DACS launches Payback 2014 – over £4m of royalties for published artists, illustrators and photographers.

Payback is an annual scheme provided by DACS, which distributes millions of pounds of royalties to visual artists, illustrators and photographers whose work has been reproduced in UK books or magazines or on certain television channels.

16,000 artists benefitted from Payback in 2013 including photographers, illustrators, painters, cartoonists, craft-makers and sculptors, each receiving an average of £260 each with the highest individual payment of £4100. The total sum of over £4 million was paid to Payback claimants in 2013.

Turner Prize nominee David Shrigley said: “It’s pretty straightforward. You won’t regret doing it: they give you money!”
 
Marvel Comics cartoonist Kev F Sutherland said “The Payback royalties are perfectly timed for Christmas, which is also when freelance creative types often find a hole in their production (and earning) calendar. Thank DACS for remembering we don’t get paid holidays in our line of work.”

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 visual artists to licence their rights on an individual basis, for example, when an individual wishes to photocopy a page of a book which features their work.
 
DACS’ Payback campaign runs from July to September each year when visual artists can make their claim. Each December DACS distributes Payback royalties to successful claimants just in time for Christmas.

This year’s Payback deadline is 30 September 2014.

Visual artists who will be claiming Payback for the first time in 2014 can register online at dacs.org.uk/for-artists/payback or by email [email protected] For more information, please contact Joanne Milmoe, Communications Manager at DACS on 020 7553 9064 or [email protected]