3 Things You Should Considering when Pricing Your Projects
Artists & Creators should own their copyrights.
All artists and creators need to know how to protect their intellectual property rights, including copyrights, rights of publicity or personality, and moral rights. The artist or creator would benefit financially and strengthens their legacy to create a viable way to provide for themselves.
WHAT IS COPYRIGHT.
Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the US to the creators of “original works of authorship” including literary, dramatic, musical, and visual arts. (i.e. photography, mural art, graphic design, etc.)
All artwork (specifically murals and photography) should be registered with Visual Artworks with the U.S. Copyright Office prior to publishing the work anywhere (specifically online). This would offer you the most protection if anyone were to infringe on your copyrights.
Registration is costs around $65. You can register your work here.
MURAL ARTISTS.
Additionally, your work is automatically protected under The Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (VARA), 17 U.S.C. § 106A. This is a United States law granting certain rights to mural artists.
READ THE FINE PRINT.
In light of recent events, artists and creators are often taken advantage of due to unethical practices and companies preying on unknowing artists looking for opportunities. This could look like contests and giveaways asking artists to not only pay to enter, but also pay with their time, effort, materials, supplies, and intellectual property. Carefully read all the fine print and contracts to ensure the language does not request for you to create any work under “work-for-hire” or surrendering away your copyrights and/or your licensing fee, especially without additional compensation or royalties, under the pretense of “exposure”.
Understand your overhead expenses.
A lot of artists and creators make the mistake of not knowing how to calculate their breakeven analysis and understanding how much they need to charge in order to make a living. Artists tend to “sell themselves” rather than the value of what they offer to the clients. If you’re only charging for the final piece of artwork itself, it is likely you are undercharging and potentially signing contracts that could be exploiting you.
MURAL ARTISTS: WHAT TO INCLUDE IN YOUR PRICING.
You will want to decide if you want to charge a flat rate or separates rates like a Design Rate + Mural Painting Rate + Licensing Fee. I would recommend the latter.
DESIGN RATES should include:
Commissioned design
Creative Brief
Up to 2 revisions for approval
Optional, or additional fees that can be included with design rates:
Vector conversion of design
Licensing / Usage Fees
Discounts should only be given if you have full creative freedom with a general direction or limited color options and no design approval required. (i.e. discounts are reserved for those that make your life easier.)
MURAL PAINTING RATE should include:
Pricing per square footage to paint
Additional fees that can be included with mural painting rates:
Licensing
Travel & accommodations (hotels, flights, meals, car rental, etc. for out-of-town work)
Equipment, such as scissor lifts, boom lifts
Wall prep
Specialty Coating
Liability Insurance
Client provisions can be added to alleviate things such as wall prep and clean-up after the installation.
Your quote would be calculated by adding up the Design Rates with the Mural Painting Rates and licensing fee, if applicable. This number should cover your overhead expenses and time spent on the project at the very least.
Artists and Creators need to start charging a licensing fee.
Pricing artwork sucks especially when you don’t know where to start or how much to charge. There’s a lot of fear, lack of transparency, and education for the artist and the consumer can be overwhelming but it doesn’t have to be.
YOUR ART BRINGS VALUE.
If your clients haven’t worked with artists or creators before, they may not be sure what to expect when it comes to pricing. Educating your clients on the value of your work is one of the most important things you can do BEFORE you give them a price. Think of it as a way to manage expectations.
Your ability to reiterate lasting impact of your work is crucial. Clients need to understand the work goes beyond the project length and they are paying for an experience and long-term results.
WHERE TO START.
If you’re new to licensing, research and transparency is key. This creates a standard across the board so we don’t have varying price discrepancy across the local community. You can ask a friend how they quoted a similar job or submit your rates into the Creator Rates Database.
From here, you can open the conversation with your client by asking them what their budget is. It doesn’t hurt to ask. Understanding where their budget so you can cater the proposal to their needs. In the event that their budget is too low, you can let them know that their budget doesn’t align with your rates at this time and keep the door open in case they have room to budge within their budget down the line.
Artwork, such as murals and photographs, are meant to be interactive for the public to engage with and to share via PERSONAL use online, like social media. However, BRANDS & COMPANIES using artwork, such as murals and photographs, will need to properly obtain clearance and permission from the artist.
Artists, you should develop a standard licensing rates for your work in addition to your mural pricing.
WHO LICENSES ARE FOR.
As the creator economy evolves into the digital realm, it may be overwhelming trying to decide who has access to your artwork and how they are allowed to use it. Some of the main industries that would need to purchase a license from an artist or creators are as follows:
JOURNALISM & MEDIA.
