Licensing Renewals Part 1: Why to Charge for Renewals

Hello friends!

A couple weeks ago, I sat down to go through all of our image licenses that are expired or expiring to finally organize them all and reach out to anyone who has expired. It's something that I've been meaning to do for a long time, but it always got pushed to the back burner. 

Never again though, because actually looking at the numbers made me realize how essential this is and how we missed out on a significant chunk of income by not enforcing renewals last year. At this point even though we technically could back charge I feel like it's not worth the hassle and issues that will arise from some clients and I also feel like it's on me for not contacting them and sending an invoice. 

I was able to get super organized with all of our renewals for this year (which I'll talk about in an upcoming post) and I wanted to share with you some reasons why this is so important in order to encourage you to try to implement this into your own business as well. I know licensing can be really scary and uncomfortable, and it can feel like a huge hassle that just isn't worth it, but I promise you that it will be worth it in the long run. 

If you're wanting some more info on how to talk to your clients about licensing, I've found this article to be really helpful: https://www.lukestudios.com/services/commercial-photography-services/commercial-photography-pricing/. Ok, now let's dive in to why to charge for renewals. 

It ensures your clients aren't using the images beyond the agreed upon timeframe.

When you set up a license with your clients, always make sure to include the timeframe that the purchase is good for. I like to include the specific start date (always after and with the condition that full payment has been made) and the specific ending date in our contracts. This makes it super clear to everyone when the renewal will happen. 

If you don't set a timeframe then this is called licensing in perpetuity and I wouldn't recommend doing this unless you're making lotsssss of money. The reason being is exactly the point of this blog post - you won't be able to charge for renewals. If you ever decide to license in perpetuity (which is not the same as fully selling the copyright, you still own the images, the client can just use them forever) then you should be compensated as if the client renewed for all of those years, or at least a significant amount of time.  

It can significantly increase your income. 

I sat down and went through all of our potential renewals for this year and calculated how much money we would make if all of our clients renewed. I was surprised to realize that if that happened we would make over a full month of income. As in we wouldn't have to work at all for an entire month and still meet our financial goals. That includes renewals from shoots from early on when we were charging barely anything for usage so just imagine how much it could be if we had charged more back then. 

Everyone always talks about passive income, and this is really the best form of that. You already did the work, you just send a few emails and an invoice and boom! you make money! How great is that? Now realistically not all of our clients will renew, but even if just half do, that's still a significant amount of money. Doing that calculation really inspired me to actually stay on top of renewals as well as charge even more for usage going forward so I encourage you to also sit down and figure out how much you could make!

It allows you to use the images for stock. 

One great thing about owning your images is that you can make them work harder for you. If you don't give an exclusive license to your client then you are able to sell any images you make on stock sites in order to earn extra income. If you do have an exclusive license (which should always cost more) then once that expires if the client doesn't renew then you can sell them at that point. If you don't have a set ending date for that exclusive license then you'll never be able to make additional income through stock sites or renewals. 

It increases the longevity of your career. 

We all hope to have a long and healthy creative career. How do we do that? Through simplifying and running sustainable businesses so we don't burn out! The more revenue streams you have, the more stable your income will be and the more passive those additional streams are, the better. If you set yourself up by charging appropriately for licensing and then having renewals, you could be making income long after you stop photography, or if you get sick, or have to take some time away from work for whatever reason. 

I'm getting married this year, and I'm taking off most of May and part of June. Our passive income that we've built up in additional to renewals is allowing me to do that without stressing too much about how we're going to pay the bills. When your business is sustainable, you can relax a little and have less stress - the dream!

It solidifies you as a professional commercial photographer. 

No matter what anyone tries to tell you, charging for usage is standard professional practice in the commercial photography field. Even if a client says that other photographers didn't charge them for licensing, it doesn't mean that it isn't standard. It is. If you're looking for a good book that talks a little about this, I really like Professional Business Practices in Photography. If you want to be a professional commercial photographer (and I'm assuming you do since you're here!) then this is a practice that you need to get used to and comfortable with. 

Owning your work and charging for the value of it is so important, and usage is where the value really comes into play. The more eyes that see the images you create, the more value those images have so they longer they are used or the more places they are used, the higher the cost should be. 

It puts you at the top of their mind for upcoming shoots. 

Lastly, another great reason to charge for renewals is that it gives you a chance to put yourself back on the client's radar for upcoming work. It's a reminder that you created great work for them! You can let them know your upcoming availability when you contact them and remind them that you really enjoy working with them. Retaining clients is much cheaper than trying to obtain new ones so the more that you can put yourself in positions to be rehired, the better!

There you have it, just a few reasons why having and ending date and renewing those licenses is so important! If I've convinced you that you need to make this a regular practice in your business, stay tuned for another upcoming post where we'll talk about how to make this process as easy as possible. 

Is it the weekend yet?
Elle