One of the most challenging parts of being a commercial photographer is the estimate. It such an essential skill that has taken me years to get figured out (and I still make improvements every time I do one). One of my biggest stumbling blocks was the Usage Language. Usage is how you assign your creative fee. The more usage, the more it costs. But there are so many ways to describe the same types of usage. And so many different photographers and reps use different variations of Usage Language that I imagine it’s it’s hard for a buyer/client to compare one estimate from another. I think I’ve lost a couple jobs because of this discrepancy.
Enter PLUS, or Picture Licensing Universal System (www.useplus.org). PLUS is a non-profit organization that has been created to simplify and streamline the Usage Language process. It’s good for photographers as well as for illustrators. Since I started using PLUS, it has saved me probably about an hour of work for each estimate. With local clients, I typically use the PLUS Packs to spell out the Usage License. Local clients have broad needs on a small scale, so I typically give them something like Print Advertising (PAPA), Marketing Materials (PAMM), and Web and Electronic Advertising (PAWE) for my standard rate. With bigger ad jobs, I use PLUS’s media selector to create a custom made license. When you do this, PLUS spits out a chain of capital letters that make no sense at first, but when you plug them in to the PLUS decoder you get the Usage Language.
If every photographer used the same system, then the client could then pick the photographer based on merit and costs, not what usage language sounded like a better deal. If we’re all talking about the same thing, then everyone wins.
The next evolution in using PLUS is to embed the PLUS Matrix IDs into your files. This way, everyone knows exactly what the photos can be used for and it can be easily referenced. I really hope it catches on because it will save everyone a lot of legal headache later.
-lincoln
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