Negotiating Ownership vs. Licensing

G

GustavoSanto

New member
I'm a freelance VFX artist and I was just asked to do an end slate (where their logo is animated and flies in, and a swooshing sound with a jingle plays) for a client that they want to use on all of their demo videos. I'm confused because in the past my contracts, which I've made using other contracts from around the web, have all stated that the client is paying for one-time usage and/or the usage is explicitly stated/limited... ie: Client may use the clip in video A and video B...

I don't really know how to price this instance though... owning my work outright is very different than licensing it. Right? It's a 5 second outro, and I know that I can't charge too much but this isn't something that I can build a quote for using my hourly rates, right?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Gustavo
 
Here's a question to help put it into perspective- how many other clients will want to use this exact end logo? Vs how many clients may want an end logo of some kind?
 
If the videos are going to be difficult to monitor and control, then why not just charge for the job, and not worry about monitoring and rights. These kinds of job generate very little in terms of repeat marketing for you, so why retain the copyright. Assign them the copyright, charge a sensible amount and move on. Where I do work that could be re-usable, I assign the client rights to use the product however they wish for a fixed period - often 2 years. This is long enough for it to become old. If they carried on using it, I'd simply contact them and ask if they wish to renew? After 2 years you'll know if they're a repeat customer so any renewal price will reflect this. If they are a one-off, then maybe you can get some more money from them? Lots of people attempt to retain rights, but clients rarely understand this if they are not working in our business themselves - so just produce it and charge for it - then move on.
 
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