Reprographic Royalties Part 1: Artists Getting Paid

In January 2019, illustrators who have signed reprographic agreements with the Artists Rights Society (ARS) began receiving reprographic royalty checks. Last month, ARS sent out another round of checks to more new members. These payouts are a milestone: the first time American illustrators have ever received a share of these international reprographic royalties. 

On March 25, many of us (through ARS) filed claims with the French collecting society ADAGP for illustration work dating back to 1995. Now, in two weeks, April 22, 2019, another deadline will give us an opportunity to file additional claims with the United Kingdom.

This success is the result of efforts by the American Society of Illustrators Partnership. ASIP is the coalition of illustrators groups that have worked for years toward this goal.


To join, the only requirement is that you must be a published illustrator and you must apply for ARS membership directly. There is no membership fee and all published US artists are eligible. Once you are a member you can then file claims for your published work. 


ABOUT ARS
The Artists Rights Society (ARS is Latin for Art) is a widely-respected, long-established fine art collecting society. It is one of 41 international "Sister Societies" monitored by the quasi-governmental body CISAC. CISAC conducts audits of each organization. It checks their books and makes sure that their income and distribution models fulfill the strictest international  guidelines. ARS is a member of CISAC and has a 30-year history of seeing that fine artists are paid for the use of their work. We're pleased that ARS has agreed to add illustrators' reprographic rights to their agenda.

Step 1: How to Join ARS as an Illustrator Member

1. Download the simple pdf Member Agreement from the dedicated ARS website.
2. Also download the W9 Form from the same link. 
3. Fill out the Member Agreement, listing all names, pseudonyms, and other variations under which your work is credited. 
4. Sign the agreement with a digital signature or a traditional signature.
5. Return one copy to ARS, along with the completed W9 Form, via email. 
6. ARS will return a counter-signed agreement to you.

This procedure will allow ARS to issue you an IPI (Interested Party Information) Number. This is a unique identifying number assigned by the international CISAC database to each creative artist.

IPI numbers are used by more than 120 countries and three million creators. Collecting societies require these identity numbers in order to pay royalties to the proper rightsholders and to avoid fraudulent claims.

Joining ARS will NOT interfere with your normal individual licensing arrangements.  Your ARS contract will only apply where collective fees are already being collected under blanket licenses such as photocopying usage, cable retransmission fees, etc. These are royalties which until now, illustrators have never been able to claim.

Creating a Catalog
For the record, we are NOT suggesting that ASIP (through ARS) is offering artists easy money. According to the General Papers of the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organizations:

"One of the basic principles of collective administration is that remuneration should be distributed individually to rightholders according to the actual use of their works."  

This means that by joining ARS, illustrators will have the opportunity to supply ARS with a catalog of published works, dating back to your first publication. ARS in turn, will supply these records to its sister societies in other countries. 

For most artists, this will mean researching and/or reconstructing records from multiple sources: tear sheets, diaries, calendars, invoices and the Internet; then entering the information on a spreadsheet. Most artists who have already started this process report finding it time-consuming but rewarding. Like this, from one of the country's leading medical illustrators:

"I had never catalogued my life’s work before, and joining the ARS effort has been challenging and rewarding. I will continue to build my list of published works, and look forward to reaping the benefits as time goes by..."

Step 2: How to File a UK Reprographic Royalty Claim  

Illustrators whose work has been published -  or is available for sale - in the UK are eligible to file a claim for reprographic royalties with the British Design & Artists Copyright Society (DACS). The coming deadline is short - April 22nd - but the procedure is simple. Look for instructions in Part 2 of this notice.