Licensing is hard to understand, so let’s break it down!

When you buy a song on iTunes you don’t own the song, you buy the license to listen to the song.  For example, when you buy a Justin Bieber song you don’t own it, but you can listen to it. Makes sense right?

So now let’s talk about it in our industry. Similarly, photographers own the photos they take. So, when a realtor hires a real estate photographer to take photos of a real estate listing, they are paying for a temporary LICENSE for one specific person (realtor) to USE those photos for a specific purpose (advertise your listing). Still with us?

Awesome!

Often interior designers, architects and stagers also want access to use the photos…what to do?? Not a problem! Many real estate photographers, including us, use separate licenses for the same photos for any additional parties, ie. stagers, interior designers, architects. Hurray!

The basic concept is this, don't give photos that are licensed to you away to anyone without first consulting with the entity that owns the copyright (i.e. us).

This is so important, that it’s even in our terms and conditions. When realtors book with us they agree upon booking, that they cannot not share the photos with architects, interior designers, developers and stagers.

Some photographers may not discuss photo licensing with you. This may be either because they just haven't taken the time or they don't intend to re-license the photos. In any case, don't assume the lack of a discussion about photo ownership means that you, the agent, own listing photos taken by a professional real estate photographer. You don't. Always check with the photographer before giving listing photos taken for you by a professional photographer to anyone.

Congratulations! You graduated Photo Licensing 101!

It can be tough to navigate all of the dos and don’ts of photo licensing, but we’re here to help! Want to learn even more? Check out the videos posted below, and as always if you ever have a question, our lines are always open for you!