ASIP – ASAI

Dear Illustrator,

In January 2019, many American illustrators began receiving reprographic royalty checks. Since then more checks have gone out to more artists. These payouts are a part of concerted effort between Artists Rights Society (ARS) and the American Society of Illustrators Partnership (ASIP) to provide American illustrators with a share of international reprographic royalties.

All published illustrators are eligible to join and there is no membership fee.

To join, follow these simple instructions: https://www.arsny.art/illustrators-agreement

ARS will issue you an IPI (Interested party information) Number. This is a unique identifying number assigned to creative artists by the international CISAC database. Collecting societies require these identity numbers in order to pay royalties to the proper rights holders and to avoid fraudulent claims.

Once you are an ARS member you can then file claims for your published work. So far this year, our illustrator members have filed claims in four different countries: France, UK, Germany and Spain. More opportunities are coming!

Joining ARS will NOT interfere with your normal individual licensing arrangements. Your ARS contract will only apply where collective fees are already being collected under blanket licenses such as for photocopying usage, cable retransmission fees, etc. Learn more at our reprographic rights FAQ.

Here are comments from artists who have already started receiving royalties:

“I want to thank Ted and Janet and everyone else at ARS for helping us achieve a breakthrough in reprographic royalty payments. Thanks to ARS I’ve finally been able to get an international identification number and have filed claims with four different countries so far. My work has been published in the US and abroad for over 50 years, but until January of this year I’d never seen a check for reprographic usage. Thanks ARS.”

-Brad Holland, Illustrator

“Dr. Ted Feder and Janet Hicks, and their very capable staff at ARS, have continued to be the strongest advocates for ASIP in finally realizing the goal of distributing foreign reprographics royalties to our member artists. With numerous works published from a forty five year career, I have personally benefitted from my ARS registration with different countries; and trust that ARS will continue their diligent representation on my behalf.”

-Frank Costantino, Illustrator

“I’m thrilled that we finally have an organization to collect reprographic royalties on behalf of American illustrators! I’ve already received my first royalty check. Thanks so much to ASIP and ARS for pulling this together!”

–Jim Perkins, Certified Medical Illustrator

“I had never catalogued my life’s work before, and joining the ARS effort has been challenging and rewarding. I will continue to build my list of published works, and look forward to reaping the benefits as time goes by, as well as increasing the ranks of medical illustrators being recognized by the international collecting societies.”

–Chris Gralapp, Certified Medical Illustrator

“As illustrators many of us work by ourselves and try the best we can to make a living doing what we love. When we deliver our jobs we often think it is the end of the trail for our art. In actuality many people in many countries have access to our art and copy it. With ARS I am confident that those Reprographic royalties will be secured and returned to me.”

-Michel Bohbot, San Francisco Society of Illustrators

“I just received my first-ever Reprographic Royalty check: what an amazing achievement for both ASIP and The Artists Rights Society. I evidently followed your campaign over the years, you had courage, perseverance in that generous effort and I am very grateful, deeply grateful for it! Let me know if I can be of any help, I’ll be there.”

-Etienne Delessert, Author and Illustrator

The Artists Rights Society represents over 80,000 visual artists and is one of 41 international visual arts agencies monitored by CISAC

Sincerely,

Dr. Theodore Feder, President
Janet Hicks, Director of Licensing
Artists Rights Society, www.arsny.art

Brad Holland, Cynthia Turner, Co-Chairs
American Society of Illustrators Partnership, asip-repro.org

Dear ASAI Members and Colleagues,

The American Society of Illustrators Partnership (ASIP) and American Society of Architectural Illustrators (ASAI) are inviting all published illustrators to join the Artists Rights Society (ARS) as an illustrator Member.

There is NO FEE for this, and as an ARS member illustrator, you can then be assimilated into a global system that will allow you to receive licensing fees for otherwise unidentified uses of your work.

This global system (called IPI for Interested Party Information) assigns artists, musicians and other authors a unique legal identity tag called an IPI Number. If you are an illustrator, this will allow you to make claims for licensing fees for the use of your work currently being collected under international blanket licenses.

A blanket license is a license that gives a user the right to use any work from a body of collective works where generic royalties (similar to jukebox money) can be collected and distributed to rights holders only through internationally established collecting societies.

In the US, IPI numbers can only be obtained for you by the Artists Rights Society. ARS is the fine art collecting society that represents over 40,000 fine artists, including the estates of Picasso, Matisse, Saul Steinberg and others.

Through the efforts of the American Society of Illustrators Partnership (ASIP), ARS has now agreed to represent illustrators. You must be a published artist – with at least one published piece to your credit – to enter into this agreement. ASAI members, who have been chosen in any of the AIP Catalogues, would qualify, and once in the system would be able to realize any royalties that might accrue from the world-wide distribution or placement of the physical or digital versions of any of ASAI catalogues.

There is no fee for membership and you need only supply ARS with your name and birth date (and death date in the case of estates) and your contact information. These dates are necessary to distinguish between two artists with the same name.

An artist’s IPI Number is the code for a name or pseudonym related to a person or a legal entity. For example,

Pablo Picasso has the IP Base Number I-001068130-6. Or one entity can have several names: the late musical artist Prince has three IPI-codes: 00045620792 (Nelson Prince Rogers), 00052210040 (Prince) and 00334284961 (Nelson Prince R).

Musicians, fine artists and writers have been in the IPI system for years. Collecting societies require these identity numbers in order to pay royalties to the proper rights holders and to avoid fraudulent claims.

The IPI system and database are administered by the Swiss copyright society SUISA (the Swiss Cooperative Society for Authors and Publishers) in accordance with guidelines and standards established by CISAC (The International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers).

To join ARS as an Illustrator Member, please download the simple pdf Member Agreement from the dedicated ARS website. Then fill out the form, listing all names, pseudonyms, and other variations under which your work is credited and sign it. You may sign the agreement with a digital signature or a traditional signature.

Please return one copy to ARS via email: members@arsny.com or via postal mail: Artists Rights Society, 65 Bleecker St, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10012. ARS will return a counter-signed agree-ment to you and will then send you a W-9 form to fill out for any payments due you.

This Agreement is for blanket licensing fees only, and will not in any way preclude or limit you from exclusive licensing of your works by any other means. For more information please see these Frequently Asked Questions.

Please take a few minutes to review the sites and materials, to take advantage of this artist advocacy program; which benefits you, ASAI, and the eleven other groups that comprise ASIP.

Frank M. Costantino, ASAI Co-Founder
V.P. and Charter Member, ASIP

Category: ASIP

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