Well, I found a piece of artwork that would work just perfectly as part of my new company logo. The artist's website indicated that his work was available for license, and so I e-mailed him with an inquiry.
The piece is a flower - a rose - that has been digitally manipulated into a mandala form (here's a quick description of a mandala from wiki: In practice, mandala has become a generic term for any plan, chart or geometric pattern which represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically, a microcosm of the universe from the human perspective.)
The piece is very cool - it has a lot of symbolic meaning that ties in not only to the company name but also into my goals and desires. It's a piece that truly is a perfect fit in my opinion.
Anyhow, I described my current situation to the artist. I said I'd like to use the piece in a logo and of course anywhere that logo could be found (perhaps business cards, stationary, etc down the road a ways.) I also mentioned that my current project is not for profit and that while I may turn the company into a commercial venture down the road it isn't one currently.
He replied that the cost for using the piece in a non-commercial way was $100 (he also added that if I didn't think that way fair I could offer a price that was fair to both of us...). I'm not against paying $100 for the piece, in fact I'd have no problem with it except for one particular statement he made - "If you decide to use the piece in a commercial manner, we'll have to negotiate a significantly higher price."
Significantly higher? Er...I really like the piece and all - and I have no doubt it took anywhere from 5-10 hours. I know most artists value their time at $20-30 an hour, so I have no problem paying $100 or so. I'd expect to pay more if I was asking for exclusive rights to the image, but I'm not (he mentioned that he has licensed the piece to someone else and uses it himself for his own company - but they are completely unrelated to software design and therefore there should be no conflict.)
So what is a fair price? If I was hiring an artist outright to make me a logo I'd expect to pay $20-30 an hour - but then I'd also expect to *own* the piece afterwards and have exclusive rights to it. My thoughts as of now are $100 is a fair *if and only if* I had the rights to use the piece in a commercial endeavor (keep in mind that's still not including exclusive rights.)
I'm awaiting a response to hear what the "significantly higher" price actually is. In the meantime, I'm just wondering what is fair. This is my first time licensing others work and/or paying for art.
The piece is a flower - a rose - that has been digitally manipulated into a mandala form (here's a quick description of a mandala from wiki: In practice, mandala has become a generic term for any plan, chart or geometric pattern which represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically, a microcosm of the universe from the human perspective.)
The piece is very cool - it has a lot of symbolic meaning that ties in not only to the company name but also into my goals and desires. It's a piece that truly is a perfect fit in my opinion.
Anyhow, I described my current situation to the artist. I said I'd like to use the piece in a logo and of course anywhere that logo could be found (perhaps business cards, stationary, etc down the road a ways.) I also mentioned that my current project is not for profit and that while I may turn the company into a commercial venture down the road it isn't one currently.
He replied that the cost for using the piece in a non-commercial way was $100 (he also added that if I didn't think that way fair I could offer a price that was fair to both of us...). I'm not against paying $100 for the piece, in fact I'd have no problem with it except for one particular statement he made - "If you decide to use the piece in a commercial manner, we'll have to negotiate a significantly higher price."
Significantly higher? Er...I really like the piece and all - and I have no doubt it took anywhere from 5-10 hours. I know most artists value their time at $20-30 an hour, so I have no problem paying $100 or so. I'd expect to pay more if I was asking for exclusive rights to the image, but I'm not (he mentioned that he has licensed the piece to someone else and uses it himself for his own company - but they are completely unrelated to software design and therefore there should be no conflict.)
So what is a fair price? If I was hiring an artist outright to make me a logo I'd expect to pay $20-30 an hour - but then I'd also expect to *own* the piece afterwards and have exclusive rights to it. My thoughts as of now are $100 is a fair *if and only if* I had the rights to use the piece in a commercial endeavor (keep in mind that's still not including exclusive rights.)
I'm awaiting a response to hear what the "significantly higher" price actually is. In the meantime, I'm just wondering what is fair. This is my first time licensing others work and/or paying for art.