Australia Moves Forward With (Weakened) System To Have Artists Paid Multiple Times For Same Artwork
from the down-under-confusion dept
There are a few countries out there that have "artist resale rights," which make little sense and do a lot more to harm artists than help them. Earlier this year, we wrote about plans for Australia to implement such a right and Michael Scott alerts us to the news that a watered down version of the plan is moving forward. If you're unfamiliar with it, the concept is that even after an artist has sold a piece of artwork, such as a painting, if the owners later decide to sell it, they must give back a percentage of the sale price to the original artist. The (faulty) thinking on this is that poor, starving artists sell their paintings or sculptures or whatever for next to nothing, and it's only later, when they're famous, that they're actually worth anything -- but the artist will never get a cut of that value.Of course, that's not true. In reality, if those earlier works are so valuable, so are many newer works as well -- which the artist can create and sell for much more than ever before. Meanwhile, the problem with an artist resale right is it actually decreases the incentive for anyone to buy the original artwork, knowing that they'll have to sell it for that much more before they can actually make a profit -- since they'll have to kick back fees to the artists. It adds an unnecessary tax that acts as friction in the art market. The Australian plan tries to limit at least some of this issue by only having the resale tax kick in after the second resale. But, of course, this just moves the unnecessary friction up a level, and doesn't change the thought process that goes into the buying decision. With any other product, once you sell it, you've sold it. It makes no sense to allow the original creator to retain a cut of any later sale. Imagine if that were the case with cars or houses as well? Who would ever think that was reasonable?
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Filed Under: artists, australia, copyright, resale rights
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Then they won't be sold commercially. Problem solved!
What if the work in question turns out to be a forgery? Does the artist have to give the money back? Or just 5% of it? What if a serial killer sells your art? Is the artist going to be required to accept money from a serial killer? That's rude.
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Simple effect of the law
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I'm imagining yet another collection society which will collect transaction fees for each resale. Of course the soceity will keep a portion for itself, to cover costs and salaries, right?
A mandatory system will need to be setup for the reselling of art pieces. It will be a felony for any Australian to sell or buy art outside the system.
Small time artist will not be paid out what is collected by the society. They will be told that in order to collect they must become famous artists first. Defeating the entire purpose of the law in the first place.
And of course it will be only a matter of time before schools, hotels, and individuals will be sued for displaying art without paying the collection society. Police powers will have to be given to the society so it can send agents into homes and businesses to ensure compliance. A telephone hotline will be set up so that employees can rat out their bosses for hanging art without an approved society license.
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Wait, it's a 1-way street.
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Sounds like
Way to go Australia
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However, there's an emerging trend in European countries that have had these droit de suite laws for a really long time to pass the cost on to the buyers, when it's supposed to be paid out by the seller. This is, of course, not even slightly surprising.
There are a couple more really interesting issues it brings up, too. The first is that it assumes the entirety of the art market involves a fairly small number of artists who will or have "made it" and the small number of very wealthy collectors who support them. Within a system like that, the process is a matter of peanuts and is likely to just be accepted. It's the overwhelmingly huge amount or art being made and sold outside that system where it really gets to be a problem, but the high dollar market participants assume that since the market outside of their own is beneath their notice, it doesn't exist.
The other major problem is it creates the very same resting-on-laurels issue that we see in other creative/inventive markets. Frankly, early work (of the type that probably gets sold cheaply) is just not usually as good as more mature work. Those who keep producing are going to be able to make money just fine on the first sale as their work improves and increases in popularity.
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Very interesting. But that ignores the fact that there is a huge black market for art.
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Re: "the art market involves a fairly small number of artists who will or have "made it" "
This figure raises the question; Why is the gov going to all this expense and special laws to benefit those artists who are most favoured by the market? And if its such a great idea for these same artists why all the compulsion- why the mandated duty placed on same artists to collect it?
Its also a monopoly restraint of the terms of trade that I can sell my own artworks under, provably at odds with trade practices law.
Apart from that I agree with you.
Now for the Twist:
the Australian scheme as legislated is not actually compulsory for artists , clause 22/23 requires the collection agency to in effect gain the consent of the right holder before collecting a particular royalty payment.
The scheme is also too tax like to be part
of copyright law and is thus stand-alone and is not a copyright.
The blank tapes levy ruling of the high court (1992), that the blank tapes levy was tax-like and thus could not be part of copyright has been a major problem for the collection management industry. Hence the extrorinary amount of energy they ALL put into trying to establish a precedent for tax-like- compulsory royalty's , something that has never happened in australia. Thus the actual result from their perspective has been a defeat.
It is also possible that it will be administered in a way different to normal true copyrights.
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Obfuscation
If you looked deeper, I wonder if this is supported by the **AAs?
Just a thought.
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Here's a question
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That's not a designer dress, it's fiber art! That's not a brick patio, it's an installation!
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Architects as artists
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Re: Architects as artists
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Several sovereign governments, including one near and dear to your heart. See:
California Resale Royalty Act, California Civil Code Sections 986 - 988.
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Notice all the important auctions take place in NYC.
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Screw the kids, I want my money NOW!
This is only going to reduce the original sale price of artwork. On the other hand, the kids of the artist, and probably the grandkids will enjoy the long tail (and no doubt lobby for extending the 70 year limit).
In the past I have talked the issue over with the two commercial artists that I know. Both would rather have the money now. One of them told me "If my kids want to make money off of art, they should learn to paint."
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They're a consumer tax, going to the appropriate level of government for the situation, and a dodge to avoid raising/implementing income taxes while achieving approximately the same effect, though admittedly allowing one to make exemptions and variable rates based on different factors. [plus a lot more paperwork for all concerned except said consumer, but never mind].
