How to Understand Art Licensing Contracts – the long awaited eBook
Do art licensing contracts fill you with fear and dread?
Do you worry that you won’t get a good deal because you don’t understand them?
Are you looking for a resource to turn to again and again to help you understand and become a confident contract negotiator?
Look no further! Maria Brophy and Tara Reed have joined forces to create an artist-friendly guide to understanding art licensing contracts.
You will prepare your mind, define your goals and overcome your fears.
This eBook will help you think through who you are as an artist and what you want your art licensing business to look like. Learn to represent yourself with confidence and understand how to negotiate a win-win contract.
Learn the sections of an art licensing contract and what they mean to you.
More than 30 contract terms are defined in detail – explaining why they might be in a contract and the implications to both parties. We include actual contract language and then explain “what it means to you” by breaking it down into everyday language. You will learn to dissect the leagalese and know how each word might affect your deal.
Learn how and when to start using your own standard contract in your business.
Using manufacturer contracts when you are just starting is fine but as you grow your business, there comes a time when it is better to be in the driver’s seat and use your own standard contract. Maria discusses how and when to make the transition.
10 artists (& one who chose to remain anonymous) have shared their art licensing contract success stories and words of warning. They include (in the order they appear in the book) Khristian Howell • Marty Qatani • Jill Seale • Debbie Mumm • David Billings • Paul Brent • Drew Brophy • Gina Linn • Karen Embry • Kate McRostie
5 attorneys who work in the art licensing field also share their advice and insights in Part 8: Attorney Insights. They are Kyle-Beth Hilfer • Sarah Feingold • David Koehser • Rebecca Stroder • Tammy Browning-Smith
This book is a resource you can turn to again and again.
We have designed this book to give you an in-depth understanding of contracts as well as become a resource you turn to over time as contract questions arise. It’s well organized and easy to find just what you are looking for at a glance.
173 pages of valuable information to help increase your knowledge and build your confidence when it comes to art licensing contracts.
As always, there is a special introductory price for the eBook for the first 2 weeks. Regularly priced at $87, you can get your copy for $72 if you act by Thursday, November 24th at midnight. (Yes, that’s Thanksgiving for all the US artists)
Want to learn even more about the book before deciding? Head to www.ArtLicensingInfo.com/contracts.html for even more details.
Ask Calls in case you are going through withdrawl
There is no official ask call this month – the next will be on July 20, 2011 with me. Head to www.AskTaraReed.com to submit your questions.
If you are worried that you will go through withdrawl without us, check out some of the free replays of past calls.
Here are the links to free replays with artists… have you heard them all?
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We’ll be live again next month – talk to you then!
– Tara Reed
Want better visibility of who is looking at your website?
Try StatCounter.
Before the Ask Drew (& Maria) Brophy call, Laura Zarrin asked how to figure out who to contact at a manufacturer if you knew they looked at your website. HUH? This question perked up my ears – I wanted to know how she knew a manufacturer visited her website in the first place! She told me she uses a free service – StatCounter.com – that will work on blogs or traditional websites.
I asked Laura if she would “share the information with the group” and here is what she had to say about it, “You can have it generate code to place on your website, blog, etc. It keeps track of all the visitors to your site. It has much more info than Analytics, and it’s live. You can see right away how many hits to your website whenever you want. The bigger companies names show up. I’ve had instances where I see a company looking at my site, then gotten a job from them the next day. When I placed an ad on a blog, I could track how many hits I got from that site by viewing Visitor Paths. It’s super easy to use.”
Their website description says this:
What is STATCOUNTER?
A free yet reliable invisible web tracker, highly configurable hit counter and real-time detailed web stats. Insert a simple piece of our code on your web page or blog and you will be able to analyse and monitor all the visitors to your website in real-time!
I also discovered that I have this information available to me in all my WordPress sites through the SlimStat plugin – I just never realized it!
So… if you want more information about who is visiting your site and when, first look to see if the data is there and you just didn’t realize it. If you can’t find it, you might like StatCounter too!
Thanks Laura for sharing!
Here’s to your creative success!
– Tara Reed
P.S. If you have cool tips or resources you think other artists interested in licensing would like to know about, email me.
P.P.S. A little “link love” for Laura – learn more about her and her art at www.ZarrinDesign.com or follow her on twitter at www.Twitter.com/LauraZarrin
Catch a creative wave by listening to the Ask Drew and Maria Brophy replay – it’s free!
Another great call with our latest art licensing experts – artist Drew Brophy and his wife / business mind, Maria. There were 80+ artists listening live – were you one of them?
