How to Manage Image License Alerts with Your DAM

Do you know the risks of using unlicensed images?

Tracking image licenses is tedious and often overlooked, leading to costly consequences. A recent study found that copyright infringement cases can cost from $384,000 to $2 million. Every year, businesses of all sizes face penalties for unauthorized image use.

Beyond legal costs, using unlicensed photos can trigger social media backlash and damage your brand’s reputation. Even with proper licensing, expired contracts can put you at risk again.

Introducing License Alerts!

The PhotoShelter for Brands License Alerts feature will help you keep track of image and video licenses and reduce potential costly risks.

What Will License Alerts Do for You?

Keep track of image and video usage rights effortlessly with License Alerts, avoiding legal risks and protecting your brand:

• Add license expiration dates
• Get email notifications about expiring licenses
• See usage rights instantly with auto watermarks
• Stay ahead of expiring licenses to renew or remove them
• Ensure your team only uses approved content
• Simplify your workflow and focus on what you do best

How to Manage License Alert Preferences

License Alerts lets you set notifications for expiring image and video licenses. 

You can enable or disable License Alerts anytime. If turned off, your license metadata will be hidden but not deleted.

Note: To edit license metadata, turn on License Alerts and set your preferences. Only the admin of your PhotoShelter for Brands account can manage these settings.

Add license expiration dates to images

After setting your preferences, go to your Library to add license expiration dates. All Library users, including the admin, editors, and taggers, can add and edit these dates.

You can add a license expiration date to a single image or apply it to a group of images in batches.

Pro Tip: Use the IPTC Usage Rights field to give stakeholders details on when, where, and how to use the images. You can also indicate how they can request a license renewal.

See usage rights at a glance

License expiration dates display in the Library and on the Portal, so everyone who needs to use an image knows when its license will expire.

Get email notifications about expiring image licenses. 

You can choose to be notified 30 days before, 14 days before, or on the day the license expires.

Email notifications about expiring image licenses will include live links to the affected images. Click them to change download permissions or move the images to another gallery.

Pro Tip: Set a gallery-level expiration date in the sharing settings if all images in a gallery share the same license expiration date. This prevents downloads after the license expires.

Automatically watermark expired images. Watermarks appear when a license expires or is about to expire (if you’ve opted for 30 or 14-day notifications). They are visible in the Library and Portal, making it easy for your team to identify expired images, whether viewing a single image or browsing thumbnails.

Pro Tip: To see who downloaded an image with a soon-to-expire or expired license, check the “Stats” section in your Library. Contact them to ensure they know they no longer have the right to use the image.

Secure Your Brand Assets With License Alerts

License Alerts have you covered. Head into your Library to get started, or check out our help article for more information.

Book a demo, or contact Customer Support to upgrade your account.