Frequently Asked Questions
about the Digital Media Library

THE BASICS

Q. What is VisitScotland?

VisitScotland (VS) is Scotland’s national tourism organisation. Its core purpose is to maximise the economic benefit of tourism to Scotland. You can find out more at www.visitscotland.org.

Q. How much does it cost?

The Digital Media Library (DML) provides a range of ready-to-use marketing assets. You can download and use our assets, free of charge, if you are eligible.

Q. Who is eligible?

If you’re a business specialising in the visitor market or travel media. You can register on our DML. It’s free, and once you’ve signed up, you can browse and request images or videos. Our assets are for your promotion of Scotland as a visitor destination.

Q. What Licencing options are available?

(1) Royalty Free: 'Royalty free' is a licensing term used to describe how copyright protected assets can be used without the need to pay royalties or license fees.
(2)etc

GETTING STARTED

Q. How do I register?

From the home page, click on the ‘login/register’ button in the top navigational tool bar. You need to supply and confirm your email address and set a password and complete your user profile. Once registered, you will be a default user role for registering users. To access some assets and more features you need a different user role. Site Administrators can change user roles after you register. Which is handy for agencies working on behalf of VisitScotland. Or you may receive an emailed User Invitation with a different user role pre-assigned to you. If you think you need a different user role, contact your VisitScotland representative.

Q. How do I manage my account?

To view information relating to your account activity (uploads, downloads, saved baskets, etc.). Sign into your account. To do this, click on the user icon in the top navigational tool bar then select an option from the list of settings. Select, ‘My Profile’ for an overview of your account. This where you can edit and update your personal details. View terms of use, private policy, download your personal data or delete your account. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) allows you to manage your personal information. So, if you delete your account, we cannot recover it.

Q. Can I share my account (single account for multiple users) with my colleagues?

No, when you download an asset ‘You’ agree to our terms of use, you are responsible for the asset.

Q. What happens after I Sign in?

Once signed in, you’ll be able to view and request assets approved for your user role. Standard Users will be able to view Royalty free images, infographics, and B-Roll. VisitScotland staff will see more rights managed content.

USING ASSETS

Q. What is a digital asset?

A digital asset is a file in a digital format that has a value to an organisation or business. Data that does not have rights management are not considered assets. Examples of digital assets are pictures, video and infographics. Digital assets use rights management. Which licence their usage, as specified by the owner of the assets.

Q. How do I search for Assets?

You can start searching and browsing for Assets straight away. Start by typing a search term in the search box (e.g. ‘Beach’) and a list of suggested word appear as you type. Select the tag you want by clicking on it in.

e.g. Type ‘The Highlands’, and the results will appear in a visual grid of assets (Search Results).

Tags (also known as Keywords) are the DML primary search method. If you are looking for a specific location, castle, Munro, or event, enter the name in the search box. If there is no result, then unfortunately we haven't got photos or videos of the location. You can search for an Asset Type (e.g. Logo), a File Type (e.g. png) or Asset ID (if known). Filename's (if known) and Orientation (e.g. Portrait or landscape) are searchable. You won’t get a ‘typeahead auto-suggestion’ as you type (in these cases). But keep typing and click enter to conduct the search.

Q. Why do I have to request assets?

We like to know how you are using our assets and what kind of promotions you are working on.

LICENSING

Q. What is a license?

Licensing is official permission to use a rights managed asset. An industry-standard method for selling or sharing photos for editorial and marketing use. It doesn't mean that you own the image outright, you may use the asset for a certain purpose and period (36 months). If you want to read more about our licences, pick a thumbnail from the asset grid. Select 'more details' to view the licence agreement.

Q. What is a usage note?

A set of instructions that explain how you can use our assets and/or if there are restrictions. Examples of approved usage platforms are newspapers, magazines, website, social media, presentation, brochure, TV, and film.

Q. What restrictions or limitations should I be aware of?

Digital publishing and marketing last 36 months from the date of download. If you want to extend usage, sign in to the DML and re-download the asset. Print publishing is unlimited. But you must delete all production copies of the files after printing. If you intend to update your printed marketing after the first print run, you must re-download the asset.

