Hundreds of UK-published artists and estates have been paid £114,000 in Dutch Public Lending Right (Dutch PLR) royalties from DACS, for the lending of books featuring their artwork by libraries in the Netherlands.
Over 300 artists and estates receive royalties
DACS receives
Dutch PLR royalties to distribute to UK-published artists and estates on an annual basis from
Pictoright, our sister society in the Netherlands.
The royalties come from the Dutch Public Lending Right (Dutch PLR), a law which requires Dutch libraries to pay royalties to artists and writers featuring in the books they lend out.
We’ve just paid £114,000 in royalties to over 300 artists and estates who applied for their share of royalties collected in 2015. Individual payments range from £100 to £2,427, supporting studio rent, materials, equipment, tax and anything in between.
Artist, Richard Stone
tweeted:
“Thanks to
@DACSforArtists. Received recent
#DutchPLR royalties. These things really make a difference.”
DACS is exploring PLR revenue in other countries
Since we began distributing Dutch PLR royalties in 2014, we have seen a decline in the amount we receive from the Netherlands. Libraries are lending fewer books and many small libraries are unfortunately closing down throughout the country.
Though we continue to receive Dutch PLR royalties and will carry on distributing them to artists and estates, we expect the overall amount to decrease in the future.
As such, we are exploring opportunities to distribute PLR royalties from France, Germany, Austria and Italy, via
our sister societies in these countries.
If you are aware of your books being translated into any of these languages,
please let us know, as this may help with our enquiries.
Apply to Dutch PLR in 2016
Dutch PLR will open again for application later this year. To be eligible, your work must have been published in a UK book which has been translated into Dutch and published in the Netherlands.
Find out more
Sign up to our mailing list to be the first to hear about Dutch PLR
Find out about our other initiatives for artists and estates
Dutch PLR has been made possible through our ongoing collaboration with the
Society of Authors,
Association of Illustrators,
Association of Photographers,
PLR UK and illustrator, Nicola Smee.
Image: The Reader, 2010, Wendy McMurdo. © Wendy McMurdo. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2016. Available to license through Artimage, DACS' image licensing service.