Here is what we covered…
- How Drew Brophy got into art and licensing
- What’s the most important thing you’ve done to connect with/market to customers in your niche to create a fan base?
- How important do you feel your work connecting directly with consumers is to your ability to get licensing agreements?
- How important is it that you create art that will fit on certain products vs. just creating whatever you feel and letting art buyers decide what to do with it?
- How do you choose what a new designs to create?
- Where do you go or what do you look at to recharge your creative batteries?
- How do you stay motivated if things are slow?
- What gives you the most joy in what you do?
- How do you deal with rejection?
- Maria, what was your 1st year at licensing Drew’s work like? What was some of the things that you did to get Drew’s work visible.
- What are the most important first 3 steps to set me on the road to learning to license my art?
- How can you figure out which licensing market one’s style of artwork would be most appropriate and succesful in?
- How can one be sure he or she is getting a good “deal” when negotiating a first contract?
There wasn’t a lot of action on the Facebook page during the call but quite a few artists were tweeting away – here are a few of the comments:
“Loved listening to @mariabrophy and @DrewBrophy talk art, licensing biz and surfing! Thanks @ArtistTaraReed! #ask”
“@ArtistTaraReed @mariabrophy knowing that perfection does not have to be met for success…#ask”
“@ArtistTaraReed: @DrewBrophy talks abt being unemployed every Mon morning – u have 2 figure it out! < yes! #ask” Keeps us on our toes!”
“People want to be a part of your story as an artist” – @DrewBrophy #ask
“I love this call so much-I’ll be replaying it for inspiration! They are so grounded, relaxed, smart and thoughtful!”
If you missed the call, the mp3 replay is available for free at www.AskDrewBrophy.com.
Thank you Drew and Maria for sharing your experience and insights – truly appreciated by all!
– Tara Reed
P.S. Coming up next…
Wednesday, February 16, 2011: www.DebbieMumm.com/askDebbie/
Art Licensing guru Debbie Mumm got her start and stays true to her fabric and quilting design roots. Over the years she has expanded and built her business to include just about every product imaginable. This is an amazing opportunity to listen and learn from this talented artist and business woman – submit your questions for consideration!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011: www.AskTaraReed.com
The Ask Drew Brophy (& Maria too!) Call is tonight… will you be on the line?
Tonight night I will have the pleasure of talking with both Drew and Maria Brophy about their art licensing business and their advice to others about following their dreams, staying positive and succeeding in art licensing. They will be answering the questions submitted by artists like you tonight.
If you’ve signed up for a call before, you should have received the dial-in details by email yesterday.
If you’ve never participated, head over to www.AskDrewBrophy.com and sign up. Since we have already organized the questions, you can just put “no question” in the box then fill in your name and email and you will get the dial-in details.
The call is at 5:30 pm Pacific / 8:30 pm Eastern and will last for an hour. It’s free to listen live – the replay will also be free since this is their first call – we’ll email you when it’s ready!
We look forward to chatting with you tonight!
– Tara, Drew & Maria
P.S. Don’t forget! Let’s get social on Twitter (use #ask when tweeting so we can find you!) and Facebook during the call. CLICK HERE to download all the details.
P.P.S. Want to see Drew’s story again? Here it is!
How do you take a very specific niche and build it into an art licensing brand? Ask Drew Brophy
Drew Brophy is THE surf lifestyle artist. When he and his family – Maria Brophy who you may know and their son Dylan – were heading North to Seattle, they and their Dream Machine stopped in Portland for dinner and a chat. I was fascinated by Drew’s story – how he got his start as a freelance surf board artist. One day they were a little behind getting ready for a trade show and he said, “don’t worry, I’ll just paint them during the show.” If memory serves, he said his boss thought he was a little crazy but he ended up being the hit of the show. From there his style and brand grew.
Today they are traveling the west coast doing custom designs on Ugg boots. He has licensed with Sigg water bottles, Converse sneakers, Boogie Boards, board shorts, skateboards… the list goes on and on. With the help of his business partner and wife Maria, they have done an amazing job finding companies whose clients would respond to Drew’s art, building relationships and building the life of their dreams.
These are two very inspiring Brophy’s and I hope you join us for their first ever Ask Drew Brophy call on Wednesday, January 19, 2011.
They will both be on the line to share their insights, experience and advice so ask away. (And don’t wait till January 19th or you will be way too late! When I have a guest they need lead time so I’ll be organizing the questions on 1/15, okay?)
