Do I Need a Specific License to Sell Art

At The Abundant Creative person, we are passionate about teaching artists that it is entirely possible to brand money from your art, fifty-fifty outside of the traditional gallery arrangement. In fact, many of our artists make a living from their work without always setting foot in a gallery. A seldom-discussed aspect of the art industry, and somewhat mysterious to many artists, is art licensing. While it'due south non for everyone, information technology is a facet of the industry well worth exploring for artists who are well experienced with managing their budget and are interested in collaborating with corporations.

Several years ago, Cory interviewed an artist who licenses her art with a wide diverseness of companies and who founded ArtLicensingInfo.com. Tara Reed is a licensing skilful with years of feel, so we use transcribed portions from our interview with her throughout this article, lightly edited for readability.

What is art licensing?

Art licensing is a mode of making money wherein, as licensing practiced Tara Reed puts it, you "rent" your artwork to companies to put on their products. An artist who chooses to license their fine art may non sell whatever originals at all, merely merely license the images for utilize on commercial products. There is tremendous potential in the earth of art licensing, but information technology requires a different way of approaching business concern than more than traditional avenues of selling art such equally selling originals and prints through galleries or straight to collectors.

Are you willing to collaborate with a third party on every piece of art y'all license?

Tara Reed gives us a rundown on the bones steps involved in an art licensing transaction:

"In our perfect earth… I was just working on this collection this morning of fine art, and I'll terminate information technology probably tomorrow  and I'll start sending it out to a couple of clients that I work with all the time. Ane or two of them might exist similar "Oh yeah, nosotros like it. Transport us the files, we'll knock something up and see what happens."

So I've washed the art, they're now going to consider it. A lot of what goes on in the industry now, it's a trivial different than ten years ago, is they store your art. And so they might show it to some of their key accounts, they might show it to a big account like Bed Bathroom and Beyond or whatever. They oftentimes won't commit to you until they know they're going to have decent placement. A little different than in years past. So they accept to mock stuff upward, they accept to show it to people. Then, okay, it'due south cute, somebody wants it. Then you're going to do the contract. If I've never worked with them before, we have to first from scratch. If it'due south a visitor I've worked from we have a basic contract, we'll practise an amendment where we add "Okay, yeah, now you're licensing this art in addition to what y'all've already done in the past." So you e'er take to practise the contract thing. And then they have to produce it, they have to sell it if information technology's going into mom-and-pop stuff, or they have to ship information technology, whatsoever. It can accept, I think nine months is the shortest amount of time betwixt when I cease something and when it has shipped. And you don't get paid until the quarter later it ships."

How does art licensing work?

Companies that sell housewares, wearable, decor, kitchenwares, etc to retailers demand beautiful art to put on their merchandise. Where do they source that art? While some companies have in-business firm designers and artists, many source their fine art from freelance artists. What many artists don't realize about the art licensing process is that it is not commonly a uncomplicated procession from finished artwork to expensive licensing bargain.

And so this is the first question to ask yourself if you are interested in licensing your fine art: are y'all willing to interact with a third party on every piece of art you license? Tara Reed describes a typical case of receiving feedback from a client:

"Perfect example in point… chalkboard is really pop right at present. If you're on Pinterest at all, you see chalkboard stuff everywhere. So I've been playing a little bit with the chalkboard tendency with art that I like. So I did this 1 thing, and I sent it ship it to one of my clients who does wall art. And I'm like, "Okay. I think this might be cool. Information technology'southward kind of a combination of a chalkboard, and folksy." And she writes me dorsum, "It's a cool idea. But it'south likewise dark. I want a white background, I want brighter yellow, I want a lime dark-green." Basically, okay, y'all like the image but nothing else about it. Information technology is then rare to show somebody something and have them say "Perfect, transport it over." At that place's virtually always a change. 90 to 95 percent of the time there'due south a alter. In this particular example I pretty much said "Okay, y'all like the theme. Only you don't like how I did it. But I'g gonna end doing it this way, encounter how information technology goes, and and then I'll permit yous know when I do a lighter, brighter version of the theme."

There are some artists who bristle at the idea of receiving creative feedback from a corporate entity, even an art director, who has been removed from the procedure of creating the piece and may not identify with (or even particularly care about) the heart or message behind it. Other artists, such equally professional illustrators, will read almost Tara'southward experience and say "Yep, that sounds virtually right."

Information technology is so rare to show somebody something and have them say "Perfect, ship it over." There'south nearly always a modify.

