Help....Cost of Art Work

[JMugs]

This is out of my area of knowledge as I do mainly corporate mugs and a few of my own designs, so help required!
I was browsing the web and found myslef chortling at some cartoons drwan by an American Cartoonist. So I sent off a quick email asking how I would go about getting the permission required to print his stuff on mugs.

The long story short is
$200 per cartoon, then 7% of gross sales.

As I have no idea...... is this about right?

Of course I have no idea of how well they would sell, justy that the caught my interest enough for me to follow it up!

Janners

[Justin]

I've worked with a few designers over the years, I tended to buy my designs with copyright outright rather than have complications of ongoing commissions etc. and this worked out well for me.

If it's this particular cartoonist you want to work with I guess that's his terms but if you have an idea in mind it would be worth getting quotes from elsewhere for outright purchase.

[AdamB]

Who's going to control the sales?

He's asking for 7% of all gross sales - how is going to know how many are sold - will he have access to your books/stock control on the website?

I would agree a commission on each item sold - if his work is sought after then your price can be increased giving a larger profit for you than before hand even after passing on commission.

I was very close a few months ago to doing something similar - unfortunately my particular situation didn't work out so I never pursued it any further. I only say this as I had a matrix that had a percentage of each item going to a charity and a percentage going to the cartoonist.

[JMugs]

My enthusiasm for this is declining.

[socialgiraffe]

Music industry works on 10% of sale income.

How can they tell how many are sold, they can't. But if the money keeps rolling in no one cares. The successful merchandiser will have no need to lie as they are still making money.

$200 upfront I think is a bit steep though.

If you are still interested I would go back and say you will offer 10% royalties on number of items sold.

He may well want to see evidence based figures which is down to you to sort out how you provide this.

Good luck.

[JMugs]

OK another email explains I didn't understand clearly what the artist was saying.
It's 7% of gross with a $200 dollars advance payment, NOT $200 + 7%.
Hmm.....

[pisquee]

I know artist/designers who license their artwork. It really is down to the individual artist to set that price that their work is worth, although there would be an expected price from the buyer. But the one I know best had sold some of her designs to M&S (amongst others) both for greetings cards and some products, and she says she charges around £350 per design, as an outright price, ie, no ongoing %.

[socialgiraffe]

7% is pretty good.

Pisquee's comment in my opinon would be better as you then own the rights.

You would also need to check to see if you would have exclusive UK rights. If not then try to up the percentage for exclusivity.

The reason I say this is because say for instance the cartoon takes off in the UK. You then come on this forum and say "hey, thanks for all the advice and I have managed to secure a deal for 1000 units to tesco" I could look at it and think well there is nothing right now to stop me from purchasing the same image and selling it myself.

Not saying I would but just hi-lighting that you need to protect your assett

[WorthDoingRight]

So if 200 dollar advance against the 7% fees then at a sale price of £10 (approx $15 you would pay the artist $1 approx). So you would need to consider that you need to sell 200 mugs to cover this $200 advance. If you can see 200 mugs and get 70p more a mug than without the cartoon (or absorb this amount easily) then it does not sound too bad. You did not say whether this is just a single cartoon image or whether you can use any of his images on your mugs for variety.