Recently stock image distributors have sent messages to their contributors offering to file to collect reprographic royalties in the United Kingdom from the Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS). SAA suggests that contributors would do better to file a claim directly with the DACS website.
Background
DACS is the British visual arts organization which collects and distributes reprographic reproduction royalties for various non-user-specific uses of visual imagery in the UK. DACS distributes royalties to visual artists based on collective licenses for educational uses (including TV and radio), photocopying of books and magazines, and cable retransmissions
The DACS website says the following: "Each year DACS has £3 million [$4.4 million] of royalties to distribute to visual artists whose work has been reproduced in UK books or magazines or on certain television channels. DACS negotiates these royalties on behalf of visual artists. Last year DACS paid out a share of £3 million to 11,628 visual artists.
"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 you as the creator to licence your rights on an individual basis, for example, when an individual wishes to photocopy a page of a book which features your work."
Who can file a claim
Any visual artist whose works have been licensed for qualifying editorial uses in the UK can file for reimbursement. You do not need to be a UK resident or citizen. If you file directly, you can claim royalties for all licenses—direct or through any agency—and you will get 100 percent of the payment. If you allow a distributor to file on your behalf, they will take a percent, and there is no guarantee they will include all usages from past years or from other distributors.
How to make a claim
To make a claim, complete the online claim form providing details of the number of qualifying publications in each category published during any year through the end of 2009. Forms and instructions will be available starting on June 21, at http://payback.dacs.org.uk/ The filing period runs until September 17th 2010.
For a writeup on the process with special notes for Alamy contributors (but with helpful info for all photographers) see the Alamy blog http://j.mp/bd3XGd