Here is how Art Licensing Info puts information technology in a section titled The Nuts of Art Licensing:

"For those individuals who are willing to piece of work hard to create the necessary collections of fine art needed past manufacturers, to piece of work with the legalities of a contract, who are willing to continually market themselves and their works, and willing to work under a organization that does non guarantee firsthand income for the piece of work being done, fine art licensing may be the road to take."

So what are those "necessary collections of art"?

How do you create art manufacturers will want to license?

Fine art that sells well on manufactured items is fine art that both manufacturers and customers can relate to, co-ordinate to Tara Reed. The betoken of art that works well for licensing is to sell the product. Information technology needs to be something that a customer would desire displayed in their home in some manner. Take a look effectually your own home and notice what products you've purchased with artwork on them without really thinking about it: kitchen towels, tablecloths, cookie jars, clocks and wall art, placemats, etc. The art on licensed products may vary wildly from home to habitation, but it will have some factors in common such as being a coherent serial too every bit attractive and appealing to the eye.

For this purpose, there are likely to exist some perfectly valid art series that are not a good fit for licensing: overly political pieces, multimedia or 3-dimensional fine art, sculpture, etc.

If you've gotten this far and take decided that you're interested in collaborating with corporate clients and y'all have series of fine art that may be a skilful fit for licensing, the next step is to effigy out how to become started. First, check out Tara Reed's article The Art of Creating Art Licensing Collections.

How practice you get started licensing your art?

This is one of the almost common questions from artists who are overwhelmed past the prospect of art licensing. How does one even begin to dip their toe into the vast and seemingly complicated world of art licensing? Once more Tara Reed has come up to the rescue, with a really helpful research tactic she uses in guild to detect manufacturers who may want to license her piece of work:

"It'southward chosen shopping research, and it doesn't cost you anything. Y'all go to the shop, and you lot discover something. You're similar "Oh, that's really pretty." A lot of products take the manufacturer on the bottom. So you take a film of information technology or you write it down, and then you go back to the internet and you wait up that company, and y'all try and figure out if they license art. And and then that's how I have found some of my clients.

Some you'll go to their website and information technology'll say "Creative person Submissions." So that'southward awesome, because they tell you how they want to talk to you to begin with. Others, they might just bear witness artists that, once you larn more than about the industry you go a experience for who's in information technology. So if Paul Brent'southward art is on their product, they license art. Because he doesn't sell fine art, he just licenses art."

So shopping inquiry is also wonderful."

Another option is to attend a trade evidence. Amongst the most well-known shows is Surtex, an annual trade bear witness for the surface pattern manufacture. According to the Surtex website, Surtex "is the global sourcing destination for companies seeking unique art, designs, patterns and prints for commercial apply on dwelling house textiles, paper products, bed & bath, lifestyle giftware, décor, dress, beauty, juvenile, tendency services and more." Surtex is attended by manufacturers, retailers, marketers and brand licensing companies. So whether an artist interested in growing their licensing clientele chose to showroom or just nourish, the networking possibilities for shows like Surtex are enormous and extremely helpful to growing a fledgling "surface design" concern. Surtex claims that they are open up to whatsoever artist with designs or patterns that tin be used on finished trade, including photographers, fabric designers, illustrators, fine art agents.

The caveat to a bear witness like Surtex is that it's in New York City. So unless you're local, you are looking at a significant traveling expense. As your licensing business grows yous may notice that it's worth information technology to work networking opportunities like this into your budget. Simply what if you can't afford Surtex? Expect into other surface design trade shows. A small list includes:

BluePrint (San Francisco 2020)

Progressive Greetings Live (United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland)- this is exclusive to greeting cards

Licensing Expo (Las Vegas)

Tara Reed describes the choice to show at expos (or not):

"75 to fourscore percentage of my business I can track dorsum to either exhibiting at or going to an manufacture merchandise testify. So it's not an cheap thing, only I become to New York every May. I set my x foot ten booth, and that'south where I meet a lot of the people that I work with.

Some people don't choose to do that, they're not comfy doing that. They don't accept the budget to do that. And then in that location's other ways to go equally well, at that place are a lot of agents in the manufacture. So if people but really don't want to do the business side, like they're super shy and you lot're super intimidated by information technology, or they merely truly want to be in their pajamas painting all the fourth dimension and non deal with all the others.

Well, find an amanuensis. And and so it'southward their job to make those connections for yous, between your art and the manufacturers."

What does a fair fine art licensing contract look like?

