LicenseStream FAQs

A subscription-based service, LicenseStream provides digital content owners and creators—from enterprises to individual artists—with an easy-to-use online licensing and billing settlement service for digital media, including photographs and videos.

LicenseStream also enables subscribers to register and embed metadata into photos, videos that establish terms of use, including where the content be used, for how long and in what locations.

LicenseStream PRO builds on all the benefits of LicenseStream by offering automated royalty settlement and content tracking along with additional storage space.

Our platform guides users step-by-step through the entire licensing process.

LicenseStream helps you register your content, assign rights, track and manage royalties and bill and collect fees automatically.

Our standards-based service reduces complexity and speeds the pace of transactions so that content can be licensed in minutes instead of months, driving both revenue and profit growth.

With LicenseStream PRO, you can locate your content on the Web and choose from a variety of solutions to address unauthorized use of your work.

LicenseStream provides several tools to help you license content quickly and efficiently. With LicenseStream, you can:

• Easy Upload Select content from your LicenseStream account or immediately upload new content to start the licensing process.
• Licensing Profiles Select your licensing method by choosing from commonly used exclusive licenses or broad usage packs. You can also use an existing license profile that you have created and stored. LicenseStream's guided menus make it easy to complete the required parameters for your chosen licensing method.
• Pricing Guides Review and accept the license fee automatically calculated by LicenseStream. LicenseStream uses industry standards based on PLUS, combined with business intelligence to ensure your prices are competitive.
• Royalty Profiles Review the royalty profile for the licensed content and make any required changes. The royalty profile enables content owners to distribute royalties to any parties that should be included in the transaction.
• Payment Settlement Execute the transaction and notify licensees with instructions on how to pay for the license. Once paid, the licensee is guided on how to access and download the content.
• Royalty Settlement Automatically calculate and disburse the royalties for each transaction. Available only in LicenseStream PRO.
• Content Tracking Find content that is being used legally and illegally across the Web. Then choose from automated tools that enable you to start a conversation with the owners of any sites using your content without permission, paving the way to turn these fans of your work into customers. Available only in LicenseStream PRO.

The LicenseStream platform handles photographs, images, illustrations, and video. In addition, our LicenseStream search engine helps users to find licensable photographs, video, images and other digital content based on specified search criteria.

LicenseStream can provide services for any intellectual property—even content that is not yet digitized. The minimum requirement is that a small digital sample such as a thumbnail or small clip be available to describe the content on the LicenseStream platform.

Typically the delivery method for content on LicenseStream is digital file transfer. If any method of delivery besides digital file transfer, such as shipping of the content, is required, it must be clearly specified in the license.

With LicenseStream, you can publish content to your own site and link back to LicenseStream to complete the licensing transactions. LicenseStream members can also direct potential customers to their LicenseStream gallery.

We're also adding a number of online content sources where the content provider can publish their content to generate significant licensing revenue.

One such source LicenseStream members can automatically publish to is Google. Anyone who searches Google can find your content and access the licensing and transaction services of LicenseStream.

Photographer Directory – placeholder, need to add details once the directory is completed

LicenseStream applies a unique code to each content item that connects that content to the creator, establishing ownership and enabling the owner to enforce licenses and market their work effectively.

ImageSpan keeps both its own content and license registry and is the exclusive provider of license registry services to the PLUS (Picture License Universal System) Coalition, the international, multi-industry standards body for image licensing.

This dual system allows the content owner both the protection of ImageSpan's technology and the independence of content registration with a not-for-profit standards body.

Both ImageSpan's LicenseStream service and the PLUS Registration System enable:

Consumers of photographs, illustrations and other images to connect with the creators and owners of such content to prevent their works from becoming orphaned

Registered images to become searchable

Image users to see what the terms are for licensing a work, including the types of media outlets in which the work can be used, in what region and for what time frame.

We do not store your credit card information, so there is no automatic renewal. When your year is almost over, we will send you an email reminding you to renew. If you do not renew within 30 days after your year expires, your account will go into inactive status.

LicenseStream provides individual content producers with unprecedented licensing automation.

Until now, individual content producers were forced to handle sales themselves, or be 'middled' by a large image stock house and wait for months to get content sales settled. With LicenseStream, individual content producers can avoid paperwork, middlemen and pricing hassles. Our automated licensing functionality eliminates tedious and time-consuming administrative tasks.

LicenseStream offers several advantages over selling stock through a large stock-imaging house.

