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Article #1: The benefits of licensing your work Art Licensing
Many artists and photographers often struggle to make a living. They may work in the advertising or editorial fields or they may sell originals via galleries in the fine art market. They may be printmakers, illustrators or simply commercial photographers trying to create an additional income stream. The Licensing Industry is one such way, however you need to have a full understanding of how everything works just like any other industry. Each year over $175 billion is generated in retail sales via the many sectors in Licensing including Character merchandise from films and TV, Personality & Legend licensing, Brand licensing, Sports, Food and Drink, Music, Non-profit and Charity, Fashion as well as Art & Design Licensing. It's not difficult to conclude that there are good opportunities within this field for artists and designers as well as photographers and illustrators to earn additional income. Another benefit of licensing which is often not fully realized particularly by "fine artists," is that it is an incredible way to get ones name out there on a national or even international level. Having a fine art poster line has helped artists like Jack Vettriano to become a household name and for those artists who feel commercialism can be detrimental Vettriano is an example how his commerciality has endeared him not only to the public but at auction his originals now command up to around $50-200,000. There always those who do not wish to commercialize their work I respect that, however for many artists licensing can be the additional revenue source that keeps them going. Here is a simple definition of licensing: It is akin to renting or hiring out your work to certain companies to make products using your art for a fee. The fee can be a flat fee or a royalty. The way this is done is through a licensing agreement which grants the reproduction rights for a certain time period in a specified territory for a specific product or products for an agreed fee. Let's say for example a publisher wanted to use one of your designs for a Poster. He would normally require the Poster rights for three years for worldwide distribution. The royalty would 10% of the wholesale selling price and the publisher may pay a small good faith advance. The retail price of a poster is around $25-35 however you are paid by the publisher on what he sells it to the retailer for. This can be anything from $5-17 depending on the volume ordered. The bigger the order the bigger the discount. If they sell 2000 posters at an average price of $5, the royalty earned would be 10% of $10,000 = $1000. This is the basic way licensing is done. There are of course different royalty rates for different products but essentially the same principles apply particularly for paper products like prints, greetings cards, stationery, calendars etc. When entering the field of licensing, the problem that most artists have is that they have no idea about how to negotiate a fair fee, how to know if the contract is fair and more importantly knowing what work to produce and how to approach companies in a professional and effective way. Having been in the industry since 1974 I have licensed at the last count over $600 million in retail products from art and design licensing. A few years ago I decided to write a manual to help artists learn the fundamentals of the licensing industry- "The Licensing Course". I have also condensed some of this information into a book now called Licensing Art 101. A new revised edition will be available April 2006 . This what artists have said about the course and book. What a blessing you are for those of us who aren't living in
where information seems to be more available (I lived there
for 16 years, thank goodness . Just for the record, I want you to know
that since I ordered your book (at Barnes and Noble), I see that they now carry
them regularly! I've been a children's book illustrator for 25
years, making enough money doing educational work to support myself while I do trade books
...Anyway, I've been trying to educate myself about other markets, and have
been learning about the surface design arena, which is very tied into
licensing... I just want to thank you for your books, this class and your
efforts to reach out to artists about an important aspect of the publishing world. You are helping people like me gain access
to important knowledge and tools to be better business people, and more
effective bread-winners! Thank you
for your tremendous service to all of us. Sincerely, Roberta Collier-Morales Illustrator/Calligrapher/Writer "BRAVO... Art Licensing 101
by Michael Woodward is without a doubt the most comprehensive and entertaining
"how to" book I have had the opportunity to read. Well thought
out...well written and well organized... full of actual useful
information that is easy to comprehend and apply in the Art Licensing Markets.
Not only does the book contain information about the business, but
it takes the "How To" genre to new heights with actual
"contacts" within the business. I have recommended the book to
every artist (or would be artist) I know. Congratulations and Thank You." Details of the Licensing Course and book can be found at http://www.licensingcourse.com/ Michael Woodward also runs a specialist artists management
and licensing company based in Out of the Blue http://www.out-of-the-blue.us/
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