“It is one thing to license one design or collection with a company to see how it goes.  It’s like going on a blind date – you see what happens. But it is quite another to tie your wagon to a company for 2-3 years.”  Artist Tara Reed

Before signing any document that has the word “Exclusive” in it, be aware of what you are giving away.

This advice applies to all business arrangements, no matter what niche you work in.

In the world of art sales, licensing and exhibit shows, often we get asked to sign an exclusive agreement, and most of the time, I won’t.   I’ll explain why – read on:

WHAT DOES EXCLUSIVE MEAN? When you agree to give someone an exclusive, it means that you cannot sell your goods or services to anyone else for the term of the agreement.

Occasionally, signing an exclusive can make sense.  But usually it does not.

REASONS NOT TO SIGN AN EXCLUSIVE AGREEMENT:

• You are shut off from other opportunities when you sign an exclusive.
• The company asking for an exclusive isn’t offering any extra money or incentive for giving it to them.
• If the project, exhibit or product fails, you may still be tied to the exclusive, and now you aren’t making any money off of it at all, nor can you go elsewhere to earn from it.
• The most important reason of all:  In the event of bankruptcy, the law will hold you to an exclusive, even if the company goes bust and isn’t able to pay you anymore.  This is why in the licensing world, exclusives are rare.  (My attorney says that including wording that says “should the company go bankrupt, this contract is void” does not solve this problem.  The bankruptcy laws do not recognize or honor that language in a contract.)
• If there is no value to be gained from giving an exclusive, not for you or the person you’re granting it to.

I WAS GLAD WE ARGUED FOR A NON-EXCLUSIVE WITH SPORT-FUN TOY COMPANY:

We signed a licensing deal with one of the largest U.S. toy companies for skateboards a few years ago.  They demanded an exclusive.  I held my ground, for all the reasons above.  But I assured them that we wouldn’t do a skateboard license with a competing company (that would be stupid on our part).  Eventually, they agreed to a non-exclusive.  I kid you not, 6 weeks later they went bankrupt!  And we were free to do a skateboard license with any other company.  Had we agreed to the exclusive, we would have not been able to business with another skateboard company for 2 years, even though we weren’t earning from this license.

HOW DO YOU GET THE CLIENT/GALLERIST TO DROP THE EXCLUSIVE REQUIREMENT?

Don’t be afraid to question why they want an exclusive. Get to the bottom of what their real concern is by asking them what it is.  And then find another way to give them what they need.  You do this by having a grown-up conversation.

Just last week, a very important client that pays Drew to travel and paint at events asked that he sign an exclusive on his designs.  I explained that we can’t because his designs are being used for other things.  I asked why they wanted an exclusive.  They said they were worried that their competitors would contact Drew and have him do the same work for them.  After all, they hired Drew to do a special promotion that they are putting a lot of money into and they are paying us top dollar for it.  I said okay, instead of giving an exclusive on the designs, why don’t we agree to not work with your direct competitors for one year?  That way, we keep control over the designs, and they get the assurance they need.  Everyone wins.

There’s always a way to give your client what they want without giving it all away. Just find out what they REALLY are after.  I find with some companies they don’t even know why they want an exclusive. In one instance, a licensee insisted on one because his highly paid attorney said he should.  But there wasn’t any reason behind it!

WHY EXCLUSIVE AGREEMENTS HURT GALLERY SALES:

In the case of galleries, they can act just like jealous teenagers.  They don’t want anyone else to get what they think is theirs.  But it’s dangerous to give a gallery complete control over your entire career.

There is a gallery in Newport Beach, California that asked my husband Drew to exhibit his artwork.  The gallerist handed us an “exclusive” consignment agreement.  This meant that Drew couldn’t exhibit his art in any other gallery, ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.

“Why do you need to have an exclusive?  You don’t have locations else-where, do you?” I asked.  The answer was no.  They had only one location, but wanted to make sure that nothing was sold from their artists anywhere else!  This thinking is completely backwards, and here’s why, as I explained to the gallerist:

If Drew isn’t exhibiting anywhere else in the world, it’s not going to help the sales of his art anywhere, including in YOUR gallery.  It will hurt ALL sales.  He didn’t see my point, but granted, he was pretty stubborn.

After some going back and forth on it, the gallerist removed the word “exclusive” and we agreed to not exhibit at any gallery in the actual town that the gallery was in.  That seemed fair and made sense.  The world-wide exclusive was just silly.  I found out later that other artists with that same gallery made the mistake of signing his exclusive agreement, which had a 5 year term!

I discovered this when an opportunity to do a group show in a town 70 miles south of this gallery came up.  I called one of the other artists that was in the gallery in Newport Beach and asked if they were going to do the group exhibit.  “Oh, I can’t.  I’ve signed an exclusive with the Newport Beach gallery and can’t do any other shows for 5 years.” Yikes.

By signing a world-wide exclusive, this artist can’t be a part of ANY art show ANYWHERE for any reason.  He’s going to miss out on a lot of exposure. And guess who else misses out?  The Newport Beach gallery.

They will have an artist with a shrinking, rather than growing, resume of shows and exhibits.  Not good for high-end art sales.

The worst part is that this artist tells me that he sells less than a dozen paintings a year through the gallery in Newport Beach.  The exclusive prevents him from making a living off of his art.

WHEN SIGNING AN EXCLUSIVE MAKES SENSE:

In some instances it makes sense to sign an exclusive – like when it means high-dollar stakes and massive sales.

We agreed to an exclusive Drew Brophy/Converse Chuck Taylor design to Journey’s shoes.  That was in exchange for a large order, as they have 900 stores.  But that exclusive had limits to it; it was for one specific design, not the entire category of shoes and the exclusive was only for summer 2010.

Here are some sensible reasons to sign an exclusive:

You are paid extremely well for that Exclusive through a Guarantee: A guarantee in the contract states that you are paid a minimum dollar amount regardless of what sells.

Example of a Minimum Guarantee:  You are paid a minimum of $20,000 per quarter regardless of what actually sells.  (The dollar amount should be what makes it worthwhile for you to not do work with anyone else).  This way, if the company doesn’t properly sell your art, you are still getting paid for that exclusive.

The contract has a very short time period: Narrow it to one or two years, that way if the client or gallery doesn’t succeed selling your artwork, than you only lost a year or two of your career.  Think long and hard before you sign a long term exclusive agreement (unless you are paid extremely well for it).

The contract has a very narrow geographical location: In the case of a licensee, narrow it to where they are actually selling your products (i.e. in North America).

