What RF and RM means in Stock Photography

Most people do not knwow the difference between the two stock photography license models: Royalty Free and Rights Managed.

In this article, we will try to make it simple for you to understand. This way, you can avoid buying something that is not safe for you when used commecially.

Royalty-Free
"Free" in this context means "free of royalties (paying each time you use an image)". It doesnt mean the image is free to use without purchasing a license or that the image is in the public domain.

Pay a one-time fee to use the image multiple times for multiple purposes (with limits).
No time limit on when the buyer can use an image.
No one can have exclusive rights of a Royalty-free image (the photographer can sell the image as many times as he or she wants).
A Royalty-free image usually has a limit to how many times the buyer can reproduce it. For example, a license might allow the buyer to print 500,000 brochures with the purchased image. The amount of copies made is called the print run. The buyer is required to pay a fee per brochure, usually 1 to 3 cents, for additional prints. Magazines with a large print run cannot use a standard Royalty-free license and therefore they either purchase images with a Rights-managed license or have in-house photographers.

Rights-Managed
(sometimes called "licensed images")

The value of a license is determined by the use of the image, which is generally broken down along these lines;
Usage: (eg. Advertising - "Above the Line", Corporate - "Below the Line" or Editorial - "News Media")
Specific Use: (eg. Billboard, Annual Report, Newspaper article)
Duration: (eg. 1 month, 2 months, 1 Year, 2 Years etc)
Print Run: (eg. up to 10,000, up to 1m)
Territory: (eg; USA, Europe, UK, Germany, or whatever combination of territories are required)
Size: (how big is the image to be used - 1/4 page, 1/2 page, full page, or double page spread)
Industry: (Industry type - eg. Consumer Electronics, Marine Engineering, Financial Services etc)
Exclusivity: (Exclusive, or Non Exclusive)

The terms of the license are clearly defined and negotiated so that the purchaser receives maximum value, and is protected in their purchase by a certain level of exclusivity.

Rights-managed licenses provide assurance that an image will not be used by someone else in a conflicting manner. The agreement can include exclusivity, and usually recognises that this represents added value. Not all Rights-managed licenses are exclusive, that must be stipulated in the agreement.

A Rights-managed image usually allows a much larger print run per image than a Royalty-free license.
Editorial is a form of rights-managed license when there are no releases for the subjects. Since there are no releases the images cannot be used for advertising or to depict controversial subjects, only for news or educational purposes.

I really hope now it makes more sense for you. License safe from now on ... Paul Marchiori is a contributor to many microstock agencies around the globe and he recommends this imagens de banco website as the best. It is Microfoto.com.br