The Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS) is a British

company limited by guarantee A company limited by guarantee (CLG) is a type of company where the liability of members in the event the company is wound up is limited to a (typically very small) amount listed in the company's articles or constitution. Most have no share ca ...

. It is a not-for-profit collective management organisation organisation established in 1983 and in operation since 1984. It collects and distributes

royalties A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset or ...

visual artists The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and texti ...

and their beneficiaries, and negotiates licensing agreements between them and third parties, including

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

Penguin Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment and record label Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the "Record label#M ...

and

Alexander McQueen Lee Alexander McQueen (17 March 1969 – 11 February 2010) was a British fashion designer and couturier. He founded his own Alexander McQueen (brand), Alexander McQueen label in 1992 and was chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001. His ac ...

. By 2024 DACS had distributed £200 million in royalties. DACS retains a percentage of royalties collected for operating costs, including advocating for visual artists' rights through campaigning work and Parliamentary representation, plus sharing visual arts copyright information.

History

In 1984 a group of artists and lawyers founded DACS to: support artists by managing their copyright, collect the royalties owed to artists for the use of their work. Founding members included

Elaine Kowalsky Elaine Kowalsky (September 24, 1948 – September 17, 2005) was a Canadian printmaker and artists' rights campaigner. She lived and worked in the United Kingdom for over 30 years. Her prints and various other artworks are held in public collectio ...

, Sir Eduardo Paolozzi,

Susan Hiller Susan Hiller (March 7, 1940–January 28, 2019) was a US-born, British conceptual artist who lived in London, United Kingdom. Her practice spanned a broad range of media, including installation, video, photography, painting, sculpture, per ...

and David Shepherd. Inspired by the French artists' copyright society Société de la Propriété Artistique des Dessins et Modèles (SPADEM), they utilised their experience a
ArtLaw
and th
Visual Artists' Rights Society
DACS led a successful campaign to introduce the

Artist's Resale Right ''Droit de suite'' ( French for "right to follow") or Artist's Resale Right (ARR) is a right granted to artists or their heirs, in some jurisdictions, to receive a fee on the resale of their works of art. This should be contrasted with policies su ...

in the UK, which came into force in 2006.

Operation and aim

DACS collect and distribute royalties to artists through their 3 main services
DACS ARRDACS Payback
an
DACS Licensing
By 2024 DACS had distributed £200 million in royalties. In 2024, it paid £16.1 million in royalties to over 100,000 artists and estates, and arranged 1700 licences for its members. It represents artists including

David Hockney David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English Painting, painter, Drawing, draughtsman, Printmaking, printmaker, Scenic design, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considere ...

Damien Hirst Damien Steven Hirst (; né Brennan; born 7 June 1965) is an English artist and art collector. He was one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United Kingdom's richest ...

and

Tracey Emin Dame Tracey Karima Emin (; born 3 July 1963) is an English artist known for autobiographical and confessional artwork. She produces work in a variety of media including drawing, painting, sculpture, film, photography, Neon lighting, neon text ...

, and its licensing customers include

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Christopher Kane Christopher John Kane (born 26 July 1982) is a Scottish fashion designer based in London. Biography Kane was born as the youngest of five children in Newarthill, North Lanarkshire, to an engineer and draughtsman father and housewife mother. Ka ...

Phaidon Phaidon is an ancient Greek name that may refer to: *Phaedo of Elis, philosopher *''Phaedo'', one of Plato's dialogues named after Phaedo of Elis who appears in it *Phaidon Press, a publisher *'' Phaidon Design Classics'', a 2006 British three volum ...

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

Sky Arts Sky Arts (originally launched as Artsworld) is a British free-to-air television channel offering 24 hours a day of programmes dedicated to highbrow arts, including theatrical performances, films, documentaries and music (such as opera perfor ...

Shakespeare's Globe Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse first built in 1599 for which William Shakespeare wrote his plays. Like the original, it is located on the south bank of the River Thames, in Southwark, Lon ...

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

Saatchi & Saatchi Saatchi and Saatchi is a British multinational communications and advertising agency network with 114 offices in 76 countries and over 6,500 staff. It was founded in 1970 and is currently headquartered in London. The parent company of the agency ...

and

UNIQLO ( ; ) is a Japanese casual wear designer and retailer. The company is a subsidiary of Fast Retailing, Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. Clare Waight Keller is the creative director. History Men's Shop OS was founded in Ube, Yamaguchi. It was rebrand ...

. DACS' vision is for a society which recognises, respects and values all artists.

Advocacy

DACS campaigns for the protection of artists' rights and royalties, on behalf of artists in the UK and internationally. Recent advocacy work includes: *

Artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

* Artists Resale Right * Collective licensing * Freelance work and

fair pay Equal pay for equal work is the concept of labour rights that individuals in the same workplace be given equal pay. It is most commonly used in the context of sexual discrimination, in relation to the gender pay gap. Equal pay relates to the full ...

* Representing

in Parliament DACS, together wit
a-n The Artists Information Company
an
CVAN Contemporary Visual Arts Network England
provide the group with secretariat support for the All Party Parliamentary Group for Visual Arts & Artists. Additionally, through th
Alliance for Intellectual Property
it is a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group for IP and also attends the All Party Parliamentary Group for AI.

Governance

DACS is a not-for-profit

with a board of 14 directors and multiple voting members who guide its mission.

Network

DACS represents 180,000 visual artists and artists' estates worldwide through an international network of

collecting societies A copyright collective (also known as a copyright society, copyright collecting agency, licensing agency or copyright collecting society or collective management organization) is a non-governmental body created by copyright law or private agreeme ...

. It is a member of the following organisations:
Alliance for Intellectual Property

Audiovisual Licensing Agency (AVLA)

British Copyright Council (BCC)

Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA)
*

Creative UK Creative UK (known as Creative England from 2010 to 2021) is a not-for-profit organisation that supports the creative industries in the United Kingdom. The business promotes the development of creative companies, which in turn support business acr ...

Creators' Rights Alliance (CRA)

Educational Recording Agency (ERA)

European Visual Artists (EVA)

International Authors Forum (IAF)

International Council of Creators of Graphic, Plastic and Photographic Arts (CIAGP)

International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO)

Gallery Climate Coalition (GCC)

FRANK Fair Artists Pay
* International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC)
Online Art (OLA)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Copyright collection societies Non-profit organisations based in the United Kingdom Organisations based in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets 1983 establishments in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1983 Advocacy groups Intellectual property infringement Copyright infringement Copyright law