That's the case here, anyway. Might be different where you are.
While it may achieve the same net effect on the market, the logic, at least, makes a heck of a lot more sense.
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artist resale right
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How so?
First of all, it is not a percentage of the sale price, it's a percentage of the rise in value.
Don't quite see how that makes a difference. It still acts as a tax that decreases incentive to sell and harms artists.
Bureaucratically it's easy - all the transactions are recorded on the back of the work itself.
This works for sculptures too?
This has worked in Europe for many years without any problem (and sales continue to take place in those countries that include these provisions).
Yes, but at the expense of up and coming artists. No one said it gets rid of the overall market, but it does harm those at the bottom.
This benefits artists who had to sell early in their careers at a very low price.
No, it doesn't. It makes it HARDER for them to sell their products. Do you not understand how increasing the cost of resale decreases the incentive to buy in the first place?
What makes anyone think that the vultures and parasites who keep turning over works of art for increasingly ridiculous prices should make money off someone else's work, especially where that author of the work may well be left with nothing.
They're the ones who invested in the artwork in the first place. Do they not have the right to benefit from making that bet?
What if the artwork *loses* value? Should the artist pay up then too? How do you support one without supporting the other?
Artists often have no benefits, no pensions, no health insurance, nothing.
What does that have to do with anything?
This is one of the most mean-spirited debates I've seen on this website.
Wait, by making a basic economic point about how this clearly HARMS up and coming artists, it's "mean spirited"? Wow.
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I didn't say no one will buy. I said it decreases how much will be bought, and how much will be paid for it. That's incontrovertable. You are decreasing the net expected value of a purchase, and that decreases what anyone would pay.
People buy art because they think the price will go up further. Just check out the art market - collectors and speculators do not buy things because of their rock bottom price, most do not have the courage. They want to get in on the climb and they take risks.
Sure, but your penalizing new artists by decreasing the value of any rise in price.
. I don't understand the perspective of penalizing the most creative, rewarding the speculators far beyond their their dreams.
You're the one in favor of penalizing them. This HARMS up and coming artists.
e artists with 'no benefits', this provides a basic income for artists. We're talking her about a very small percentage of the rise in value, often under 5% (though I don't know the Australian figures). To say it will kill the art market because no one will buy, well, in Europe where it is the law, the art market has not suffered one iota
I never said it would kill it. I said it harms it, especially for up and coming artists.
As for income for artists, if their older works are selling for such high value, so will their newer works -- and then they can capture all of that value.
I just have to rest my case here
I note that you didn't respond to the questions (asked by multiple people) if people are expected to pay if the value of the painting goes down as well...
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Why would you support harming the investor who was willing to put his hard earned money up to support the artist. Now he's losing money by having to sell the painting at a loss? Why do you support the artist, but not the poor investor?
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A scheme that allowed just for inflation alone would not generate enough turnover to pay out anything much. It has to be very unfair morally wrong to be worth doing.
Art as an investment mostly keeps up with inflation, the gross value of the auction market in Australia when adjusted for inflation is the same now as it was 30 years ago
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bikey wrote:
So what about a fall in value? Does the artist compensate the seller for the loss, in the same proportion as they would benefit from any profit?
If not, why not?
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very easy to get around the law
Or simply take the art, transform it by adding a brush stroke, and claim it as new art. this is no different than artists taking garbage and transforming it into art. You can then sell the piece as original art, and the original artist has no claim to resale.
Finally, don't sell your artwork commercially. This will lead to new enterprises selling art offshore from Australia.
One last thought - just destroy the artwork in an accidental fire and claim back the insurance value. You get all the money, the artist gets $0.
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Our last P.M suggested this for NZ as well
She was obviously trying to be nice to he artist freinds but the idea sunk pretty quickly when it became standard to refure the suggestion with the question of why not apply the logic to houses?
Shouldn't builders and architects, their reputation improved by their ongoing work, also receive a portion of home sales with increasing value?
Which obviously every person with a mortgage could see was preposterous - they weren't going to work so hard to buy a property only to find themselves legally indebted to people they had paid an already agreed price.
And the succesful tying of that understanding to the idea of applying the logic to art destroyed the argument.
It didn't help that Clarke was exposed as defrauding someone by signing her name to a painting sold at auction she did not paint.
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Artist resale rights
Eventually, the word would get out; "that artist's stuff is being given away - who wants it?"
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Bad idea
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The actual Australian scheme is nothing like the scheme the copyright mob were after . The CEO of VISCOPY (the collection agency at the center of the decade of lobbying) has described Minister Garretts scheme as "completely pointless".
What exactly is its real point? Hard to say,but the answer is provably ou in the desert.
Suggest you have a look at the records of the committee of the parliment 6-7 feb 09 , the arguments came down to radically diverging views as to what 'it' actually is. And their claim that they the collection industry should decide what its for.
One of them described the ministers scheme as "silly" another wanted to " throw cold water over it",tantrums and insults appear to have not worked too well so far.
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The actual Australian scheme is nothing like the scheme the copyright mob were after . The CEO of VISCOPY (the collection agency at the center of the decade of lobbying) has described Minister Garretts scheme as "completely pointless".
What exactly is its real point? Hard to say,but the answer is provably ou in the desert.
It is definitely not the collection industry's idea of a good scheme .
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link to the Australian
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Clause 22-23 requires the collection society to publish a list of effected resales and in effect seek individualised consent before collecting royalties ...
parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/.../toc.../6508-2.pdf;...
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