What is royalty-free?

Royalty-free photography was pioneered by Canadian company iStockphoto in 1999. Today, iStockphoto represents more than 30,000 photographers world wide, and their collection has climbed past 5 million. There is more than one royalty-free web site, but iStockphoto is the original and still the best.

The advantages of royalty-free

Royalty-free photographs are high-quality because they are produced to professional standards. Even so, they are inexpensive because they are available to all – no one is ever granted exclusive rights to any photograph.

Once you have bought a royalty-free photograph you can use it forever, within the terms of the License. Because you do not own copyright of the picture, you can only re-sell the image under special license, so there are some restrictions.

Using royalty-free photographs from iStockphoto

Here are some examples of permitted uses:

• advertising and promotional projects including printed materials, product packaging, presentations, film and video presentations, commercials, catalogues, brochures, promotional greeting cards and postcards (not for resale or license);
• entertainment applications such as books and book covers, magazines, newspapers, editorials, newsletters, and video, broadcast and theatrical presentations;
• on-line or electronic publications including web pages, to a maximum of 800 x 600 pixels;
• prints, posters (i.e. a hardcopy) and other reproductions for personal use (or promotional purposes as specified above) but not for resale, license or other distribution; and
• any other uses approved in writing by iStockphoto.

Usually, you can reproduce a royalty-free photo up to
500,000 times before any additional license is needed.
If you are not sure, iStockphoto’s Client Relations team will help. Joining the site is free via the link below.