Licensing in art realm

Art Licensing is the process of leasing a legally protected entity known as property which is a painting, caricature, cartoon, print or drawing in conjunction with a product or a product line, in exchange of royalty as in any other category of licensing.  Rob Ridder, Partner, Bradford Licensing LLC, USA adds in an explanation, “Artists often license their work for greeting cards, posters, book covers, internet graphics, clothing, or fabrics, and of course limited editions of their original work of art”. 

As per a report, the art licensing revenue in 2009 was $136 in USA. In India, it is still nascent, whereas in the USA, it is a very developed and successful licensing category, enjoying considerable market share. The same is the case in Europe, like in England, Holland and Spain, where the licensing market is very developed.

In Las Vegas, for example, the art licensing category has a special location where all the artists and designers exhibit their art, from small and beginners to large licensing art agencies.

Kishore Singh, Head of Exhibition and Publication,  Delhi Art Gallery puts in, “ In Fine Art, we haven’t done any licensing so far but yes, we do get inquiries for art work of prominent artists and we are looking at possibilities of striking a deal. As we see, it is still nascent in India, but definitely, it is going to gain prominence in the near future”.

We also spoke with one of the biggest card companies, Archies, that only operates with licenses, to understand this business better. Youhan Darrab Aria, a spokesperson for Archies Gallery informs, “Our creative planning team decides and selects the art at trade shows and then negotiates with the designers for those artworks. In most cases, the artworks are licensed for categories and for markets and may not be used outside those categories and markets. We don’t license out art as perceived in art galleries, ie, of major artists. The art use in greeting cards is most often specifically created for the greeting card and publishing industry worldwide”.

Role of an agency

Well, agency brings the licensor and the licensee together. Again the agencies have different categories. Some only license art and some sell art as prints or on products besides licensing their artists’ work. Some agencies represent artists whose art fits only a niche market such as hotels and corporate houses. Others specialise in representing artists whose art is suitable for home décor, or patterns for fabric, clothing, stationery, and scrapbooking. And of course there are some agencies that license all kinds of art for all kinds of products. Some agencies represent several artists and some represent several hundred artists. Some agencies will sign up artists that are new to licensing while other agencies will only accept artists that are already known and have achieved some measureable amount of licensing success. These agencies tend to represent artists that have a uniquely recognisable art style and are or can become a brand.

What make the artist sought after?

The crux of good art licensing is in its ability to attract manufacturers, retail stores and ultimately the end buyers. An agent usually chooses an artist based on the following criteria:

1. Mass appeal: His art of work has mass appeal and the artist is in mainstream. For example, a particular piece of art or photograph should have the ability to become a fashion or a fad when copied on say T shirts, so that multiple people wear it and not just a few so as to make it a good licensing property.
2. On his toes: The artist is very fast in creating orders and adheres to deadlines. For example, he may get emergency orders that he should be able to fulfill in a short notice.
3. Keeps collection as help: He is smart enough to keep some tit-bids ready that can be assembled in emergencies. For example, he keeps some repeat patterns and coordinating borders handy to save time and repeated effort.
4. Known designer: Mostly agencies prefer known designers but some agencies do take less renowned artists also.

Michelle Minieri, Bradford Licensing LLC, USA shares, “In art licensing, potential licensees tend to prefer artists that have a large amount of artwork as well as collections of art within their portfolio. This gives the licensee the most variety of work to utilise in their product ranges and more likelihood of continued product within a pre-determined range.  When evaluating new artists to represent, an agent will want to know the amount of total assets, where the art has appeared before, a confirmation that all artwork is copyrighted and a strong base of work that can translate to different product categories”.

Well, in India, art licensing is still nascent and there is little demand for licensing of fine art of renowned artists. One reason could be the high cost and exclusivity for which Indian companies are not willing to pay. They would rather have their own artists to create as per their specifications. But renowned artists who make a mark abroad do find their calling in foreign companies who would pay anything to license their art.

Artist must play fair

A struggling artist may be tempted to undersell himself for the excitement of having art on product but this may not go down well in the licensing industry as by doing so he will be cheapening his art and his reputation.  At the same time, his work should not be over-priced also.

Many artists can’t resist the lure to copy from catalogues and inspirations that they come across at trade shows.  But this may land them into legal soup and  there is a fear of boycott from the industry also.

When striking a deal

During the processing of licensing it is advisable to submit reprints or digital copies that are not of full print quality resolution, never originals. The artist should evaluate the amount of work he can produce in a given period of time. A one or two-year contract can always be renewed if both parties are happy with the arrangement.

Copyright of each art work is absolutely necessary to protect the right and ownership of the artist.   In case, it’s not possible, then the artist should go for limited-use agreement which is an extremely difficult arrangement to make. Retaining the rights gets easier once the artist is established, and it opens doors to licensing art to other product categories while giving the freedom to license the same image to multiple manufactures.