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Royalty-free licenses don't require an ongoing payment for use of the work you're licensing, and are often used for licensing photographs, songs, and other media.
[Chris Zabriskie] Some paid license agreements, require an ongoing royalty payment
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or licensing fee.
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So Nintendo may not be manufacturing all those backpacks,
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but I can guarantee they're making a few bucks every time somebody buys one.
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That's a royalty payment, this continual payment based on sales or usage
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of the thing being licensed.
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But there are also royalty-free licenses
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ones that don't require those continued payments.
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Many stock photography websites, for example,
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issue royalty-free licenses.
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You pay for a photograph once,
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and then you can use it on your website without having to pay them everytime someone sees it.
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Getty images is one of the largest stock photography services,
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and they also specialize in video and music.
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Much of their catelogue is available royalty-free.
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So remember that's not free, they will charge you for the license.
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But you won't have to come back and relisence it year after year.
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Other stock photo sites, like Stock Exchange, or even Mocrosoft's own stock photo database,
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have many images available for free.
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You don't have to pay to use them.
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But each image still comes with it's own license.
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It'll be royalty free, but there may still be some restrictions on how you can use it.
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Some royalty-free licenses require the project that you're using it for,
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to be non-commercial in nature.
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They don't want you to be making any money off of it.
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Others require the photographer to be credited.
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It's still your job to abide by the terms in these licenses
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even if you don't read them.
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All of this applies to tons of other royalty-free products too,
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not just photos.
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Remember, read the license agreement—
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always, even if it's free.
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Read the agreement and understand exactly what you're agreeing to.
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