To: All Guild Members
From: Graphic Artists Guild National
Date: July 21, 1999
Subject: Association of Illustrators (UK) Takes Stand Against Stock Houses
AOI Statement - Stock house illustration and royalty-free CD-ROM'S
As of July 16th 1999 the Association of Illustrators [UK] will no longer carry the advertising of any stock illustration house or similar company producing royalty-free CD-Roms.This decision has been taken as we believe the companies concerned are creating a climate which is devaluing the work of illustrators and threatening the long term future of the profession.
Traditionally the AOI has advised its members as to the value of additional usage for commissioned work and of the importance for illustrators in retaining their copyrights. We now see these efforts being seriously undermined by the business practices of the aforementioned companies. Specifically in the discounting of illustration.
We see the ever lower prices being quoted by stock houses as undermining the pricing structure for commissioned work and having a detrimental effect on all efforts to get fees raised. This is most acutely evident in the case of royalty-free CD-ROMs where all rights to an image are routinely being sold for as little as £4 each.
We will be alerting all our members to the long term implications inherent in handing over copyrights to the producers of these CD's, and advising them of creator-controlled environments where these exist as alternatives.
The Association of Illustrators is a member of the British Copyright Council, the Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS) and the JECVA (Joint Ethics Committee for the Visual Arts).
For further information, go to:
http://www.aoi.co.uk/