In the case of gallery representation, narrow it down to the actual town that the gallery is in.  If the gallery has multiple locations, than have the contract state all of those multiple towns (i.e. this contract is exclusive in Newport Beach, CA, Miami FL and Manhattan).  That way you won’t miss out on other exhibits that could earn you a greater fan base and more sales.

The contract has a narrow list of items that are exclusive:  An example would be a specific design for a specific product, such as:  The design named “Pure Joy” for printing on 11” x 14” Lithographs.

Being specific allows you to free up all designs except those listed in the agreement.  Trust me, after doing licensing for a few years, this will make sense to you.

There’s money up front: A large chunk of projected earnings up front before signing an Exclusive agreement ensures a commitment on the part of the person you are partnering with.

HONOR YOUR CLIENTS EVEN WITHOUT AN EXCLUSIVE

An exclusive isn’t needed to keep your integrity.  You can assure your client or gallery that you will keep their best interest in mind without that legal limitation.  All while keeping yourself free to pursue other opportunities should they go bankrupt, fail to market you as they promised, or drop the ball altogether.

Even though almost all of our agreements are non-exclusive, I am very careful not to do business with the competitors of our current clients.  It would be unwise to ruin our existing relationships, and it goes against our personal code of values.

We are four years into a non-exclusive arrangement with manufacturer Coastal Classics.  They print Drew’s art on t-shirts and sell them to surf shops and coastal gift stores.  They sell very well.  Last year their biggest competitor called asking if Drew would design t-shirts for them.  Even though we don’t have an exclusive with Coastal Classics, we said no.  It wouldn’t do anyone any good to have Drew’s art with 2 competing companies.  It would be unethical, for one, and the other reason is that it would confuse the customers.

But, if Coastal Classics didn’t properly market Drew’s t-shirts and we didn’t see any income from that agreement, we might have considered doing business with their competitor.  We would have been free to take on that opportunity.

The bottom line is that when you sign an agreement, pay attention to the important words that can bind you.   Know what you are getting into, and what you are giving up.

Remember that everything is negotiable, and that most of the companies you work with will understand when you explain why you don’t want to agree to something that’s not in your best interest.

Be honest, up front and reasonable.  As with everything else, just use your head!

Maria xxoo

PS:  I found a great article by the very wise artist Tara Reed on the same topic.  Read her point of view here: Five Things to Consider Before Signing an Exclusive Agreement.

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To gain a strong understanding of Art Licensing Contracts, what to charge, how to protect yourself in a deal, and so much more:  Check out my e-Book, co-written with artist Tara Reed, called How to Understand Art Licensing Contracts.

This eBook will save you years of experience, time & money.  It will prevent you from getting into bad deals and show you what’s reasonable to ask for.  You’ll feel more confident going into each deal with this reference by your side.  It’s truly a must-have reference for all artists who are licensing their art!Similar Posts:

• Artists Beware of these Red Flags in Contracts
• LICENSING YOUR ART TO A SKATEBOARD COMPANY (Or any Company)
• What to Charge for Art Licensing – Royalties Advances and Flat Fees

WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM A BIKINI MODEL ABOUT ART AND COPYRIGHTS:

If only the beautiful former model, Irina Krupnik, had known how important it was to protect her pretty image.  It might have avoided humiliation and the need to file a $10 million dollar defamation lawsuit against NBC Universal.  But, oh, the perils of innocent youth!

You see, Irina’s not happy that a photo of her in a bikini has been used as a “randy” prop in a film called Couples Retreat.  And by “randy” I mean that her skin-baring image was made love to by a middle aged overweight character in the film.

I’ll be surprised if Irina wins this lawsuit, because she signed her rights away to a stock photo agency years ago.  Once your rights are signed away, the new owner can do anything with your image. They own it.   They can choose to sell it to someone else and if they wanted to, hell, they could even paint a mustache on Irina’s pretty face and use it to sell hemorrhoid cream to transvestites.  It’s theirs now, not hers.

Irina complains that she never would have allowed the sexy photo of herself to be transformed from swimwear to “soft porn.”  But it doesn’t matter what Irina wants, because she has no standing.  She signed her rights away. And now her image is tarnished.  She will forever be remembered as the girl who was master–bait in a movie that’s ironically becoming more popular because of her lawsuit.

What does a model in a bikini being used for porn have to do with artwork? It proves my point that once you sell your rights away, you no longer have rights.  That’s what selling, granting or giving rights away means.  You transfer ownership over to someone else. And they can do anything they want with it.

I don’t blame her for being upset.  I would be, too.  But she signed that  piece of paper, and in doing so she gave permission.  A hard lesson learned.  Perhaps models should start adding to their release documents a statement that specifies that porn, soft porn and anything related is off limits.  But I doubt any photo agency would buy on those terms – there are a million other models who would agree to sign it all away.

Recently I was interviewed on fire-bowl artist John T. Unger’s fabulous Art Heroes Radio Show.  (You can listen to it now!)  The topic was Licensing and John asked me what artists could do to get their start in Art Licensing.

I said that one of the most important things an artist should do is to make sure they own and keep all of their copyrights. This doesn’t mean you have to file your art copyright through http://www.copyright.gov (although you should) what it means is that you should never sign your copyrights away to anyone else.

The moment you create an artwork or photograph, you are the owner of the copyright (unless you create it while employed by someone.)  That ownership doesn’t change hands unless you sign something that says you are transferring rights to someone else.

It’s so important to keep control over what happens to your art and images that I will continue to nag over and over again until finally, artists will drop in exhaustion and get what I’m saying:

Having complete ownership of your copyrights and your artwork is what will enable you to control how your art (and YOU) is presented to the world.

If you sign over your copyrights, the new owner can take it and bastardize it.  If you have a recognizable style, this will hurt you.  This will hurt your career.  This will hurt your reputation.

WHAT CAN GO WRONG? Come now, you say.  I’m being too dramatic.  What’s the harm in selling the rights to one little painting? You aren’t going to miss it.  It can’t make a difference.

I’ll explain one of a million things that can go wrong, just like Irina and her sexy bikini photo:

Let’s say you have a very distinct art style, like Keith Haring does.  When someone sees your art, they know it’s yours before they even see your signature.  You have a lot of fans who love you.  You have taken great pride in keeping your artwork pure and not “selling out” with it.  Your fans appreciate that.

Then you were commissioned to create a painting for a client to use in an advertising campaign.  It was a respectable one for a cool product like Absolute Vodka.   You were excited!  And in your excitement, you signed a “work for hire” agreement, which says that you agree to give all rights to the image to the company.  What could go wrong?

