{"id":696,"date":"2008-09-06T09:32:47","date_gmt":"2008-09-06T17:32:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/drewbrophy.com\/site\/?p=696"},"modified":"2008-09-06T09:32:47","modified_gmt":"2008-09-06T17:32:47","slug":"watch-out-for-the-sneaky-contract-biz-of-art-tip-565","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drewbrophy.com\/watch-out-for-the-sneaky-contract-biz-of-art-tip-565\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch out for the \u201cSneaky Contract\u201d \u2013 Biz of Art Tip #565"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>The Sneaky Contract: About a year ago we got a call from a large beer company in the U.S. They asked if Drew would paint a surfboard that they were going to give away for charity at one of the major surf contests. We agreed to $2,500. They would supply the board and cover shipping back & forth. All was good until…….they e-mailed me a contract……<\/p>\n The contract stated that the Co. would keep the rights to the artwork, “in perpetuity” and that all rights are transferred to Coors, etc. etc. Now as a rule 100% of the time, Drew never signs away his copyrights.<\/p>\n Perplexed, I called them and said look, you don’t need the rights because all you’re doing is giving the surfboard away to charity.<\/p>\n That’s when their real intent came out <\/strong><\/span>– they were planning to use Drew’s art for 50 surfboards (mass produced) for POP in-store displays and for t-shirts!<\/p>\n Wow, that really changed the deal. Imagine signing your rights away, then walking into a liquor store 6 months later and finding YOUR ART and YOUR NAME plastered on beer POP displays without your knowledge!?<\/p>\n We were okay with doing a LICENSING deal, which is where they PAY you for the usage (and you have right to approve everything before it’s produced), but we couldn’t come to an agreement on price.<\/p>\n They ended up hiring some other artist who was willing to sign their contract do the art – which by the way, it never made it on POP displays or anything else because being an amateur, he didn’t deliver what they needed.<\/p>\n <\/a>MORAL OF THE STORY: Never sign anything <\/span>unless you know what it is and you are 100% comfortable with it.<\/p>\n If you want your name to be known as an artist, and you are a career artist<\/strong><\/span>, you have to have control over your art, 100% of the time.<\/p>\n If you give control of it over to someone else, (even just one image) they can make you look bad when you find it all over Wal-Mart or on a Porn site, and now your value has decreased!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I want you to be successful! To learn more about contracts and art & pricing, get yourself the Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing & Ethical Guidelines.<\/a><\/strong> You may even want to join the Graphic Artists Guild – you get the book free if you join.<\/p>\n