Monday 26 July 2010

Payback 2010





Every photographers deserves Payback

DACS has now launched Payback 2010 and this year we have a share of over £3 million of royalties to pay to photographers whose work has been reproduced in UK books or magazines or on certain television channels. Photographers have until 17 September 2010 to make their claim.

DACS negotiates these royalties on behalf of photographers and other visual artists. In 2009, DACS paid out a share of £3 million to 11,628 visual artists.

Did you know?

-In 2009, the average Payback claim was £300
-Last year the highest payment of £5600 was made to a photographer
-Every photographer who makes a successful Payback claim is guaranteed a minimum of £25

Where does the money come from?

Payback royalties come from revenue generated through collective licensing schemes. Collective licensing is used in situations where it would be difficult or near impossible for photographers to licence their rights on an individual basis, for example, when an individual wishes to photocopy a page of a book or magazine which features their work.

"It’s a win-win situation. All they need to do is fill in a Payback claim form telling DACS which books, magazines and television programmes their work has featured in. Once they’ve had a successful Payback claim, they can claim for the same published work every year, so the size of their claim could increase if they have new work." says Nicolas Watkins-Wright, DACS Payback Manager.

Photographer Betsie van de Meer also has some advice for photographers claiming for the first time:

"I hadn’t heard of Payback before last year. A photographer friend told me about it and so I contacted DACS. Initially I had a lot of questions about what work I could claim for. DACS were really helpful, they explained what I needed to do and it became very simple after that. Getting the first royalty felt great. It came just before Christmas and I was really surprised by the amount."

In order to make a claim photographers need to provide up to three examples of both books and magazines where their work has featured. We just need to know the publication title, ISBN/ISSN or barcode number, plus the cover date, issue number or year of publication. Photographers can also claim for all work which has featured on any of the following TV channels in 2009 only - BBC 1, 2, 3, 4, BBC News 24/ Parliament, CBBC, CBeebies, ITV1, Channel 4, SC4 and Channel 5.

The easiest way to claim is to fill in the form online at www.dacs.org.uk. Alternatively they can request a claim form to be sent to them by post or email. For further information about Payback or to request a claim form contact the Payback team on 020 7553 9062 or email payback(at)dacs(dot)org(dot)uk

Established by artists for artists, DACS (the Design and Artists Copyright Society) is the UK’s leading visual arts rights management organisation. As a not-for-profit organisation, DACS translates rights into revenues and recognition for a wide spectrum of visual artists. DACS exists to generate and distribute money to artists, which in turn, helps to sustain their practice and livelihood.

DACS offers three rights management services – copyright licensing, Artist’s Resale Right and collective licensing – in addition to lobbying, advocacy and legal advice for visual artists. In 2009, DACS distributed over £6.1 million of royalties to artists and their beneficiaries. DACS takes a small administration charge on the Payback royalties collected on behalf of artists in order to cover the costs of running the service. Since 2008 this charge has been reduced from 25% to 22% in a continued effort to pay out even more to visual artists.