Contracts vary wildly from company to company, and depending on the type of licensing bargain. The appeal of fine art licensing is that you can actually license the same piece of art for usage by multiple companies on dissimilar products, maximizing your earning potential. Every bit Tara describes information technology, "Here's the beautiful role. Because yous slice and dice information technology through a contract, I'm still free to accept the aforementioned Santa Clause that you're gonna put on wrapping paper and license it to somebody else to put on tissues, and to somebody else to put on paper plates, and to somebody else to put on ceramic plates, and to somebody else to put on wall art, and somebody else to put on stickers. It's endless."

A fair contract will provide yous with an manufacture-standard royalty rate. For in-depth information on standard royalty rates, bank check out the post Royalty Rates- What is the Standard?

Tara recommends working to negotiate the highest possible rate for yourself. (The Abundant Artist Clan members accept exclusive access to a talk on negotiation tactics for artists in the call annal.)

The appeal of art licensing is that y'all can actually license the same slice of fine art for usage by multiple companies on different products, maximizing your earning potential.

But how do you lot brand sure that the contract offered to you lot is completely on the upwards-and-up and isn't going to take advantage of you? Do you lot absolutely accept to hire a lawyer? Here'due south what Tara has to say:

"Contracts are role of this business. And you do need to empathize them. The beautiful matter is you don't always take to have an chaser. Another artist and I wrote an e-book called How to Understand Art Licensing Contracts . And so it goes through all of the pieces, like this is what you want in every single contract."

The important affair to notation is that while hiring a lawyer can be really advantageous for clarifying the legalese in large contracts for large accounts, hiring a lawyer may also cost you more than you always make from the bargain.

"Depending on how you're edifice your business, how large of a deal information technology is, some things might or might not be important. I have worked off of contracts that are ane page long to twelve pages long… You can't weep "I'm an artist, I tin can't sympathize information technology!" Considering information technology's really important to your business to at least understand it, fifty-fifty if you don't take command over the whole matter.

When I first started, I had a friend who used to do contract negotiation, and she helped me learn. You basically accept to larn to put on this hat that is the doom-and-gloom worst case scenario lid, and yous read each paragraph, and you lot go "Okay, worst case scenario." So say my fine art is on a mug. In my contract I indemnify this manufacturer against the art, and then if anybody sues me and says I stole this art, they can't sue them. But they have to indemnify me against any outcome with this mug."

Tara's final comment is an issue that many artists are unlikely to consider when inbound the world of art licensing: should a customer experience a problem with the product, who is at fault? The artist or the manufacturer? Brand sure that these details are antiseptic in your contract.

For more basic contract assist, check out Resources for Writing a Solid Artist Contract .

Is art licensing a lucrative business? How much tin I look to get paid for licensing my art?

The answer to this question is a very bold it depends. A helpful resources to have in your library whether or not y'all pursue licensing is the Graphic Pattern Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing & Ethical Guidelines. Because of the nature of licensing, at that place is the potential for it to be extremely lucrative for a savvy and hard working artist who is not afraid to network. However, Tara warns united states that artists should not become into licensing with the expectation of a steady income stream to pay next month's bills:

"You can make five dollars to millions of dollars a year. That's a really difficult question to answer. I hateful Mary Engelbreit, Thomas Kinkade, Susan Winget, they're all making very very large numbers, because they're very well-known brands, are very established. They have a large consumer base. There are other people who are licensing their art that are making really expert coin likewise, similar six figures.  And you may never know what their name is, because they may exist licensing their designs to Target, and it but has a target label on it. So sometimes you license your art and you don't get that recognition. Your signature isn't on it, you're doing private label.

Some private label will accept your name and your brand, and some, well it depends on what yous agree to. In that location's people that are doing information technology very part-fourth dimension, maybe they're making a couple hundred, a couple 1000. I would say the artists that are making a living like me, that have been in the business concern, my best approximate… considering we all don't sit around and compare our paychecks, and information technology tin can really vary from year to year. I hateful, I retrieve you lot're doing well if you lot're making $40- to $100,000, y'all tin make a living at this. It isn't super like shooting fish in a barrel money. It isn't like, "Oh, I'm gonna make five things, license it in the next ten years, I'one thousand all set." It'southward non that at all."