If the Asset has an Expiry Date (which can be found in the Asset detail page and Licence detail panels when downloading, sharing, and sending), you must cease all use of those assets at the date of expiry.

If you are a production company working on a TV broadcast, you can apply for an extended usage for B-Roll footage.

No commercial use. Meaning you can’t use our assets as resale items including, without limitation, cards, stationery items, calendars, apparel items, DVDs, mobile applications, NFTs or other items for resale, license, or other distribution for profit. This includes "on demand" products, including, without limitation, postcards, mugs, t-shirts, posters, and other items (this includes the sale of products through custom designed websites).

Q. What does Royalty free mean?

VisitScotland's Royalty-Free is a non-exclusive license with Worldwide distribution rights. You do not need to pay royalties or license fees for single use or for the duration of the licence period. You have permission to use our assets in paid or unpaid media. You must give attribution to the person or organisation shown in the credit field. This licence is subject to copyright law.

When you download a file from the DML, you are activating a license. This means you can use the file if you agree to our terms of use. https://assets.visitscotland.com/pages/terms

Q. Can I download an image once, and re-use it?

No, you must request and download the file, again, to use it for future projects.

Q. Why can’t I view or download the videos that are on your YouTube channel?

The videos on our YouTube channel can contain a variety of different rights managed video content and audio content which has been licensed for broadcast on VisitScotland owned channels exclusively. You are welcome to share, embed or link to our YouTube videos but we cannot provide the original file for you to host due to these licensing restrictions.

DOWNLOADING

Q. How do asset requests work?

If you see a Request icon/button (rather than a Download icon/button), then you need to make an Asset Request. You can request single or a batch of assets (using basket function). Once you complete a request form and submit it, Account Admins will review your request. Working with our marketing team. Answer, ‘What is your relationship with us?’ with the name of your VisitScotland contact.

Q. How do Baskets work?

Digital Smart Baskets allow you to share and select assets. Baskets can be, saved and accessed from your account whenever you need them. You can share your baskets with any email address. But the recipient will have to be, logged in to view, request and download. Baskets are a great way to request more than one asset at a time. They are limited to 20 assets per basket, usually this is more than enough for one project.

Q. Can I edit the Assets I download?

Brand identity and logos should never be, edited, altered, or broken apart. Other Assets should not be, edited or altered. Unless the Licence rules or Usage instructions allow repurposing or editing. For example, B-Roll video footage can be, edited into your own video project.

Q. What is B-Roll?

Our b-roll videos are collections of carefully curated video clips covering a variety of themes to promote Scottish tourism. We fully own the rights to any footage featured in these collections and these can be downloaded and edited into your video projects provided you agree to the terms of our ‘B-roll Licence’. As these are collections of un-edited footage, the file sizes are large, so we recommend you download any b-roll clips one at a time. This is to limit impact on our system and will improve delivery times for you. If you download more than one b-roll in a single download the system will generate a low quality .mp4 which we do not recommend for use.

TROUBLESHOOTING

Q. I’m not receiving email notifications (to validate my account credentials)?

Spam filtering has become more rigorous over the last few years. Email providers are cracking down on spam to better serve their customers. The problem is that the filtering process isn't 100% perfect. Please, check your junk mail or spam folder. But if the email isn’t in your spam folder, get in touch and we'll try and fix it.

Q. How do I recover my lost password?

If you have lost your password, you will have to reset it. To do so, select the Lost Password link on the login form. Then enter your registered email address (the email you registered on this site with). We'll send you an email with instructions on how to reset your password.

Q. When I open the site, I get a blank screen, or the loading icon just keeps on spinning?

You may have an unsupported web browser. This site requires a modern web browser with Javascript and Cookies enabled. See a list of supported web browsers here.

Q. I am trying to type my details but the page freezes and nothing happens.

Close all open windows or browser tabs and restart your browser. Quit other running apps and programs. Reboot the computer. In browser preferences disable apps and extensions. Scan your computer for malware or viruses. Reset your browser to its default state. If you are still experiencing the issue, then uninstall and reinstall your web browser.

Q. My question is not answered here, where can I get additional help?

Send an email to multimedia@visitscotland.com and we will do our best to help.