Years go by, and you are suddenly getting hate mail from some of your fans.  They are angry that you are selling $3.00 cheaply made t-shirts at Wal-Mart.  They are incensed.  You’re confused.  You find out that the company you signed your rights away to earlier then sold the rights to a trinket manufacturer in China that makes cheap tees and sells in Wal-Marts all over the world.

Your image has now been tarnished and you’ve lost many fans over it.

This is an extreme example, but very possible.

If you want to be an artist that’s remembered for a particular style, and if you want to have control over what happens to your art, and your reputation, never sign your rights away.

Literally and figuratively, protecting your image is crucial if you are going to have any control you’re your future success.

It’s too late for Irina.  But it’s not too late for you to be control freak when it comes to your artwork.  Sometimes being a control freak is a good thing!

Maria xxoo

*Exception to the “never sign your rights away” rule:  Illustrators will have to sign rights over to their clients if creating logos, or if creating artwork for movie posters or images that are trademarked (like Sesame Street Characters, Jimmy Hendrix image, etc.).  But if you are drawing and painting and illustrating in your own style, with your own signature, and you want your name and style to be known, keep your copyrights.

UPDATE TO THIS ARTICLE on October 18, 2010:  The result of the model’s lawsuit was this:

The Russian beauty sued the film’s distributor, NBC Universal, in March, claiming it “published [her] likeness in a vulgar context.”

But Manhattan Supreme Court Judge O. Peter Sherwood ruled that Krupnik signed away her rights to the photo at the time of the shoot and knew full well that it could be resold for commercial purposes.

You can read more about it in the New York Daily News.   To quote the tweet of my Entertainment Attorney Friend, Gordon Firemark, “Irina Krupnik lost… I guess pretty girls don’t ALWAYS get their way.”

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.Similar Posts:

• How to Make Sure Your Art is Remembered Like Picassos
• Beware of the Online Art Contest – You Lose, even if you Win
• Filing Copyrights, Firing Clients and Avoiding Shysters

Palisades Skateboard/Drew Brophy License

Hooking up with the right manufacturer to license your artwork is a little bit like looking for the right mate.  It requires a little research and vetting on your end.

Much like finding that special sexy someone that you want to wake up next to everyday, there are things that you need to know about your potential licensee.  Things like their values, principles, and plans for the future.  And do they line up with yours?

Just like a devout Christian should never marry an Atheist, unless they want some serious drama in their life, you shouldn’t do a deal with a company that has radically different ideas about what’s cool to do with your artwork, unless you want some serious drama in your life.

To be more specific, if they want to print your art on cheap-ass tees and sell them at the $2.00 store, and you had visions of having top quality $75 tees sold in boutiques, well, then you’ve got a mis-match.

In the case of our Drew Brophy / Palisades co-branded Skateboard line, before closing the deal we had many meetings with our contacts Brad, Kurt and Heidi to talk about our plans for the future of the line, where we wanted them sold, and how we could make them look just awesome.  In the end, we  were all in agreement as to distribution (core surf, skate and sports shops), what the art will look like and the quality of the deck (awesome).

In the beginning stages of  your discussions with a potential licensee, whether it’s on the phone or in person, you’ll want to have a get-to-know you conversation.  Much like dating, this first meeting will help you to determine if you share the same values and goals with the license.

Before that first meeting, be sure that you are familiar with the company, their history and the names of the top people that work there.  This is easy information to get with a simple search on Google. You should also know what all of their products are and determine in advance which ones you think will work well with your artwork.

Be prepared to ask ten very important questions which will not only make you seem like you’ve done this before, but it will also help to determine if your artwork and brand is a good fit with the company you’re talking to.

The first nine of the topics listed below will be specified in the licensing contract, so asking the questions in your initial conversations will be a step in the right direction to make sure that both parties want the same things.

And being sure that you both want the same thing is the key to a good relationship (just like marriage)!

Ten Questions to Ask Before Hooking Up with a Licensee:

1.)     What are your distribution channels? (Translated:  where are your products sold?)

Distribution Channels can be broken down in this way:

Specialty:  Includes boutiques and specific shops that cater to a particular lifestyle such as surf, skate, snow, fishing, dive, etc.

Upper Tier:  High end department stores (i.e. Saks)

Mid tier:  Middle end department stores (i.e. Penney’s)

Lower Tier:  Target

Mass Market:  Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Costco

Other:  Catalogs, direct mail, online, televised shopping

You want to know where they sell their stuff because if it’s to Wal-Mart and you don’t want your art sold there, then cancel the engagement!

2.)    Who are your top 5 retail accounts?

3.)    What other licenses are you currently working with?

(If they haven’t licensed before, it can be a little problematic getting reports on time and accurate.  If they have, get the names and contact the licensors for a reference.)

4.)    Territory in which you distribute: Territory is named by country or region, such as North America, or they may sell worldwide.

5.)    Product Categories you wish to use the art for.  (i.e. t-shirts, hooded sweatshirts, tea cups…)

6.)    How many will be in the first print run – how many of each product type will you roll out initially?

7.)    Estimate of sales projections the first year?  The second year?  The third year?

Don’t hold them to these estimates, it just gives you an idea of how much they think they can sell.

8.)    Which images are you interested in? Go through your website or portfolio and get a feel for which will work best with their products.

9.)    What is the projected date that the product will be delivered to retailers?

10.) Provide me with one sample of each product that we will produce. (Usually I’ll ask that the company mails me a sample of each so that we can see the quality of what they currently produce before moving forward.)

It’s important that you get a good picture of how the products bearing your artwork will be sold, in which stores, and when.

Be confident in asking these questions, because it’s your artwork and it’s your future.  You are in charge of what happens to both.

Here are a few other articles on this topic that will help you:

HELP – A COMPANY WANTS TO LICENSE MY ART

LICENSING YOUR ART TO A SKATEBOARD OR ANY OTHER COMPANY

WORK SMARTER NOT HARDER  - LICENSING 101

THE MAKING OF A GOOD LICENSING AGREEMENT

Maria xxoo

Was this post helpful to you?  Please, SUBSCRIBE to my e-mail feeds by putting your e-mail address in the white box below.  You’ll get my posts in your in-box and you won’t miss anything!  And if you comment below, I’ll put you in  my Will!Similar Posts:

• What to Charge for Art Licensing – Royalties Advances and Flat Fees
• LICENSING YOUR ART TO A SKATEBOARD COMPANY (Or any Company)
• Art Licensing 101 Lecture RECAP

Artwork (c) Jeni Prince

Here’s a great question I got from the very talented Jeni Prince of Kaui:

Aloha Maria, I enjoy your blog and all the great info.  What’s the best way to send your portfolio to a prospective company?  I would like to send artwork to a clothing company so they can see my work and use my images. My issue seems to be the initial contact and what to send.  Mahalo, Jeni Prince, Kauai www.kauaiarts.net

First, for those out there who aren’t familiar, I want to clarify what LICENSING is.  Because this is what Jeni is asking about – granting a company rights to use her artwork on their products.