Too important for artists to note is the fact that the pay catamenia for art licensing is ordinarily quarterly. That means 4 paychecks a year, which is why artists who are serious nearly pursuing licensing need to be very proficient at managing their money. Tara calls it the cash menses cycle of licensing, and information technology requires a solid handle of managing your cash flow for your business organisation. Learn more than nigh the cash flow cycle and much, much more on Tara's free Interview Replays page: http://www.artlicensinginfo.com/interview-replays/

Companies & Agents:

These are by no means exhaustive lists. Take Tara's advice and do some shopping therapy inquiry of your own! Too see this blog mail service from artist Joan Beiriger for a very specific breakdown by product type.

A few companies that license art:

All of these companies license art onto their ain products, then sell those products in larger retail chains nationwide.

Demdaco: Gifts, fashion, and decor

LeaninTree: greeting cards

Andrews McMeel: calendars, paper gifts, etc

C&F Enterprises

Kikkerland

Fine art licensing agents:

MHS Licensing & Consulting

TSB & Co

Artistic Designs Group

Art Licensing

The Bright Agency

DSW Licensing

Gelsinger Licensing Group

IBD Licensing (Britain)

Licensing Liaison

Painted Word Licensing

Wild Apple

Out of the Blue Licensing

Copyright & Protecting Your Piece of work

An essential question to reply when considering selling the right to put your images on merchandise is: how can you protect your work from theft? The first matter to know is that if you create an original piece of art, you automatically own the copyright to that work without filing any paperwork, and yous may pursue legal recourse for copyright infringement. However, if you lot hope to sue the offending party for any kind of punitive award, y'all will demand to have your copyright a footstep further by registering it with the US Copyright Office.

Among the very best ways to protect your work is to be well-known. Consider an all-likewise-common scenario: you've been licensing your work for a while as well equally selling prints and originals from your ain website. A collector of yours mentions that they didn't know you were selling your piece of work so cheap now. "What in the world are you talking nearly?" you inquire, and they direct you to a slick looking boutique website selling cheap clothes… and there's your art, unlicensed. Stolen.

A case of copyright infringement (and being alerted by a third party) went viral several years ago and rocked the art globe was that of Lisa Congdon vs. art wholesaler Cody Foster & Co. Enough has been written on the case already, just to brand a long story curt, Lisa was alerted by a friend to the fact that Cody Foster & Co was selling ornaments with a design very similar to pieces that she had produced a few years before. Congdon filed a lawsuit against Cody Foster & Co, and the art world exploded with op-eds. Most sided with Congdon. Many high-profile companies concluded their partnerships with Cody Foster & Co every bit a result.

Why would it brand a deviation whether you're well known or not when it comes to protecting your art from theft? Every pair of eyes perusing the internet that belongs to someone who would recognize your work if they saw it is a valuable ally. This is exactly how Lisa Congdon was alerted to copyright infringement of her art, and this happens much more than ofttimes than yous would think. In fact a search on Twitter for "my art was stolen" reveals that art theft happens daily, to all kinds of artists, at every skill level and across every genre, style, and medium. The more people who know your art, the more people who can permit you lot know if they run into it somewhere it shouldn't be.

The solutions to protecting whatever work you post publicly online usually entail diminishing the quality of the image including posting only cropped sections, low-resolution or small images, and using large watermarks. Understandably, this is troubling for many artists who sell primarily through the internet and rely on collectors being able to see their work clearly online. This is why having a large network of fans, collectors, and fellow artists who recognize your art and have your dorsum is so important.

For regular discussions about copyright and protecting your work, Lisa Congdon and Kelly Rae Roberts are helpful artists to follow on social media. (As well be sure to check out our interview with Kelly Rae Roberts!)

Final thoughts

Fine art licensing is not for everyone. In add-on to being willing to create art along pop trends, fashions, and color schemes that are most likely to sell merchandise, you have to exist willing to work with third parties, taking feedback and making changes that you may not feel are necessary. Additionally, while licensing can exist lucrative, it isn't going to be the solution for whatsoever cash menstruum problems your concern is experiencing. That being said, art licensing tin can exist a not bad fit for some artists. If yous accept other streams of income and can manage your money well and the idea of working with businesses to create art that will sell merchandise doesn't make y'all break out in hives, art licensing is well worth looking into. You don't even have to arrive your full-time gig: equally Tara Reed mentioned, many artists license their fine art merely part time as a supplemental income.

In the Information Age it is easier than ever to begin learning something new. Throughout this article we have shared multiple resource, both hither on The Abundant Artist and on the site Tara founded, that volition help you get started. Why not requite art licensing a attempt? Let us know how it goes!

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Source: https://theabundantartist.com/art-licensing/

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