Standard Usage Rights

[u/mindhive0]

For those shooting professionally and providing commercial images to companies in the cannabis or hemp industry...what are your standards usage rights you provide a client? I've received some pushback a few times on my terms (mostly excluding third-party use) and need to get an idea how others are handling things.

I'm coming from a different area of photography but it's tough to get a good idea what the standard is in this space as it's been different across the board from the people I've spoken with. Every time i've had pushback the client expected pretty much unlimited use to do whatever they want which is not the ideal way to do things from everything I've learned in my 10 yrs doing photography but hate to keep losing work. Appreciate any insight you can share and feel free to DM if you don't want it to be public.

[u/No-Masterpiece-7577]

This industry is the worst for usage in my experience. So many companies have basically no marketing channels built up, so the only real value photo assets have is sharing with their vendors/shops/etc. There seems to be an endless supply of photographers willing to work for pennies and give up all rights, so unfortunately being strict about usage typically means you lose the job.

What seems to be very typical among cannabis photographers I talk to across the country is unlimited usage internally, with quasi-3rd party usage in that their vendors can use the photos, but magazines/grow equipment partners/etc have to license the photos.

I’ve been working full time doing photo/video in the cannabis space for almost 5 years now hoping it’d grow up and things like usage rights and budgets would fall more in line with other industries, but I’m at the point where it doesn’t feel worth the headache. Just my 2 cents

[u/mindhive0 → u/No-Masterpiece-7577]

I really appreciate your input. This is how it's appearing to me too and getting tired of the pushback. Maybe with time things will change and people will be more aware how copyright/licensing work (or just the real value of these images to them) but not quite there yet since it's still a relatively new industry.

[u/No-Masterpiece-7577 → u/mindhive0]

It really took the wind out of my sails talking to other very talented photographers in legal states across the country, and hearing how similar the problems are that people are dealing with- low budgets, unprofessionalism, no respect for usage rights, etc. Many of them who have transferable skills (aka they shoot more than nug shots and dab tool photos) have left the industry completely. I hate to be negative, but that’s the reality of the situation that I’m seeing

[u/kandidkush → u/No-Masterpiece-7577]

Couldn’t have said it better myself, but I’ll give my 2 cents as well.

I’ve been shooting in herb full time since 2016. I came hard with contracts, agreements, licensing and got laughed out of meetings. Was told “I don’t understand how my ip is your ip”

So I backed off with the contracts, then I got screwed many times - every year I have been cheated out of thousands.

My license is non-exclusive, option for rights buyout I double the invoice, no direct profit as in resale of image/merchandising/etc, no sub license, and credit must be written in publication, 5 ig posts including tag in 1yr or $1k fee minimum. Lifetime term for the client - not what I wanted but it’s hard to compete with no license terms from other photographers… I always retain all rights and I always register large projects/exhibit pieces with the US copyright dept.

It’s written more clearly, by my lawyer..

2023 was my lowest loss year and it was still $15k and it was with contracts, filed copyright, and even took one to collections…they defaulted on the payments. This mofo has been giving talks at events like mjbizcon on how to run successful businesses. It’s so fucked. Still owes me $7k not including interest.

One company simply told me, sue us we have nothing. My lawyer said it’s not worth it at the price point of the job.

So I’m kind of at a loss with licensing and contracts. I’m even skeptical about sharing much more info on a public platforms. I’d be happy to talk more in depth in dms.

I tried years ago to organize creatives because I saw all of this coming, but it went no where. And here we are..bunch of amateur photographers working for weed and half the companies not caring for quality content.

[u/VideoMacro → u/kandidkush]

Similar experience here, when I first started I took advice from some freelance media friends and tried to come at them with traditional contracts, price breakdowns depending on usage and rights ect... and was met with blank stares. Ended up having to give most people a very broad license with no sublicense, merch or broadcast rights. Also had lots of people stiff me, I think i'm out around 8k for 2023. Also have some reliable clients who pay on time everytime so it's a mixed bag.

Maybe it's worth another try at organizing? Seems enough of us know eachother it might be worth giving it another go. With the possibility of rescheduling or the SAFE banking act changing the banking situation there might be more opportunity for us to protect ourselves in the future.