Licensing your art means:  that you allow a company (Licensee) to use your art on their goods for a period of time (say 2 years) for a royalty (say 8% of sales or a one-time flat fee) for a product (say towels) to be sold in a specified distribution channel (say department stores).  You keep the rights to the artwork, as well as the original.  You are only granting your Licensee the rights to use the digital images, you always keep the original.

Artwork (c) Drew Brophy - Indo Board

Here’s why licensing exists, in a little nutshell: Why would a towel company pay to print your art on their towels – they have a good quality product, and they are selling it in 2,000 stores, so why do they need you?  Because while they may be great at making towels, your art is going to help them sell more towels.

And why would you license your art to a towel company when you could make your own towels? Oh, well, because you aren’t a towel company.  You’re an artist.  What you do best is paint and create cool art.  If you went into the towel business, trust me, your painting days will come to a screeching halt!  I talk about this in my post about the “Biggest Mistake We Ever Made”.

In one sense, it’s not complicated to get a license deal going with a company, if everything comes together at once.  Sometimes we get lucky and it all just glides like warm butter on a plate.  But other times, we have to work our tails off to get the license we really want.

And by “we” I am mean my husband Drew Brophy and myself.  Together we team up to license his art to companies that make quality stuff like Converse shoes and Skin-it skins and skateboards, wakeboards, etc.

This week we closed a deal with Hinano Tahiti, a clothing company.  Drew is creating artwork for their 2011 line.  I am excited about this, because Hinano makes clothes that I really like, and the people there are super cool.  I’m always energized when Drew has a new big painting project.  In this case, he’ll be making a huge painting of a Tahitian Story, and I love watching him put on his blue painters’ apron (it’s so sexy) and go to town with the brushes.  And then there’s the chance to fly to Tahiti, and I’m shamelessly driven by the prospect of traveling to paradise and calling it work.  But I’m getting off track here…

So, to help me better answer the question above, I’ll refer occasionally to our Hinano Deal as an example.

Six Points About Presenting Your Art to a Prospect:

• NETWORK AND FOLLOW UP: It’s best if you know someone at the company you are going to approach.  Put yourself out there into the events where you’ll meet the contacts you need to know, or the people who can introduce you to the right people.  Every industry has their trade shows and networking events.  Go to them and develop relationships.  Recognize and seize opportunities to ask people if you can set up a time to show your artwork. When you meet someone in person, you have a much better chance of getting a meeting with them than you do cold-calling.

Here’s how our Hinano Tahiti deal was born:  Last September Drew performed a live surfboard painting for a charity event that was hosted by Hinano Tahiti.  Drew had previously met the President of Hinano at other surf events, and on this night he planted the verbal seed to consider using Drew’s art for their clothing line.  A month later the President and his father stopped into our studios and bought a piece of art off the wall (so nice of them!)  At that time, we briefly talked about the possibility of a license.  I followed up by e-mail and set up a formal meeting for the first week of this year.

Once you get your meeting, that’s where both parties have the opportunity to determine if your art and their product will go well together.  It’s also your one chance to wow them with what you’ve got to offer.

• CHOOSE THE RIGHT COMPANIES: If you are an artist who paints skulls and gnarly naked chicks, you won’t be going to Tommy Bahamas to license your artwork.  It just won’t fit their demographic!

Do a little research and find the companies that cater to the demographic that your artwork and style will best fit.

• HAVE PATIENCE: You might be told “We aren’t looking for art right now.”  That’s okay.   But they might need it later, when something changes within their company.  The in-house graphic artist might quit, or suddenly their customers are asking for the type of art that you create.

Please, don’t get discouraged if you are told “NO.”  IT’S NOT PERSONAL.

Keep in touch with the company anyway.  This is where snail mail can really come in handy.  So many people delete e-mails if it’s not something they want to read (I do this, too), but they can’t delete real mail.  It’ll end up on their desk and they’ll be reminded of your existence and your incredible art. Send them occasional postcards with your artwork.  Mail Christmas cards with your artwork on the card.  Just keep reminding them every now and again that you are here, and you’re ready when they are.

Sometimes we’ll be in touch with a company for two or three years before they finally say “yes”.  It’s worth the wait.

• SET UP A MEETING:  If you aren’t able to meet the people you need to connect with at a networking event, then use snail mail and the internet instead.

Find out the name of the person you need to talk to.  In very small companies, your direct contact could be the President or CEO.  In larger companies, you would talk to the Art Director.  In companies that license artwork or characters regularly, you would ask for the person who handles licensing, usually a Licensing Manager or Vice-President of Licensing, or some such title like that.

If you have a friend that knows the person that you are trying to connect with, ask that friend to put in a good word for you.  It’ll be easier for you to get a meeting that way.

Send a cover letter with samples of your work to the contact.  Your letter should be short and to the point.   (Nobody has time to read anymore.  Long letters end up in the trash.)

Your letter should introduce yourself briefly and ask for a meeting (either in person, or if you’re too far away, on the phone).  The letter should include printed out samples of your best work, enough to pique their interest.  Also include your biography on a separate sheet.

You could include mocked up samples of what their product would look like with your art on it.  But I prefer to save this step for the meeting or to e-mail prior to a phone meeting.

If you want to reach out by e-mail rather than mail, send a link to your website or a page that shows your artwork and ask for a meeting and for permission to e-mail jpgs of your work.   Don’t send an e-mail with a bunch of jpgs to someone you’ve never talked to. It really makes some people mad, and most won’t open e-mails with attachments from people they don’t know.

If you don’t hear back after a couple weeks, follow up with a telephone call and be very gracious and professional.  If they aren’t interested initially, don’t give up.

• HAVE A WELL THOUGHT OUT PRESENTATION:     When you get the opportunity to meet with your contact, be sure to ask questions and listen to their wants and needs.  Be fully prepared with a nice presentation.

One of the biggest mistakes artists make is showing a company a portfolio mess of a hodge-podge of their artwork in various themes and styles.  It’s too confusing and it’s disorganized.

You want to present a clean portfolio showing about a dozen images in one theme.   You can show them several themes, just be sure you have 8-12 images per theme.

An example of a theme would be a collection of 12 of your best paintings depicting the lifestyle of Maui.  You may have another dozen paintings in the theme of underwater scenes.  Another collection could be a theme of dolphin paintings.

You could also have mock-ups prepared for the meeting.  If you are talking to a t-shirt company, do some mock ups of t-shirts with your artwork on them.

