Always something for nothing
I received the following email from Schmap.com today:
You’ve been sent a Flickr Mail from Emma J. Williams:
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:: Schmap: Paris Photo Shortlist
Hi Julianna,
I am writing to let you know that three of your photos have been short-listed for inclusion in the eighth edition of our Schmap Paris Guide, to be published at the end of this month.
http://www.schmap.com/shortlist/[code removed]
Clicking this link will take you to a page where you can:
i) See which of your photos have been short-listed.
ii) Submit or withdraw your photos from our final selection phase.
iii) Learn how we credit photos in our Schmap Guides.
iv) Browse online or download the seventh edition of our Schmap Paris Guide.While we offer no payment for publication, many photographers are pleased to submit their photos, as Schmap Guides give their work recognition and wide exposure, and are free of charge to readers. Photos are published at a maximum width of 150 pixels, are clearly attributed, and link to high-resolution originals at Flickr.
Our submission deadline is Friday, July 17. If you happen to be reading this message after this date, please still click on the link above (our Schmap Guides are updated frequently - photos submitted after this deadline will be considered for later releases).
Best regards,
Emma Williams,
Managing Editor, Schmap Guides
www.schmap.me/ewilliams
I wasn't very interested in the offer to begin with, but thought I'd at least take a look to see what the terms are, and which pictures they were interested in.
I don't consider those to be any of my better pictures from Paris, so I'm a bit surprised they made it onto a shortlist. The TOS are pretty standard, but notably has some good wording about the images not being sublicensed and the photographer being credited for the photo.
TERMS OF SUBMISSION
THESE TERMS OF SUBMISSION (THE “TERMS”) REPRESENT A LEGAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN YOU, EITHER AN INDIVIDUAL PERSON OR A SINGLE LEGAL ENTITY (“YOU”), AND SCHMAP, INC. (“SCHMAP”). BY CLICKING THE “SUBMIT” BUTTON, YOU CONFIRM YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THE TERMS.
1. PHOTOS
The term "Photos" refers to one or more photographs and/or images licensed by You to Schmap pursuant to the Terms.2. LICENSE GRANT
Subject to the terms and conditions herein, You hereby grant Schmap a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, perpetual license to include the Photos in the current and/or subsequent releases of Schmap's destination/local guides.3. FAIR USE RIGHTS
Nothing in these Terms is intended to reduce, limit, or restrict any rights arising from fair use, first sale or other limitations on the exclusive rights of the copyright owner under copyright law or other applicable laws.4. LIMITATIONS
The license granted in Section 2 above is made subject to and limited by the following express limitations:(a) Schmap may only distribute, publicly display, publicly perform, and/or publicly perform the Photos pursuant to the Terms.
(b) Schmap shall be required to keep intact all copyright notices for the Photos and provide, reasonable to the medium or means of utilization, the name of the original author (or pseudonym, if applicable) if supplied, for attribution in Licensor's copyright notice, terms of service or by other reasonable means, and a credit (implemented in any reasonable manner) identifying the use of the Photos in any derivative Photos created by Schmap.
(c) Schmap shall, to the extent reasonably practicable, provide Internet link(s) to your Photos.
(d) Schmap shall not sublicense the Photos.
(e) Schmap shall indicate to the public that You reserve all rights with respect to use of the Photos.
(f) Schmap shall continue to make its destination/local guides available at no cost to end users.
(g) Schmap shall display the Photos at a maximum width of 150 pixels.
5. RIGHTS
You confirm that You own or otherwise control all of the rights to the Photos and that use of the Photos by Schmap will not infringe or violate the rights of any third parties.6. NO OBLIGATION
Schmap shall have no obligation whatsoever to reproduce, distribute, broadcast, or otherwise make use of the Photos licensed by You to Schmap hereunder.7. NO AFFILIATION
While the Flickr website and/or Flickr API have been used to short-list your Photos, Schmap claims no affiliation or partnership with Flickr.8. MISCELLANEOUS
If any provision of the Terms is ruled unenforceable, such provision shall be enforced to the extent permissible, and the remainder of the Terms shall remain in effect. The Terms constitute the entire agreement between the parties with respect to the Photos licensed hereunder. There are no understandings, agreements or representations with respect to the Photos not specified hereunder. If there is any dispute about or involving the Terms or the license granted hereunder, You agree that such dispute shall be governed by the laws of the State of California without regard to its conflict-of-law provisions. You agree to personal jurisdiction by and venue in the state and federal courts of the State of California, City of San Francisco. The license granted in the Terms may not be modified without the mutual written agreement of You and Schmap.
I don't understand how my images were selected for this project, because most of my Flickr photos, including those shortlisted, are still traditionally licenced; only a small selection of them have a Creative Commons license.
Although a few people have told me that they've also received these invites from Schmap and have allowed them to use their images, I have withdrawn my photos from their shortlist. I totally agree with this post on Thought Bubbles about Schmap, and can't help but allow my history with copyright to inform my decision. This business model (particularly considering that they didn't filter for photos that people have licenced with Creative Commons) uses photos without payment to enhance profit for their company -- not cool. Of course, Google's business model is also in that murky grey area, but a little differently. I'd argue that their image search doesn't use photos in the same way because I've never noticed any ads [yet] on their image search results.
There are tons of people who will give you "free" exposure online and offline. But most of the time, it's not worth what you're being "paid".
Incidentally, I went through my pictures and found a handful which I consider to be much better than the ones they selected:
