How to price this

If I shoot a band on spec, then send them the images to see if they want to use any and they come back and say they would like to use them on their website, how would I price something like that? Thanks.

 

Be sure and send watermarked images because it's very possible they'll get copied. I would just let them know I have images. I wouldn't show what I have until I thought there was some interest.

You price based on usage. What you sell is a use license for each image. If they want to use 5 images they buy 5 use licenses.

Your use license stipulates how the band is allowed to use the images and for what time period. So you sell a license so they can use the image on their web site (but no printed material) for 1 year. If, at the end of the year they want to continue using the image the have to buy another use license or take the image down.

 

Well thats my question - they want to use images on their website. So what do I charge for that?

 

Welcome to the business side of photography.

What happened to "If I shoot a band on spec"?

I would have replied differently if you had said. "I shot a band on spec and now they want to use some of my images."

You charge what the traffic will bear.

I sure don't have enough information to quote you a specific number for your situation. So what's the whole story here?

Are they selling their music on the web site, or anywhere else? How many hits a day on the site? How long do they want to use the images? Do they want to use the images for anything other than the web site?

But if you just want a number pulled out of thin air....Charge 'em $10 an image.

 

A general comment:

Unless the band is the Rolling Stones, I wouldn't waste your time shooting anything on spec.

Strike a deal first... get at least half your payment up front... then go out and take some rockin' (pardon the pun) pictures.

Shooting on spec is a losing game... because it shows the band that you have no confidence in your own abilities. And if they do end up paying, it's going to be peanuts.

Instead, position yourself as the music photographer... and make the bands come to you. This might take a bit more work on the front end, sure, but it'll pay off exponentially down the road.

Good luck,
Jim

 

I disagree. to me the offer to shoot on spec says: I'll take the risk because I know that i can shoot something that you cannot resist buying.

I may be wrong, but that's how I see it.

now suppose that i go and try to sell my services to some band and they say: "sure go ahead on spec, cause we already got a guy..." that says to me that the BAND does not have much confidence in me but they are willing to look at what i can bring back just in case.

choose your poison: shoot on spec and maybe sell a little, get shot down at the pitch and sell nothing.

either way without an established name those may be your choices.

to the OP: why not try to parlay this pic into a deal to shoot for them? now they know you can deliver, so see what future work you can contract. you might say, my normal price for this shot would be $300, but if you contract me now for your next gig @ $250, then you can get the pic for $100.

remember that in life everything is negotiable, and if they won't go high enough to suit you then walk away with your image.

good luck
jerry

 

Hey Jerry...

Whereas to me it says: I can't get anybody to pay me for my work, so I'm scrounging for work wherever I can get it.

The problem is that there is no shortage of photographers out there... and many of them are willing to work for peanuts (which does a dis-service to all photographers). The odds of producing something so brilliant that they can't resist it are probably fairly small.

This I definitely do agree with.

Jim

 

I don't think shooting on spec says I am scronging at all. It provides an opportunnity for new contacts and a new group of people to take notice of your work. As far as shooting on spec and then showing them something that they cant't resist, well this is highly likely i my opinion. Alot of the bands in I see have just aweful photos on their website that are taken by a point and shoot camera, blurry, red eye, washed out from flash, ect. If someone comes along and shows interest in your band and can provide professional photos, when before it was the lead singers girlfriend snapping with a crappy point and shoot from the audience, I think they would jump at the chance. Shooting on spec is a neccesity sometimes. Especially right now, eI have been doing photography for 15 years, but only now am branching out into band photography, so I can't approach bands and say book me without an extensive portfolio. So I shoot on spec and then see what comes.
As a side note, can someone tell me how to quote a few sentences from a post? I can only seem to quote the whole thing. Thanks

 

Just go into the quote and delete what you don't want.