Drew's Converse Mock Ups

Just remember:  THEME, COHESIVE, COLLECTION.  And be sure that your themes will match what their company is about, their branding, and their customer base.

The main goal is to provide them with artwork that will help them to sell as many pieces of their product as they can.  That’s going to be what’s important to them – how your art will sell their product.

In the case of Hinano, Drew prepared for our first meeting with them by printing out examples of t-shirt, fabric and board short designs he’s done in the past.  With this deal, instead of using existing art, Drew is actually going to paint all new Tahitian style paintings.  But it was very helpful to have examples of what he’s painted in the past so they could point out what elements of his artwork they liked best, and together they could determine what the new artwork would capture and look like.

In that meeting, we looked through Hinano’s catalogs and Drew asked them questions such as what existing designs worked well for them, the age range of their customer, and what they like best about Drew’s artwork.  They explained what attracted them to Drew’s art (it was the bright colors and energy) and what elements they’d like to see in the artwork that Drew is going to create for them.

Side note:  In most licensing agreements, you’ll license existing artwork.  However, there will be times that it makes sense for you to design something new for a license.

• FOLLOW UP: The purpose of your first meeting is to see if there’s interest on both sides to move forward.  I rarely quote prices, advances or royalty rates on the first meeting, because with artwork it’s different every time.  I’ll close the meeting with an understanding of what they want (how many images, for which products, if new art will be created, etc.) and then I’ll take time to put together a proposal to send to them a few days later.  I like to mull it over, because if I give a price or oral proposal on the spot, I usually screw it up.

I’ll follow up a few days later with a proposal or deal memo that details what I’m asking for.  Then I follow up with a phone call and ask for them to sign the proposal or deal memo, send a deposit and let’s get started.

To tell the truth, every deal is different, every license we’ve done has come about in a different way.  Some have been from companies calling us; some we’ve tracked down, some fell in our lap and some we chipped away at for years before we got it.

If I were to guess what the most important things were that helped us get our deals, it was:

1. Drew’s reputation for having integrity and a strong fan base (which grew over time); and
2. Relationships with people.  Cultivating relationships with either people in the companies we want to work with, or with friends or colleagues of people in the companies.  Networking and going to events is a huge part of this equation.

Good luck, and please, if you have any questions or thoughts or comments on this post, give them to me in the comments, I live for comments!Similar Posts:

• Ten Questions to ask Before Hooking Up Your Art With a License
• How to Make Sure Your Art is Remembered Like Picassos
• Eight Things You Must Do When you Sell An Artwork

Artwork (c) Drew Brophy - Licensed by Nirve

An Emergency E-mail arrived and I know that a lot of artists find themselves in this position at sometime or another:

“I found your blog a month ago and have been reading it religiously.  You give such great information!  But now I have an EMERGENCY:

I have a friend that has created some characters.  She had an interview at a collectible/toy company.  She showed her characters and they loved them and want to sell them.

The problem is my friend doesn’t have a head for business.  The company wants to pay her a flat fee for a line of these characters. I’m not even sure if they’ve talked about her retaining the rights to her work.  This company licenses many other big name properties like Star Wars and Avatar.”

First things first:  The company doesn’t decide how it’s going to work with your copyrights.  The artist does.  In a licensing deal, the artist ALWAYS retains rights to the copyrights.

And in my personal opinion, an artist should NEVER, EVER, EVER sign away their copyrights.  NEVER.

But that’s another blog post.  I’ll stay focused on the immediate need here.

It’s good news that the company is accustomed to licensing from other entities. This means that they understand how licensing works.  Companies that understand how licensing works are easier to deal with, because they know that they are expected to pay an advance up front, royalties later, and that the artist retains all rights.  This is good.

Here’s what your friend needs to do, in this order.

Forget that you don’t have a business head. It doesn’t matter. There are certain ways that things are done, and all you have to do is follow the steps. I’m giving the steps below.  If you follow them, you’ll do just fine on your own, business head or not.

Educate yourself on how licensing works. I recommend the book called Licensing Art & Design which is listed here on one of my posts:  http://mariabrophy.com/business-of-art/five-must-read-books-for-artists-looking-to-uplevel-their-career.html

Order that book immediately and start reading.  You can also read some tips on licensing that I’ve written:

LICENSING YOUR ART TO A SKATEBOARD CO. OR ANY COMPANY

WORK SMARTER NOT HARDER – LICENSING 101

FILE YOUR COPYRIGHTS: Be sure that you have filed copyrights.  TODAY.  It’s your duty to yourself and your licensees to have all of your works copyrighted.  Do that right away, if not already done.  You can go to www.copyright.gov.  It’s cheap and it’s easy.  Just follow the directions.

DEALING WITH THE COMPANY (LICENSEE): First, ask the company the following:

1. How many of the Licensed Articles (the product) do they plan to produce?  (They should have a ballpark idea of how many they’ll produce)
2. Where will they plan to sell them?
3. What will be the retail price and the wholesale price?
4. Ask them to submit a deal memo, which will detail the advance and royalties that they propose to pay, and for how many years they are asking for the license, etc.

In the licensing world, Deal Memos are always used in the beginning of a licensing discussion.  It’s what you use to make sure that you are all on the same page before you go to the contract phase of the deal.

Review their deal memo and see what you agree to and what you don’t agree to.  And then e-mail them back letting them know what changes you’d like to make to the deal.  There will be a little going back and forth, which is completely common.

IF THEY WANT TO PAY A FLAT FEE:  If they are offering a one-time fee that you are happy with, that’s okay too.  But they should pay the fee up front, not later.  Also, be sure that your licensing agreement states the number of years that they are allowed to produce it, and that you retain all rights.  There are about 50 other little details that the agreement should touch on, and a good art licensing attorney will help you with that.

IMPORTANT:  If it’s a royalty arrangement, always get an advance of royalties up front.  The amount varies depending on how many of the product will be produced.  We always ask for a minimum of $5,000, which is payable at signing.  This way, our attorneys’ fees are covered as well as our time.

NOTE:  It’s also vital to have an agreement in place BEFORE giving over any artwork.  Even for sampling.  Don’t give any artwork until you have a written agreement.

Once you agree on the deal, have an attorney put together a license agreement for you.  I use a lady named Rebecca Stroder of Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal LLP.  She’s wonderful and easy to work with. She specializes in Art Licensing.  I’ve been using her services for many, many years.  She’ll give you a price quote before doing any work.  She will probably require some money up front, but that’s typical of attorneys.

DO NOT USE A GENERAL ATTORNEY.  Or your uncle Joe who does divorces.  Art licensing is very specific, and general attorneys know NOTHING about it.  Trust me on this.

