We often undervalue our digital assets, gravitating towards tangible items instead. Our innate mindset tends to disregard the unseen, deeming it trivial. Yet, vigilance towards our digital content is crucial. This significance hit home for me when I unexpectedly encountered not one, but two inquiries regarding the licensing of stock photos.
Website photos are digital assets and they can come from many different sources. They can be photos you’ve taken or paid a photographer to create. They can also be stock photos, obtained from any one of a number of platforms that sell them such as Shutterstock, Depositphotos, Adobestock and istockphoto.
Do you know where each photo on your website came from?
Businesses, individuals, and website designers/developers/vendors use stock photos to visually enhance a website or other digital property. I’ve been blogging since 2010 and back then, I had no idea that you couldn’t just use any photo found on Google. But, I quickly learned that most online photos are copyrighted – that one needs a license to use someone else’s photo – and so I quickly changed how I obtained and utilized online photos.
My recent stock photo license inquiry
A few weeks ago, I received an email from two different companies: Dreamstime and Copytrack. Neither of these companies seemed legit to me but I treated the inquiries as if they were. Both alleged photo copyright infringement (which I knew was untrue because I pay for every stock photo). Both referenced a photo on my website (not the same one), more specifically photos used in my blog posts.
It’s scary to get emails accusing you of breaking the law and demanding $900 if the license can’t be produced! Both photos in question were from 2017 and both inquiries wanted proof that I had a license for each image. That was where I got caught off-guard and why I’m telling you this story.
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Investigating my history of stock photo purchases
Back in 2017, I was using two different stock image platforms. One was bought by another company and I was unable to access my former account. Luckily, I could access the other account and I found one of the images in question that I had purchased. That particular platform doesn’t provide license documentation so I took a screenshot of the photo showing my purchase and that satisfied the request.
The other photo came from a platform I currently use. They provide a PDF license for each photo and I was able to provide that to the requester. Whew!
Even though both of these emails seemed very suspect, I still took them seriously and I’m glad I did.
But what would’ve happened had I not remembered which platform I had used in 2017? Or if the platform I purchased the photo from simply wasn’t available anymore? I had only downloaded photos (not the licenses) so I would’ve had no recourse.
Then I remembered that the photo owner likely has access to who has purchased his/her photos, so I wondered why these “companies” were trying to shake me down for unlicensed use. They likely have software that crawls the web looking for photos and then take a percentage of the money collected from unlicensed use.
Shakedowns aren’t fun so here’s what I did to remedy any future inquiry
I don’t like getting shakedown emails so for the last week, I’ve been downloading the license for every photo I’ve purchased, whether it was for Kruse Control or for a client: 774 images! I’ll admit that it wasn’t very fun but it’s better than not having the documentation and being subjected to a shakedown and worse: having to pay!
Learn by my stock photo shakedown experience
I encourage you to examine your digital assets, in this case any photos you or your company don’t own, that are on your website. Find each one and make sure you have the license on file because I’m pretty sure this shakedown isn’t isolated to my little website.
To inspire you, here are some scenarios where you might be forced to pay a “settlement” when using stock photos:
- You simply don’t remember where the photo came from.
- Your website designer/developer used photos for your website and they don’t have the necessary licenses.
- An employee used stock photos but is no longer on staff. You don’t know which site they might have used and/or you don’t have that site’s login info.
- A stock photo site you once used is no longer in business and your account is no longer accessible, such as in my case where Adobe Stock purchased Fotolia in 2015.
All of this has led me to do a deeper dive into modern stock photo usage. I’ve compiled some tips and best practices and if you’re already practicing good digital asset management, scroll down to read the balance of this post.
Modern stock photo license and usage overview
Stock photo licensing and usage rights dictate how a purchaser can use an image. These rights vary based on the agreement between the photographer or agency and the buyer. Here’s a general overview of the different stock photo licensing and usage rights but please contact your own legal advisor for specific details and guidance.
- Royalty-Free (RF):
- Characteristics: Pay a one-time fee for an image and use it multiple times for various purposes.
- Limitations: There may be restrictions on the number of print copies, duration of web use, etc., but these vary by agency.
- Exclusivity: No exclusivity. Other buyers can purchase and use the same image.
- Rights-Managed (RM) or Licensed Images:
- Characteristics: License images for a specific use, duration, and territory. Price varies depending on these parameters.
