Dear Bruce,
I have been involved in working with image licensing on both sides -- both as a vendor and as someone overseeing the work of vendors. Happy to share my experiences and answer any questions you might have.
From the perspective of a vendor, I can tell you that the bid estimates are going to be a function of three variables -- the number of images that need to be licensed, the number of repositories these images come from, and the quality of the image source information. The first two are pretty straight forward, but the third issue is the one that I would be most concerned about. I suspect that any vendor will want to see a copy of the image list before submitting a bid to make sure they wont have to spend a lot of time tracking down images that don't have solid source information.
You may also want to negotiate a plan for what happens in the event that an image cannot be located, sourced, or used for some reason. This can happen in a number of ways, but the most common is the technical problem that an image can't be acquired at sufficient resolution for the intended design use - e.g.. if can be challenging to enlarge an historic image to be used a large exhibit mural unless the vendor can re-scan an original copy, which isn't always possible. So, when carrying out this kind of project, I liked to add a provision that spelled out who was responsible for finding alternative options (i.e. either indicating that it was the museum's responsibility for finding a replacement, or specifying that we would carry out the research at some piece rate cost).
The other issue I suspect you want to address is establishing a budget for the image license costs. There is obviously a large range here depending on where the image is coming from. You will want to establish some preferred licensing term goals -- especially for stock photo sources like Getty, Granger, AP, etc. (e.g. do you want a 20 year license or a 10 year license, do you need to consider multiple use bundling if the same image is going to be used for on-line exhibits, promotional materials, etc.). Any reasonable vendor should be able to provide you with a general estimate of image licensing costs based on a final image list, but this is going to be just an estimate until you begin negotiating. For example, I can usually talk Getty down by 40-50% from their standard catalog prices if I am ordering a significant number of images from them, but it really depends on what kinds of images. We also like to do a check to make sure that there are any public domain alternatives for images coming from stock photo companies -- I had paying Getty for something I know comes from the National Archives and I could get myself for free rather than handing over $500 to them.
Along the same lines, you may want to ask the vendor for a sample of their standard image use agreement documentation in the even you are using images from more obscure sources that might not have a standard image license agreement of its own. For example, I have a standard version based on some National Park Service standards that essentially asks for as broad use permission as possible -- but there may be some legal issues that need some guidance from the museum OGC.
Hope this is helpful, but please let me know if you have any questions.
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James Lide PhD
Director, Exhibits and Interpretive Planning
Gallagher & Associates
Silver Spring MD
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-27-2017 01:20 PM
From: Bruce Falk
Subject: Seeking copyright clearance/digital asset brokers
Hi, everybody. I'm in the process of drafting a solicitation to hire a company who can broker and track licenses for and obtain suitable digital copies of materials for our upcoming Americans and the Holocaust initiative (and on an optional basis for the Museum's needs writ large). The majority of these are likely to be text, images, sound recordings, and audiovisual content originating in the 1940s and 1950s.
If you've ever worked with (or are) such a broker/clearinghouse, I'd love to hear from you.
Best regards,
Bruce A. Falk Contracting Officer 202.314.7828United States Holocaust Memorial Museumwww.ushmm.org
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