You may think journalists & media sites can repost your work without permission or obtaining a license, but that’s not the case. You can offer them discounted license rates ONLY if the artwork appears on media platforms that PURELY FOCUSES on news & editorial content (i.e. NYT, Forbes, local news site, etc.)
SPONSORED CONTENT on any sites SHOULD NOT qualify for these discounted rates and definitely should be purchasing a license to repost your work. This includes photography, murals, etc.
So if these sites want to feature your work whether it be (i.e. blog, article, etc.), they do need to obtain clearance and permission with the artist. If a journalism site wants to use a photo of an artist’s work, they will need to obtain clearance and permission from the photographer(s) and the artist. In the same vein, photographers cannot sell photos of murals or other artists’ work without obtaining clearance and permission from the artist.
BRANDS, COMPANIES, & THIRD-PARTY INFLUENCERS
Standard package licensing rates for any photo or video usage of artwork that appear on any type of media including but not limited to: social media, broadcast, print, OOH, & digital. Brands are ultimately responsible for obtaining PROPER CLEARANCE for any content created by third party creators such as INFLUENCERS. This includes SPONSORED CONTENT on media channels of third parties as well as re-posts of any user-generated content.
FOR EXAMPLE: If an influencer is being paid to create content like, 10 murals you should check out in Grand Rapids, if you still own your copyrights to your mural, the company paying the influencer to create the content must obtain clearance or purchase a license from the artist or photographer if they’re reposting a photo that a photographer took.
Artists, if you already have b-roll or backdrops content produced, you can sell these for a lower price in lieu of licensing similar to "stock images". However, be very specific with image usage rights for your "stock images" and ensure you have clearance and permission to sell from your photographer(s). Or, work out a deal with your photographer(s) so you both can be paid through licensing.
Standard Licensing Rates.
Rates can vary per artwork and/or image.
For example, mural licensing can range anywhere from $3500-65,000 — sometimes, even more.
However, greeting cards licensing can rage anywhere between $250-$1500 which could be included in a a flat fee, flat fee + royalties, or just royalties.
Standard royalties for greeting cards is around 3-8% depending on the reach of the client. (i.e. Is it a small, local store? Or, is it a big box store?)
All of which can be negotiated since it is really dependent on the deliverables and image usage terms like duration or territory of the license.
Here are some standard usage terms and definitions:
EDITORIAL use is when the Client publishes the Work in their own editorial publication, for the purpose of educating and/or conveying news, information or fair comment opinion, which is available for sale to the general public, and which does not seek or accept sponsorship to, or in itself, promote a specific product, person, service or company.
PUBLICITY use is when the Client submits the Work to an outside editorial publication (whether print or electronic) for Editorial use only, and the Client (or Agency) is not paying for that use or placement.ADVERTISING use is when the Client (or Agency) is paying for the placement of the Work on or in whatever media it appears.
COLLATERAL use is when the Work appears in or on a platform that the Client (or Agency) wholly controls and produces, such as a company web site, annual report, brochure, or social media profile, and is intended to promote a commercial product, service, personality or brand.
PUBLIC DISPLAY use is when the Work is shown or displayed in a Client maintained space, open to public viewing (i.e. corporate office, trade show, public event), and the Client (or Agency) is not purchasing Advertising space to allow for the placement of the Work within the media or location it appears.
PRIVATE DISPLAY use is when the Work is shown or displayed in a non-commercial, private space, closed to public viewing, and the use of which does not promote a commercial product, service, personality or brand.
POINT OF PURCHASE or "Point of Sale” (herein “POS”) use is when the Work is included in a non-paid placement Print or Electronic indoor display for the purpose of promoting a product, service or corporation, within a third party retail space or Client location.
PACKAGING use is when the Work is printed or displayed on the packaging for a commercial or retail product.
UNLIMITED use includes all Editorial, Publicity, Advertising, Collateral, Public Display, and Packaging uses of the Work, defined herein.
MEDIA is the medium in which the Work is reproduced, inserted, displayed or placed by the Client (or Agency).
CONSUMER use is when the Media in which the Work appears is directed toward and/or available to the general public.
TRADE use is when the Media in which the Work appears is directed toward specific industries, professions, or special interest groups for commercial, promotional or Advertising purposes, and is not available to the general public.
PRINT is all printed mediums excluding Packaging, OOH and POS.
WEB is all mediums accessible exclusively via an internet browser or internet-based software.
ELECTRONIC is all digital and Web mediums excluding Broadcast, TV, Packaging, OOH and POS.
OUT OF HOME (herein OOH) is all paid placement displays viewable to the general public from any public or private space.
BROADCAST is all network and subscription television and radio outlets.
Here are other factors to consider:
Exclusivity vs. Non-Exclusivity
Unlimited vs. Limited use
Terms, such as days, months, years, or in perpetuity