- Limitations: Use is limited to the terms of the agreement. Any additional use requires another license.
- Exclusivity: Can offer exclusivity for a specified duration or territory, preventing others from licensing the same image for similar use during that time.
- Extended or Enhanced License:
- Characteristics: An extension of the RF license, allowing broader usage, such as more print copies or use in products for resale.
- Limitations: Specific to the agency and the license agreement.
- Exclusivity: Typically, no exclusivity.
- Editorial Use Only:
- Characteristics: Images used for editorial purposes like news, blogs, and other non-commercial platforms.
- Limitations: Cannot be used for commercial purposes, advertising, or promotions.
- Exclusivity: No exclusivity.
- Creative Commons (CC):
- Characteristics: Not exclusive to stock photos, but a licensing system for all creative works. Allows creators to specify usage rights they want to grant.
- Limitations: Varies based on the specific Creative Commons license chosen by the creator (e.g., CC BY requires attribution).
- Exclusivity: No exclusivity.
- Public Domain:
- Characteristics: Images not under copyright, free for use by anyone.
- Limitations: None, but always verify that an image is genuinely in the public domain before use.
- Exclusivity: No exclusivity.
- Personal Use License:
- Characteristics: Allows users to use images for personal projects, like scrapbooks or personal websites.
- Limitations: Cannot be used for commercial purposes.
- Exclusivity: No exclusivity.
- Commercial License:
- Characteristics: Allows users to use images for commercial purposes, including advertising, promotions, and merchandise.
- Limitations: Specified by the licensing agreement.
- Exclusivity: Can be exclusive or non-exclusive.
When purchasing or using a stock photo, it’s essential to read the licensing agreement thoroughly to understand the permissions and limitations. Not adhering to these licenses can lead to legal consequences, including scary emails.
I’m not going to lie, using online images has become a minefield. Whether those two companies were legit or not, I don’t take threats lightly. Even though I’ve practiced what I thought was sufficient, I will pay even closer attention to any photo I use from here on out.
Use these tips to help you navigate the online image minefield:
- Purchase licenses: Opt to purchase licenses or subscribe to stock photo platforms to access high-quality, legally safe imagery.
- Use an AI image generator such as Dall-E2 or Midjourney. This requires more knowledge/skills of AI prompts (what to tell the generator to get the image you’re looking for) but the images produced are not copyrighted…yet.
- Create original content: Generate your own images, graphics, and visual content, eliminating the risk of infringement and offering a unique aesthetic to your brand or platform.
- Leverage free resources: Utilize stock photo websites that offer images for free use, ensuring that any licensing requirements, such as attribution or non-commercial use restrictions, are adhered to. The free sites I use are Unsplash, Pexels, Gratisography, Freepic and Stockvault.
- Steer clear of public domain images: Some people advise using images that are in the public domain (and thus free from copyright restrictions). Most of the time these images won’t work creatively and unless you’re an expert in public domain, things get very tricky so I recommend steering clear of these.
- Seek permission: If a particular image catches your eye, and you just can’t find anything else that works, you can contact the creator or copyright holder to ask for permission or to negotiate a license. Not the best route but it’s available.
Organizational Best Practices:
- From a creative standpoint, when using your own photos, use candid shots whenever possible. They’re more engaging and customers can visualize themselves in those candid scenarios.
- Hire a website-specific photographer. The process will force you to be thoughtful and deliberate with how you’re conveying your brand online…and the visuals will be next level.
- If you buy stock photos, download each license when you download each photo.
- For peace of mind, always keep a record of license purchases and downloads from stock photo websites. If questioned about your usage rights (like I was), you’ll be able to provide evidence of legitimate use quickly.
- Keep a record of all downloaded photos, date downloaded and where they were used (website, social media, print media, etc).
- Add a clause in your Policy for Employee Use of Social Media for lifetime blanket licensing of employee-owned photos and employee likenesses contained in photos.
- If you are using a website vendor, such as what many franchise car dealers use, require your vendor to provide license information for the photos they used on your site. If you get one of those dreaded emails, it will be you, not the vendor who they’ll demand payment from.
- When using images from a royalty-free site, always give attribution. It’s good practice, and it’s kind and respectful to reciprocate. ProTip: Provide attribution on purchased stock photos. Then you’ll have a backup record of where the photos came from.
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