First and foremost, LicenseStream puts licensing and transaction control into your hands, enabling you to call the shots when it comes to registering, pricing and distributing your work. You'll also have control of the types of royalty agreements you enter into and enjoy automated reporting on royalties and payments.

In addition:

• Lower License/Transaction fees than a traditional stock house.
• With a large stock house, your work may be searchable on only one or two websites where it may get lost amongst the work of thousands of other photographers and videographers. We enable content creators to publish their work on any third-party site, including their own Web sites and blogs. Members can also publish their work to Google, and their own LicenseStream galleries.

Content Tracker locates digital content across the open Web, providing content owners with a view into how and where their work is being used. Included within Content Tracker are automated tools designed to convert non-paying content consumers into paying customers. ImageSpan is the first company to offer individual photographers both content licensing and content tracking in one platform.

• The service continuously tracks billions of photographs, videos and other content on the Internet to identify and locate LicenseStream members' digital assets.
• The tracker and automated options for resolving unauthorized use help content providers pursue untapped opportunities for licensing, advertising and distribution along with means of resolving potential infringement.
• Content Tracker enables content providers to start a direct conversation with the owners of sites that are using their content without permission, paving the way to turn these fans into customers.
• A LicenseStream PRO member can select from a number of automatically generated email messages. These messages help content creators protect the value of their digital assets.
• Options for turning unauthorized content consumers into paying customers include:
  1. Offering the opportunity to legally license content
  2. Requesting a link back to the content owner's site
  3. Inserting the content owner's ad feed
  4. Sharing ad revenues
  5. Issuing a take-down notice
• After contact is made, Content Tracker continues to monitor infringing sites to report any activity related to the content back to the content owner.

The 30% Content Tracker fee applies only if you recover a license fee (i.e., revenue) for any content that is discovered via Content Tracker and it is then properly licensed by the infringing user of that image. Note: Content Tracker is only available in LicenseStream PRO.

LicenseStream PRO members can expect to see their first tracking results 60 days after publishing their content. They'll receive monthly reports thereafter.

The core development is ours combined with some off-the-shelf software (COTS). We have built all of the technology for determining whether a usage is authorized or not. We also have built the tools that create options for turning unauthorized content consumers into paying customers.

LicenseStream currently supports the following file types:

Image files: jpeg and tiff
Video files: mov, avi, wmv and mpeg

LicenseStream accepts content of any size and will always display the largest size a piece of content is available to be licensed at.

• In the case of Rights Managed or Rights Simple content, it is up to the licensee if they will accept the requested size for their project and the license fee is based on the usage details.
• With Royalty Free content, the size of the content is a condition of the license. If a high-resolution version of a piece of content is not available then it will not be listed as an option in the Royalty Free usage selection box.

Resolution is the number of pixels (individual points of color) contained on a computer display monitor. It is expressed in terms of the number of pixels on the horizontal axis multiplied by the number on the vertical axis.

• "High Resolution" refers to images that are sharp and finely detailed. Measured in dots per inch (dpi), the more dpi, the higher the resolution and quality. LicenseStream will consider an image high resolution if it has pixel dimensions of at least 3000 x 2000. LicenseStream recommends higher resolution if it is available.
• "Low Resolution" refers to images that lack this fine detail, resulting in images that are not sharply defined. Low resolution generally means that images are only usable for screen resolution and not print. In general, "low resolution" images are smaller than 1000 pixels.

For the web, you should use jpegs. For printing, uncompressed tiffs are often preferred, although high-quality jpegs (Level 10-12) can be visually indistinguishable from tiffs. Many photo buyers prefer high-quality jpegs due to file delivery and/or storage considerations.

Please note: LicenseStream has no minimum file-size requirement for the content you upload. The following sizes are only our recommendations.

Image files: To maximize your quantity and quality of sales, your images should meet the needs of the "typical" photo buyer. The listed sizes are the minimum recommended for licensing to the following markets:

COMMERCIAL:
Resolution: 11" x 17" at 300 dpi
Approx. Dimensions: 5100 x 3300 pixels
In Megapixels: 16 megapixels
In MB** (Uncompressed): 50MB

EDITORIAL:
Resolution: 8" x 10" at 300 dpi
Approx. Dimensions: 3000 x 2000 pixels
In Megapixels: 6 megapixels
In MB** (Uncompressed): 20MB

INTERNET:
Resolution: 17" x 22" at 72 dpi
Approx. Dimensions: 1600 x 1200 pixels
In Megapixels: 1.9 megapixels
In MB** (Uncompressed): 1MB

** The uncompressed size indicates the minimum only. You should upload the largest file possible.

Images that are saved as JPEGs should be saved at a level of 10 and above.