Click on over to www.AskDrewBrophy.com and submit your question while it’s fresh in your mind! We’ll all be talking to you next year!
Here’s to your creative success!
– Tara Reed
The 2nd Anniversary Art Licensing Info Ask Call is Over – were you on the line?
I still remember – quite vividly! – just how nervous I was in December of 2008. Would anyone show up? Would I be talking to myself? Was this a good thing to do or a recipe for stress? I was jumping outside of my comfort level to be sure and you know what? It has paid off in spades! Look at all the information we’ve shared, experts in the industry we have been able to hear from – all because of this Ask Call process I learned by taking the Teleseminar Secrets Class. (It starts again in January so if you want to learn more about it, go to www.TaraRecommendsAlex.com for details.)
Here is what we covered on the call:
- Should my art licensing business be named as just my name?
- Can I have a book agent AND a licensing agent at the same time?
- Is there a general rule about color, across the industry? RGB or CMYK?
- I currently create art by hand, do you recommend I work digitally in the future?
- Someone has shown interest in my designs thru LinkedIn! Is the next step is to ask for a contract?
- How do you avoid getting ripped off, especially overseas?
- Making sure you stay in line with exclusive contracts that have non-compete clauses.
- Are there many fine artists in licensing or is it more pattern design?
- Should I exhibit at a show or market directly to manufacturers to get started?
- How do you show your work at a trade show?
- How important is moral support and where does one find it?
- Do you have tips for coding or creating systems for your images so you can find them when a licensee wants to discuss them?
The audio replay is $15 through December 26th and $30 thereafter so grab your copy today! These audios are a great way to listen and learn while you are creating in your studio, driving in your car, walking your dog, whatever!
Things to Note….
NEW experts – January 19, 2011!
I’m so excited to let you know we will have the dynamic duo in January – surf lifestyle artist Drew Brophy and his marketing maven wife Maria will be our newest Ask Call guests. Talk about an artist taking a niche and running with it! Head to www.AskDrewBrophy.com to learn more about Drew’s art and submit your questions at any time.
NEW expert – February 16, 2011 – DEBBIE MUMM!
I just got the thumbs up yesterday so there is no website ready yet but stay tuned for this art licensing icon to share her wisdom with the group. 
To learn more about her now, visit her website at www.DebbieMumm.com
Ask Call Bundle Deal from Paul Brent | on sale thru 12/30
Paul has done 5 calls – the first audio is always free and the other 4 are for purchase. Normally, this would cost $100 if purchased individually.
But what if we made it super easy to get it all – and at a discount?
We’ve decided to offer, for a limited time, what I’m calling the Paul Brent Five-Pack. All five audios (FIVE HOURS of great info!) delivered to you for $75 – that’s a $25 (or 25%) savings! Get all the details and place your order here: http://artlicensingblog.com/2010/12/05/ask-paul-brent-replay-bundle/
The WishList WordPress plugin I use for my online portfolio is on sale - 2 for 1 single user licenses. FAB! But only through Sunday 12/19… http://ht.ly/3pIxY (affil link)
Art Licensing Data Management Ask Call is TONIGHT
And we’ll be doing something a little different – instead of the normal Ask Call by phone, we’ll be online so you can see what we are talking about. We will be doing a demo of the Art Licensing Manager software – software for artists looking to manage all the data associated with their art licensing business. Just like you wouldn’t buy a $50 bike and go through the Alps, this software isn’t your lowest cost solution (that would be index cards) but it is powerful, flexible and will get you where you need to go – now and in the future.
Even though I don’t usually post the full details on the blog – here they are so you can quickly and easily get in on this little experiment.
** THIS WILL BE AN ONLINE PRESENTATION **
Date: November 17, 2010
Time: 5:30 pm Pacific / 7:30 pm Central / 8:30 pm Eastern
Website: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/campsoftware
Duration: approx. 1 hour
** You will be able to use the chat feature to ask questions as we go but it does require you to register for UStream, so head to www.UStream.tv before the call to get signed up. There is a login/signup button in the upper right – here’s a pic of what you are looking for.
Since this will be an online event and have a live chat feature, I won’t be able to be on Twitter and Facebook as well – it’s just too many websites to watch at once! Feel free to chat amongst yourselves.
Hope you can join us tonight!
– Tara Reed
P.S. We’re back to the traditional ask questions, get answers in December and January.
December 15, 2010 – www.AskTaraReed.com
January 19, 2011 – www.AskDrewBrophy.com – NEW expert Drew Brophy and his wife / marketing maven Maria will be on the line. I’m excited!
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