What is Payback?

Payback is an annual service run by DACS to distribute the money owed to visual artists by various collective licensing schemes.

These licensing schemes cover situations where it would be impractical for you to license your rights on an individual basis. For example, when a student in a library wants to photocopy pages from a book which features your work. As the creator of the work being photocopied, you are entitled to a royalty, but rather than ask the student to contact you every time they photocopy your work, the library pays an annual licence fee that covers their students photocopying copyright protected books.

It’s not just libraries and universities that do this. Different types of businesses and organisations buy a similar licence too.

The money is then shared out among the creators whose work has been featured. Authors and publishers receive a share of this money through Authors' Licensing Collecting Society (ALCS) and Publishers Licensing Society (PLS) respectively. As a visual artist you can claim your royalties through Payback.
 

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Where does the money come from?

A variety of sources, the main one being the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA). Every year this organisation sells photocopying licences to schools, universities, local councils, central government and business organisations.

Other collective licensing schemes cover the following:

• Our Slide Collection Licensing Scheme, which covers the creation of slides by schools, colleges and universities
• The repeat of UK terrestrial and digital TV broadcasts on cable TV
• The Educational Recording Agency (ERA) for off-air recording of television programmes by schools, colleges and universities

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When will I receive my Payback royalties?

Payback is an annual service, and you need to fill out a form between August and October. Forms are available online or can be posted to you. If you submit your completed form to us by the deadline, you should receive the royalties due to you by the end of December.
 

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Who can make a claim?

All kinds of visual artists can make a claim. If you are an illustrator, sculptor, cartoonist, photographer, fine artist, designer, architect or any other type of visual artist then you can claim Payback. The important thing is that you own the copyright in your work.

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Does it cost me anything?

There is no cost to register with us, but we do retain a share of the royalties we collect on your behalf to cover our costs. In 2007, those costs were 25%. Now, in 2013, they represent just 19% of royalties collected on your behalf. As a not-for-profit organisation, we are always seeking ways to reduce that percentage.
 

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What work can I claim for?

For Payback 2013, you can claim for any artwork or photograph that has appeared in a UK book or magazine up until 31 December 2012, so long as you own the copyright. It doesn’t matter if it is one work appearing in one book, or thousands of works appearing in thousands of books. You are still due a share of the royalties.

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What can’t I claim for?

The following types of artworks are not covered by Payback:

• Artistic works out of copyright at the time of use
• Artistic works for which you do not own the copyright
• Works included in newspapers, weekend supplements, leaflets and brochures
• Works reproduced in publications without an ISBN or ISSN number
• Photographs licensed for use under the BBC TelPic contract
• Works you have claimed for in a television claim in the past (unless repeated on television the previous year)
• Works used in feature films
• Ordnance Survey maps
• Logos and trade marks
• Writing, literary or musical works
• Industry manufactured products
• Videos or computer games
• DVD, CD-Rom, internet
• e-Books, e-Journals

 

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What if my work has appeared on television?

Payback covers the secondary use of your work in television programmes, for instance the re-transmission on cable of terrestrial and digital broadcasts.

Claims for such use differ from that of publications, however. Firstly, you can only claim for work shown on TV in the previous year. Secondly, television revenues come from ERA, Irish Cable and the BBC. Payback therefore only covers the five terrestrial and eight BBC digital channels.
 

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How much will my Payback royalties be?

There is no set amount. Last year, the average artist's share was £285, with the highest payment being £5,500. Every artist who makes a successful claim is guaranteed a minimum of £25.

How much you receive depends on how often your work has been published in a book or magazine or used in TV programmes. We work out your share of the revenues by the number of times your work has been featured, not by the number of times it has been photocopied or watched.

The amount we receive in licensing revenue can vary from year to year. The number of claimants each year also has an effect on how much you receive.
 

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What’s the difference between Payback and copyright licensing?

The royalties available through Payback are for secondary use of your artwork, for example when people photocopy, scan or record it. Payback does not cover the original reproduction of your work; this use is licensed directly by the copyright holder.

You can make a Payback claim even if you have already been paid for the original use of your artwork.

We've put together further information about copyright here. You might also be interested in the licensing services we provide for UK visual artists.

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Why does DACS collect and distribute UK Payback royalties?

Since the 1990s, DACS has been recognised by individual visual artists and organisations representing many thousands of visual artists as the right organisation to represent their interests in licensing schemes where rights are licensed collectively,  by negotiating a share of royalties for artists from those licensing schemes. Our experience as a collecting society ensures these royalties are successfully distributed to visual artists each year through our Payback scheme.

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