What do I tell magazines who want to perpetually re-use images from an assignment that they originally paid for?
Put this in terms of their business model. If it’s a magazine, ask them what would happen if advertisers could pay a one-time fee and advertise over and over again. Would the magazine be able to afloat? Would they keep their job? Can they think of any other product or business for which you pay a one-time fee and you can get a perpetual “refill”? Remember, we provide a service to create a product, we do not provide a product. The service is consumable (it cannot be resold — once the time is gone, it is gone forever), but the product is not, it is re-usable. When a client pays for your creative and technical services, they also get the fruits of that service, the product (the images), to use for whatever project they have specified. That does not entitle them to consume the product entirely as well. For example, imagine hiring a band to play at your wedding reception. You have heard them in local clubs and you like their style, so you ask them to play (the service) a mix of favorite co