Video files: The LicenseStream Creator system was designed for providers to upload video content to be used as stock videography. Most buyers are looking for short 5-15s clips. As a general rule, try to keep the size of any individual file under 50MB.

To achieve the best possible results from a digital image file, we recommend that you embed a color profile within your images. A color profile defines the color within an image file so that it can be displayed or reproduced accurately. If you're unsure of which color profile to use, we suggest Adobe 1998, which has become the industry standard for digitally shot images.

For scanned images, you should create and embed a custom profile rather than use a generic standard. This approach will allow the file to be displayed and output accurately. It is not a good idea to embed a profile that has not been used during the image's production process.

As long as the metadata is embedded in the image as XMP or IPTC, LicenseStream will be able to read the data and import it with the image(s).

LicenseStream also provides plug-ins for both Adobe Lightroom and Bridge. Once installed the plug-ins make it possible to move all pre-entered metadata from the Adobe program to LicenseStream. Additionally, the plug-ins allow the user to batch upload.

While we provide suggested guidelines, the buyer and seller ultimately agree on the terms of each license. LicenseStream offers many methods of deriving a license and will do its best to guide you through the license creation process. Ultimately, the user has full control over the terms of the license.

For effective rights and license history tracking, some basic parameters are required.

LicenseStream provides guidance by providing a "suggested" price point for the content based on the licensing usage selected. The suggested price is based on our ongoing pricing surveys and industry standards.

The content owner can change the suggested price at will and at any time prior to licensing. Once the content is licensed, the content provider can complete the transaction privately or through LicenseStream.

The buyer and seller come to an agreement on the parameters of the license. LicenseStream will still manage, track and store the license, rights and permissions and pricing generation as well as the licensing history even if we do not complete the e-commerce transaction.

The buyer can propose a price and the content owner can accept it or suggest a counteroffer. The buyer will then decide whether to accept the counteroffer.

Royalty Free provides an unlimited use, non-exclusive, license based on content file size and resolution.

Royalty Free content can be used by a licensee for any purpose and any industry for any length of time. Because it is non-exclusive, anyone—even competitors—can purchase the same piece of Royalty Free content to use in any manner.

Rights-Managed allows for fully customizable usage with optional exclusivity.

Rights Managed content is licensed for a specific use in a specific industry and region. For an extra fee, exclusive licenses give the licensee the sole right to use a piece of content in a specific industry or region until the license terminates.

Rights Simple is a unique licensing model created by LicenseStream. It combines the protection and detail of a Rights Managed license with the simplicity of a Royalty Free license. It can be selected in a single click and all the terms of the license are included in the simple statement.

With a LicenseStream PRO account, you can use the Content Tracker to see who is using your work.

When terms of use for content have been infringed, a LicenseStream member can select from any number of automated tools to resolve the unauthorized use. These tools range from offering the opportunity to license the content to requesting a link back to the content owner's site, inserting the content owner's ad feed, sharing ad revenues or issuing a takedown request. Content Tracker continues to track when corrective action is taken and reports activity related to the content back to the owner.

Yes. A LicenseStream licensing agreement is legally binding for the length of the term of the license as defined by the customer and agreed to by the content provider.

The content provider reviews the royalty arrangements for each license prior to the completion of the transaction. Once the transaction is executed, the royalty payment records are automatically generated for each royalty participant. When payment of licensing fees is received, royalty records are marked as ready for distribution.

LicenseStream empowers you to review transaction histories and review the progress of a transaction at every stage.

• A full transaction and rights history can be reviewed by date range or by content item or group.
• All invoices and payments are available for review at any time by transaction stage, date range, licensee or content item or group.
• All royalty transactions are stored and available for review. Royalty transactions can be accessed by the royalty process stage, date range, licensee, royalty participant and content item or group.

You'll know as soon as any transaction is completed. Notification of any transaction and the invoice are sent to the content provider via email and also stored in LicenseStream's database. A content provider may use LicenseStream to review transaction status and history at any time.

Notification of payment will be sent to you via email and also stored in the LicenseStream database where you can view transactions and royalties at any time.

LicenseStream provides a complete history of licenses issued as well as their terms and conditions including expiration dates.