One of the biggest mistakes artists make is the reluctance to pay for an attorney. It’s vital to have representation.  I don’t care if you can’t afford it.  Borrow the money.  Otherwise, you’ll be whining later that you got screwed over or that things didn’t go the way you thought it would.  And I won’t feel sorry for you.  If you’re not willing to play the game right, then go get a job or something, where you’re safe and don’t have to take any risks. (Drives me insane to hear people complain that they got into a bad deal, then to admit they didn’t use an attorney.)

Once your license agreement is drawn up, send it to the company.  They may make changes to it, and if so, you’ll have to have your attorney go over their changes and let you know if they recommend your agreement.

Sometimes you’ll get lucky and a licensee won’t make any changes, they’ll just sign it.  I love when that happens!

Be sure to include in your agreement that you get a dozen samples of each Licensed Article.  Also be sure to require your name and/or logo or signature (whatever you use to identify yourself) is marked clearly on the Licensed Articles.

And be sure to write into me any other questions that you have!

Happy Licensing – Maria xxooSimilar Posts:

• Branding Art from Surfboards to Greeting Cards – by Kate Harper
• Art, Business and Happiness – Helpful Links
• LICENSING YOUR ART TO A SKATEBOARD COMPANY (Or any Company)

Sector 9 Skateboard Designed by Drew Brophy

“Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.”  Andy Warhol

Licensing your art to a reputable company is a wonderful way to make your art available to the world.  What I love about licensing:

• You’ll earn money off of one piece of art over and over again
• You can get your art on quality products without having to produce them yourself (leave the production and sales to the experts)
• It’s one more way to get your art and name out into the world

The difficult thing about licensing is that there is no solid road-map to follow.  Sure, there are general rules, but it’s not easy getting the information on it.

Which leads me to this question that I received by e-mail today from a friend named Patrick Parker, who has rapidly become a popular surf artist in Southern California:

“I’m going to sign with a company to use my art on their skateboards but am only working on a royalty basis.  What is a common way to go about doing this – percentage, etc.?”

I’ve handled about 200 licensing deals over the past ten years for my husband, Drew Brophy, and a few other artists, and not one of those deals were the same!

There are many different aspects to a license agreement, and I won’t be able to cover all of them here, but I’ll hit on the basic points.

First, I would ask this artist how many designs the company wants to use.

FLAT FEE BASIS:

If it’s not a complete line of skateboards, but only 3 or 4, then I would recommend not doing a royalty deal but rather a fee per design. I’d do this for 2 reasons:

1 – Unless it’s a toy company that’s going to sell 10,000 skateboards, the royalty won’t be worth it because the volume will be low.  You’re better off getting paid the full amount up front, and:

2 – The accounting of royalty reports is a pain the butt for your client, and for small deals, it’s a waste of their time.

The flat fee per design can range from $300 to $3,000.  What you can charge depends on your reputation, the popularity of your art, and what they are willing to pay. Our typical flat fee for Drew’s designs are $1,500 per design, when providing existing art to a small company that will produce less than 5,000 units.  For some of you reading this, $1,500 will sound like not enough.  True, I agree!  But, Drew likes to work with companies that make products that he likes, and many of them are small and can’t afford much more.   Some of you will see $1,500 as being a high number.  And maybe for many it is.  That’s the interesting thing about this business – the numbers are all over the place and are subject to the perception of the people on both ends.

You have to figure out for yourself what to charge, and eventually you’ll come to a formula that makes sense for you and your clients.

If you are new to  licensing and your art isn’t very well known, you might have to charge on the low end to build up your portfolio.  But please, don’t do this for long, because then you’ll lower the bar for all artists.  Be sure that once you’ve got a few successful deals under your belt, you start inching your prices up to where they should be.

ROYALTY ONLY BASIS: If the company wants to do a complete skateboard line with your designs, then a royalty deal could make sense.  Be sure you get an advance of royalty up front.

We rarely go into a deal without a non-refundable advance of royalties paid up front.

A royalty advance is a dollar amount paid to the artist at signing, before creating and/or providing the artwork.  This advance is deducted from future royalties that are to be paid to the artist.

WHY GET AN ADVANCE OF ROYALTY? Without an advance of royalty, the client has no incentive to make this work.  They may drop it from the line, or they may go out of business, or a new person comes in and changes things, etc.  It’s one tool we use to be sure that the client is serious about making it work.

The other reason is that we are not a bank.  Meaning, we aren’t able to do the work up front without getting paid anything for 6-18 months.

Your advance is insurance that you’ll be paid something in the event anything goes wrong.

And believe me, things go wrong.  Here are a few real “wrong things” that we’ve experienced with licensees over the last decade:

• A 50 year old toy company (one of the largest in the U.S.), went bankrupt one month after we gave them the artwork for a kid’s skateboard line (good thing they paid us $5,000 advance for all the work Drew did)
• A kid’s clothing co. had their Drew Brophy line ready to go, then a new partner came in and nixed it.  The line never made it to retail, which means there were no royalties to be paid.  (Good thing we were paid $5,000 also.)
• A license plate company owner, after we did a deal for Drew Brophy Plates, shut down his business to join the airforce!  (We were only paid $1,200, but it was something.)
• A cell phone screensaver company never sold anything after we provided over 20 images and put hours into the contract, marketing information, etc. (we were paid nothing up front here so we ate this one)

There are so many things that can prevent your line from making it to retail.  If it doesn’t make it to retail, there’s no royalties.   And that means that you’ll be paid nothing for your efforts unless you’ve recieved an advance up front.

HOW MUCH SHOULD A ROYALTY ADVANCE BE?   This depends on so many factors.  Sorry, I know that’s frustrating!  If you are Disney, you can require anywhere from $50,000 to $200,000 up front.  But in the real world, for your average artist, it will have to be more realistic.

There are two ways that we’ll ask for advances, and it depends on the size of the deal, the company, etc.:

1. FLAT FEE ADVANCE:   We use $5,000 as our benchmark.  However, if we are dealing with larger companies for big deals, we’ll go as high as $15,000.  (We usually put a cap on the number of images provided for a flat fee, to ensure that the client won’t keep asking for an endless supply of new art season after season.  Another insurance policy…..)
2. PER DESIGN ADVANCE FEE:  We’ve gone this route with a licensee that produces Drew’s beach products, because they use so many designs.  They’ve used up to ten designs just for skimboards.  Charging per design ensures that Drew isn’t providing a limitless number of designs.

