I am slowly uploading to Alamy. Luckily, the two images I have ever submitted got accepted.

But I don't know which license sells the best and gives me the best financial returns.

What are the real differences between the two licenses?

Any insights? Thanks.

You can sell under Royalty Free (same requirements as the micros), Rights Managed, or Rights Protected.

Rights protected is essentially an image that you can sell exclusively (or give the buyer exclusive rights upon licensing) and is completely released (similar to RF).

Rights Managed licenses the image for a certain period of time and if a customer wants exclusivity, Alamy will get in touch with you. Images do not need to be released (property or model) however you should restrict it to editorial if a release would normally be required.

Royalty Free images are licensed perpetually similar to an extended license at a micro.

Which is better - depends on your portfolio. If it will help you choose, check out Alamy's trading statement and you'll see which license sells more often.

33% of Alamy sales are RF, the rest are RM. Generic common images do better on RF, more unique images or hard to find places or situatios do better on RM. There is no rule set for one or the other. On RF you earn more per sale, but RM can be a great earner down the road, it all depends... In the end, there is no certainty of what will sell better under a licence.

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Thanks for the replies.

If I choose RF, does the photo have to be exclusive to Alamy?

Where do I find the trading statements? Alamy site or Forum?

Here's a link to the trading statement....

Alamy stock photography - Trading statement

Alamy is a non-exclusive agency. NOTHING needs to be exclusive. The only time it may be a good idea is if you are selling under a rights protected license. Essentially, if a buyer wants exclusive rights to an image in North America, you need to be able to restrict that image at your other traditional agencies. You can still license the image in other areas of the world. Selling RP allows them to say yes without contacting you about the arrangement.

The same can happen with RM - however Alamy will contact you first, before they promise exclusive rights to the customer.

The reason RM sells more on Alamy is because they sell a lot of editorial images which are RM in nature (a lot of it being editorial travel related images).

But remember, you cannot sell an image under RM license, if it is for sale as RF anywhere else.

Ok, let me use my first two photos as examples.

The first one is a wild jackrabbit. Is it better to sell it as RF?

The second one is a badlands hill, which was a famous landmark for outlaws in the US and Canada at the border. But the place is kind out of the main road so it is not very well-known. I guess I should sell it as Licensed?

If, say I snap a photo of the Stones and without their model releases, is it only suitable for Rights Protected?

Many thanks again.

By the way, I just checked my Alamy, the site has changed my jackrabbit photo as RF, I remembered it as RP, lol..., it makes sense. Glad they did it for me.

There is no magic formula. You just have to choose which is best for you. Remember that RF and follows the same rules as microstock images - and Alamy would like rights protected images (which are techically RM) to be released if required.

What I would consider is whether you plan to list your RM images at other agencies (Featurepics accepts RM images).

E, I will only upload RM photos to Alamy for now. FP doesn't work for me.

I will consider to add more RF photos.

Thanks.