LicenseStream notifies members of license expirations, sales, and updates on a daily basis.

Yes. You can organize your content by groups, making it easy for potential clients to find what they're looking for and for you to evaluate the sales and licensing performance of a specific category.

While we will never be able to completely stop people from altering and appropriating digital content, we assign a unique identifier to each piece of content you upload into LicenseStream. Each interaction with that content is recorded in the LicenseStream registries. Both a rights profile and license profile are kept on a real time basis. These registries can be accessed at any time to give an accurate view of a specific license, available rights or a license history.

In addition, LicenseStream's Content Tracker uses visual recognition and other tracking methods to identify content or parts of content used across the Internet or in broadcast media.

Members who upgrade to LicenseStream PRO gain access to Content Tracker, which helps content providers locate their digital content online and resolve unauthorized use with our automated tools.

LicenseStream PRO members can select from a number of automatically generated email responses. The options include: offering the opportunity to legally license content, requesting a link back to the content provider's site, inserting the content owner's ad feed, sharing ad revenues or issuing a take-down notice.

You always retain ownership of your work. Once a piece of content is licensed, it should remain in LicenseStream for the term of that license unless there is a compelling circumstance to ask the licensee to cancel the license.

If the content provider decides to stop offering a piece of content for license, LicenseStream will reject any request to grant a new license for that content.

Rights-Managed allows for fully customizable usage with optional exclusivity.

Rights Managed content is licensed for a specific use in a specific industry and region. For an extra fee, exclusive licenses give the licensee the sole right to use a piece of content in a specific industry or region until the license terminates.

Royalty Free provides an unlimited use, non-exclusive license based on file size and content resolution.

Royalty Free content can be used by any client or purpose, in any industry for any length of time. Because Royalty Free content is non-exclusive, anyone—even competitors—can purchase the content to use in any manner.

Rights Simple is a unique licensing model created by LicenseStream. It combines the protection and detail of a Rights Managed license with the simplicity of a Royalty Free license. Rights Simple can be selected in a single click and all the terms of the license are included in a simple statement.

You do not need to create an account before you can search and license content. However, to download high-resolution content that you've licensed and to create and maintain Lightboxes you will need to register for a free account. If you don't have an account now, you can create one before you purchase your first license. Once your account is setup, your transaction history and links to high-resolution content will be available to you.

As a buyer, you can propose a price and the content provider can accept it or propose a counteroffer, which the buyer can then decide to accept or not.

Yes. A LicenseStream licensing agreement is legally binding for the length of the terms of the license that is chosen by a customer.

Under certain specific terms and conditions, you can cancel a license for an image after a purchase has been made. Canceling a license requires a cancellation fee plus any applicable processing, production, and/or services charges.

If you cancel rights granted in the invoice within ten (10) business days from the date of the invoice, you will receive a full refund. If the cancellation notice is received more than ten (10) but less than thirty (30) business days after the invoice date, a cancellation fee equal to fifty (50%) percent of the amount of the Invoice will be charged. AFTER THIRTY DAYS, NO CANCELLATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED AND THE FULL AMOUNT OF THE INVOICE MUST BE PAID. No license to use the Image will be granted upon cancellation; all cancellations are final.

Yes, if the content provider agrees to license the image with exclusivities. We recommend you contact the photographer directly do discuss exclusivity rights.

You will receive an e-mail from LicenseStream including a link to your account from where you can download the image. You can also access the image by following these steps:

1. Log in to your Account
2. Click on 'Account History'
3. Click on the 'View' button next to the Invoice for the image you need to download
4. On the 'Download Content' tab click on the ‘Download High-Resolution Content’ link

Please follow the steps below:

1. Click Login.
2. Click 'Forgot your Password?'
3. Enter your e-mail address and zip code and click 'Continue'
4. A new randomly-generated password will set and e-mailed to you for the account you choose. Use this temporary password to log-in to LicenseStream. Once logged-in, you can change the password in the Edit Profile page.

Please note: A LicenseStream Buyer Account is needed to create lightboxes. Follow these steps after you log in to your account:

1. On the right side under the Lightbox header create a new lightbox
2. Select the content you would like to add to the lightbox
3. Under the Actions dropdown select 'Add Selected to > Lightbox'
4. On the pop-up window select the Lightbox from the dropdown list and click 'Ok'

To view the contents of your lightbox click on the lightbox name on the right side of the page, then click on 'View Lightbox'.