EXCEPTIONS:  There are exceptions to everything in licensing.  In the case of a t-shirt licensee, Coastal Classics, we provide many new designs each season but don’t charge any advance because our royalty payments from them are high enough to satisfy.  We’ve worked with them for four years, and they have a  track record that we can count on.

ANOTHER EXCEPTION: Sometimes a company just won’t pay advances.  It’s rare for us to move forward with these companies, for the reasons I’ve stated above, but I can name one instance that I made an exception and it’s worked out great.  Skin-It.com doesn’t do advances with any of their licensors because they’ve been burned on a few, and we decided to do the deal with them anyway, because they are large enough to where they actually feature Drew’s art on national t.v. commercials.  (One of the commercials was running during Christmas.)

(NOTE to the Licensing Experts out there on why I’ve omitted information on a Guarantee:  I don’t typically work with guarantees – I prefer advances up front.  It’s the business model that’s worked well for us.)

ROYALTY PERCENTAGE:  Percentages are all over the board in licensing, too.  They are based on the product being produced, the number of items projected to sell, the value of the artwork (popularity), etc.

There are books that you can refer to and find ranges to this.  I refer to Licensing Art and Design: A Professional’s Guide to Licensing and Royalty Agreements – as a handbook I received when I took my licensing course thorugh LIMA.

For skateboards, you can ask for anywhere from 6% to 10%.  If it’s a large company that sells in major retail chains, you’d go with a lower percentage, because your volume will be higher.  If it’s a smaller core company that sells in skate shops, you’d go with a higher % because the volume will be lower.

Just to give you an example of how percentages are all over the board:  For paper goods like posters or greeting cards, the range can be anywhere from 10% to 18%.  For high volume shoe sales or boogie board sales, you would go as low as 3%.

OTHER POINTS TO WORK INTO YOUR CONTRACT OR AGREEMENT:

• State that Artist retains the copyrights to the artwork. (This is a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised at how many great brains don’t get this concept.)
• Contract start and end date.  (We typically go for 2 years.) DO NOT allow an automatic renewal.  For so many reasons I have to write another post on this topic.
• Samples:  Ask for a number of samples (for skateboards, I’d ask for 2 or 3.  For less expensive products, we’ll get a dozen or more.)
• Approval:  Artist must approve, in writing, the final sample before going to production (this gives you control over your art)
• Signature:  Artist’s signature must appear legibly on the product and copyright notice (i.e. (c) Artists Name) must appear legibly on all marketing and advertising materials.  This is important for protecting your copyrights.
• Payments:  Must be made MONTHLY or QUARTERLY – however you determine with the client.
• Royalty Reports:  Must be issued Monthly or Quarterly (see above) regardless of whether there’s been sales or not.  Reports must state retailers names and quantity sold per design.  (This information will be greatly helpful to you when determining what your best selling images are, as well as which stores are carrying your products.)

I recommend getting more information on licensing agreements as you go along – this barely skims the surface.

Here are some of my related articles on this topic:

• THE MAKING OF A GOOD ART LICENSING AGREEMENT
• WORK SMARTER, NOT HARDER:  LICENSING YOUR ART 101
• BRANDING ART – FROM SURFBOARDS TO GREETING CARDS
• THE ART OF THE DEAL MEMO
• OUR BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER – IN THE ART BUSINESS

Here are some great websites to get better educated on this topic:

The Do’s and Don’ts of Art Licensing by Porterfield’s Fine Art

Art Licensing Blog – Artist Tara Reed’s Helpful Information for artists

All Art Licensing – A helpful site by J’Net Smith, an expert on art licensing

My final parting words:  Move forward, do your deal, get into licensing. The best way to learn about licensing is to just do the deals without hesitation.

Don’t be afraid of making a mistake, because you will.  And  that’s okay – you’ll learn from it.

Don’t be afriad of being ripped off:  that can happen, and you’ll learn from it.

Good luck on this, and please, anyone, if you have any questions on anything that wasn’t clear in this post, let me know in the comments below!

Maria xxoo

PS:  You can find more very helpful tips for art licensing deals in my eBook, co-written with artist Tara Reed, called How to Understand Art Licensing Contracts.

Click the link to find out more about it!Similar Posts:

• What to Charge for Art Licensing – Royalties Advances and Flat Fees
• Help, a big company wants to license my art. What do I Do?
• Art Licensing 101 Lecture RECAP

“The most important requirements for major success are:  first being in the right place at the right time, and second, doing something about it.” Ray Croc

Every now and again I’ll be accused of writing too often about the negative things that artists have to contend with.

I tend to write mostly about problem clients, bad contracts and deals gone sour.

My defense is that I don’t think artists want to read only the frilly, happy things that go on.  There’s much more to learn from our problems and mistakes.

But today, I’m going to share a positive story about a licensing deal gone well.

This morning there was a violent rain pour outside my office when the postal carrier peeked her head in the door and announced the delivery of a couple wet boxes.

I was expecting this shipment.  It came from Australia and it contained samples of the car sunshades and seat covers that bear Drew’s surf art.

My stomach had nervous butterflies prior to opening the box, because sometimes when we get samples from a licensee, we are disappointed.  The product may not be the quality that was promised, or the artwork is missing an important element, or they got the colors all wrong.

Drew Brophy Car Visor

Not this time.

Today I remembered what makes my job so thrilling.  Drew and I tore open the box and were immediately elated!  The car seat covers and the sunshades were better than we thought – top quality, great reproduction of the artwork and beautiful colors.

And I thought about how fortunate we were that we could make this happen with a company located all the way on the other side of the world.

You could say it started in New Zealand last February.  Drew and I took a month long vacation and drove around the North Island.  When we take these big trips, I’ll find opportunities to spread a little art around the globe while we’re on the road and to make good business contacts in the process.  So I lined up a few painting demonstrations at surf shops on the North Island.

I also remembered that two years ago, at the New York Licensing Show, I had met a licensing agent from New Zealand.  I sent him an e-mail and asked that we meet in Auckland to discuss representing Drew Brophy art on that side of the globe.

Over bacon and eggs at Auckland’s Sky Tower we met with Mark Paul of Global Licensing Ltd and agreed to have him handle Drew’s licensing in New Zealand and Australia.  Not even two months later we had a deal with Sperling, and only ten months later the products are in stores.

Now, this story of the Sperling license sounds like everything flowed just the way it should, but I want to point out that there are so many things that could have caused a snag in this deal; things that an outsider can’t see.

In order for this one little deal to come together so nicely, we had to take action on a number of things.  And here I’ve laid it all out for you:

First, we were exhibiting at the License Show in New York a couple years ago when we met this agent.  Had we not been there, he wouldn’t have known we existed.

