in 12 easy steps!! Now THAT would be an interesting career change.

SO, what would be a reasonable fee for the rights to a piece? 'How long is a piece of string?'... A percentage of the original fee? How is copyright calculated?