Sorry i have more questions about RM and RF,anybody give me a hand?

1) How to decide choose RM or RF?
2) If I have model release or property release ,which kind of license can get more download/ sales revenue?
3)Buyers in Alamy prefer RM or RF photo?
4)What's the purpose for Almy set RM and RF not like SS only RF and editorial?So confused about RM..


Thanks  a million for your explaination.

Agree with Sue.


Just go over to the Alamy forum and ask questions over there. There are also a few threads explaining RM and RF. Just look for them.

I've never understood RM either, and wish I did.  If anyone finds or knows of a thread or page that clearly explains it, please post a link here.  I don't think that just searching Alamy's forum for  "RM" is going to be very helpful.

Rights managed. You purchase a licence for one purpose. If you want to use the image for something else, you need to by a new licence again. The rights are managed. So if you buy an image for a book, you pay that licence, if you then want to stick it on your website as well, you need to buy another licence. You can also upload every single photo you have without releases as its up to the buyer to decide how to use the image and if releases are needed for what they intend to do with the image.

Quote from: Poncke on October 24, 2012, 13:22

Quote from: stockastic on October 24, 2012, 13:04

I've never understood RM either, and wish I did.  If anyone finds or knows of a thread or page that clearly explains it, please post a link here.  I don't think that just searching Alamy's forum for  "RM" is going to be very helpful.

Rights managed. You purchase a licence for one purpose. If you want to use the image for something else, you need to by a new licence again. The rights are managed. So if you buy an image for a book, you pay that licence, if you then want to stick it on your website as well, you need to buy another licence. You can also upload every single photo you have without releases as its up to the buyer to decide how to use the image and if releases are needed for what they intend to do with the image.

That's not necessarily anything to do with RM/RF.
Alamy have decided that (at least for the time being) they do not want to offer Editorial RF files. Other sites do.
RM can be released commercial work OR unreleased editorial work.

Also, to add to the above, Royalty Free means once you purchase a file, you can use and reuse it many times for different purposes, subject to the rules of the site you purchased from (extended licences might be needed for some purposes).

RF files are often priced by size sold; RM are priced by use (which may include size) and degree of exclusivity, which may range from no exclusivity (cheapest) to high exclusivity (e.g. all book, magazine and newspaper rights, worldwide, for 25 years) which could be very expensive on some sites.

He asked about RM and I answered that question. The part in bold is specifically true for RM, but not limited to RM, but he didnt ask about RF editorial.

That tells us quite a bit, but doesn't give us a basis for decision - the pros and cons of RF vs RM in terms of dollars and sales prospects.

No one can answer that. RM maniacs tell you that RM sells best, RF maniacs tell you that RF is better.

Some people say you need a mix of RM and RF over a few agencies.

I have only RF at the moment, but I am going to submit loads of images I do not have releases for as RM.

That tells us quite a bit, but doesn't give us a basis for decision - the pros and cons of RF vs RM in terms of dollars and sales prospects.

It Depends... (really!) Read what Poncke wrote, opinions will vary. And honest Captain, if you go back to the first days of the forum, you'll probably find people asking the same question. I doubt if there's a definitive answer. You need to look at what you shoot and who will be most likely to buy it. Then decide for yourself.

This part is pure answer from Poncke: Rights managed. You purchase a license for one purpose. If you want to use the image for something else, you need to by a new license again. That's the bottom line. Price depends on use, area, volume, duration, and size. (there might be more, but that's the idea.)

RF - Royalty-free, refers to the right to use copyrighted material or intellectual property without the need to pay royalties for each use or per volume sold, or eventual use size, counties of distribution, type of use, or some time period of use or sales. (although there are some limits depending on the license, but those vary. Some have term licenses, some are forever. Some have use limits, some don't. Etc.)

But very simply, RM the license is for each specific use. RF the license is for the right to use something in many possible ways.

RM Editorial and RF Editorial should be a whole different thread.

Quote from: stockastic on October 24, 2012, 13:04

I've never understood RM either, and wish I did.  If anyone finds or knows of a thread or page that clearly explains it, please post a link here.  I don't think that just searching Alamy's forum for  "RM" is going to be very helpful.

Go to the various sites and pretend to be a buyer. Select an image and start down the license path (stop before approving the purchase so you don't spend money).  Even on Alamy the RF and RM paths will be different.  For RF there is a price list (tab) right on the image details page which shows the price by size. For an RM image you will have to make a bunch of selections related to the exact use for which you will pay.  For RF you likely need not pay for second and subsequent uses.  For RM you must calculate a new license for each new set of usage selections.

Then read and compare the buyer licenses for RF and RM. Even from multiple sites.

As a contributor I generally decide:
Have model/proptery releases?
no=RM (editorial), yes=either RM or RF

High or low volume sales?
high= RF, low= RM

Would customer likely want to use this once or many times?
Once= RM, many= RF

Easily repeatable photo (isolated apple)?
yes= RF, no= RM

Based solely on those criteria, most of my stuff would apparently do better as RM.  Interesting.

That tells us quite a bit, but doesn't give us a basis for decision - the pros and cons of RF vs RM in terms of dollars and sales prospects.

Think about it this way: in the old film days, everything in the trad-agencies was RM, there wasnt anything else. No RM/RF agency is going to commit themselves, saying one sell better then the other.
Professional stock-photographers will put up pics for sale as RM but only if they think the picture is top commercial, nieched, etc and in the hope of big sales, ofcourse involving all the purchase oif rights.
Here is a typical example of an RM sale, involving rights license, etc.
Picture:    800 dollars.
Rights/worldrights:  2000 dollars.

So, you see?  the actual rights /Worldrights business is actually far more expensive then the actual picture and it also prevents any other buyer to use that particular picture for the stipulated rights-time. Ofcourse! few buyers need worldrights, this was just one example.
Getty, is by far the biggest and best RM agency, they will only accept the very best material as RM. Thats their creame of the crop, hence its almost impossible for somebody today to get into their house( Stone, Image-bank collections).
Alamy, Mastefile, Jupiter, Corbis, etc, I believe accept almost anything as RM, as long as it doesnt clash with anything else, exclusive basis that is.