Second, we made the effort to meet with him during our vacation in New Zealand.  He said yes, and when we met we had a frank discussion about having him represent Drew, then we moved forward onto the agent-agreement phase.

Third, I had our attorney help with the legal agreement with the agent.  Not too complicated, but without her help, I might have foiled it.

Fourth, our new agent presented the opportunity to enter into an agreement with Sperling.  Now, this is where it really could have run into a few snags.  You see, dealing with companies in another country can be worrisome if you aren’t experienced with that.  Customs, accents, copyright laws, VAT taxes (I still don’t get that exactly), all those things that are foreign that we have to deal with!

We worried about the distribution channels, because we wanted to be careful that the product doesn’t go into a Wal-Mart type store.  Since we don’t live there, we aren’t familiar with the stores that are right or wrong for Drew’s art.

And this is where many artists stop the discussions.  They get confused over the complications and then they stop communicating, and eventually, the project dies.

I think that taking the risks despite the complications is what is necessary to move forward.  It’s really just trusting that it will all work out.

Fifth, we provided the artwork and made sure that Drew’s art, logo and signature were all properly represented not just on the product itself, but on the packaging.

Drew and his Sperling products

The end result is a licensing deal that we are thrilled with.  The products are something that Drew is proud of.  He loves that his skull-waves are being printed on car seat covers and driven around the country of Australia.

Check back with me in about three months and I’ll report on the royalties.  Because that is the final test of a good licensing deal – the amount of money that you make!

Maria xxooSimilar Posts:

• LICENSING YOUR ART TO A SKATEBOARD COMPANY (Or any Company)
• Ten Questions to ask Before Hooking Up Your Art With a License
• Art Licensing 101 Lecture RECAP

Licensed by Indo Board (c) Drew Brophy

“Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.”  Andy Warhol

LICENSING YOUR ART:  WORKING SMARTER, NOT HARDER!

(Reprinted from www.drewbrophy.com)

Do you want to see your artwork out in the world, maybe on clothing or other useful items, but you aren’t quite ready to invest the million dollars it takes to start your own manufacturing company?

There’s an easier way to get your art out there in the world, but first, LET ME TELL YOU THE HARD WAY….

Drew Brophy always knew that his art looked great on clothing, and it’s a priority for him to make his art available to all people, even those who can’t afford originals.

In 2001 we developed our own line of clothing and art prints to sell to retailers.  We did well in the beginning – we grew our sales exponentially every quarter – we hired employees, got a large warehouse and started working 60-80 hours a week to run this little business.

And the UNSPEAKABLE happened:  Drew stopped painting.  There were too manyother things a clothing company CEO needed to do.  And the art suffered.  And we were miserable!

Then, we discovered the beauty of licensing.

What is licensing? It is a great way to get your art onto a variety of products without actually having to manufacture, sell or warehouse those products.  You simply grant limited rights to a manufacturer to put your art on their products, and they pay a royalty in return for those rights.

Our first official license contract was with Wham O for kids’ boogie boards. And thats when we had our epiphany – Why work harder when we could work smarter?  We could contract with other companies who would do all that tedious manufacturing stuff , and we can do what we do best – create art!

We shut down our wholesale division, let go our employees, got rid of the warehouse, and focused entirely on licensing.

And that’s when we really began to enjoy what we were doing, as well as taking our mandatory 8 weeks of vacation a year.

So, how do you get into the world of Licensing? Manufacturers have to have a reason to believe that by placing your art on their products, they will sell more products.   The trick is to build up your art as a brand, strong enough so you can attract quality manufacturers who already sell to large numbers of retailers.

What manufacturers can I license with? Just about anyone.  We currently have over 30 manufacturers who produce products with Drew’s art.  They include:  cell phone screensavers, Sigg water bottles, Converse shoes, apparel, skateboards, surfboards, boogie boards, guitars, laptop skins, Indo-board, Nirve bikes, etc.

How much money can I make? Wyland did $100 million in licensing in 2007.  We didn’t come close, but it’s our goal to hit that number in a few years.  How much you make depends on how strong your art/brand is, and how many high-volume deals you get.  Some of our licensees pay us $20,000 a quarter, some pay us only $300 a quarter, and the rest are all over the board.  The key to high revenues is licensing your art to companies that sell large quantities to a large number of retailers.

What do I need to do to get started? Licensing can be complicated, and there are steps that must be taken to be successful at it.

1.) Create a strong body of work with many images, having a distinct style that’s recognizable as your own.  Build on yourself as a brand.  (More on this in other articles.)

2.)  Make a plan as to how you want your licensing program to work, what types of companies you want to license with, where you want your art to be sold,where you don’t want it to be sold, etc.

3.)  Educate yourself on how licensing works.  Get familiar with the contractual language and the general way the deals are made.

4.)  Always retain ownership to the copyrights of your artwork.

5.) GET PREPARED to Present: You’ll need a style guide, or a grouping, of 10-12 images of a similar theme, in order to approach a potential licensee.  Don’t ever go to a potential licensee and show them just 2 or 3 images. It’s not enough and you’ll lose credibility.

6.)  Attend Licensing International in Las Vegas, NV in June.  Walk the show, see whats going on, and most importantly, attend the seminars there.  There are licensing seminars there that are worth every penny you pay.

7.)  Read, read, read, read: I know, no fun.  But it’s necessary for you to understand how it all works.  Below are books that I refer to constantly:

Licensing Art and Design: A Professional’s Guide to Licensing and Royalty Agreements by Caryn R. Leland - it’s a simple read with great information.  The most valuable info I find is the average % of royalties for each different product.  (Royalties range from 3% to 20%, depending on the product and other factors.  Posters tend to get 15%, where t-shirts are only 6-8%.)

Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing & Ethical Guidelines (Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing & Ethical Guidelines)Every artist should own this  book.  It’s literally the bible for all things art, commercial and otherwise.  It covers quite a bit on licensing.

8.)  Take online classes on licensing.  There are a few available through http://www.jnetsmith.com/index.cfm – I’ve taken her online classes and they are good.  Use attorneys to help you put together contracts.

9.)  Locate the companies you want to license with, and sell them on the idea that your art will make them greater revenues should they license it from you.

10.)  Don’t be afraid to make a mistake with your first few licenses.  You’ll make mistakes, and you’ll learn from them.

Be notified when a new blog is posted on these topics:  follow me on Twitter!

Feel free to ask questions or comment in the comment section below.

Maria xxooiness is the best art.” Andy Warhol

Similar Posts:

• Should you License your Creations or Produce them Yourself
• Five Must-Read Books for Artists Looking to Power-up their Career
• What to Charge for Art Licensing – Royalties Advances and Flat Fees