2024 Year in Review

DACS has a long and proud record of standing up and securing vital income for visual artists and estates in the UK and around the world. 

In 2024, we collected and paid out royalties worth £16.1 million to over 100,000 artists, supporting them to make a living and helping estates to safeguard artists’ legacies. This included: 

• £8.8 million from the Artist’s Resale Right for 2,000 artists
• £1.7 million through Copyright Licensing for 1,700 artists
• £5.6 million in collective licensing including Payback royalties for 100,000 visual creators.

Margaret Heffernan, DACS Chair

Forty years ago, a group of artists and lawyers launched a new organisation to stand up for visual artists’ rights. Their goal was to provide artists with legal advice, to generate income for creatives through copyright licensing agreements, and to collect the royalties owed to artists for the use of their work. Fast forward to 2024, and DACS is a world-leading advocate for visual artists, connecting artists with brands seeking to use their work, including Gucci, Deutsche Bank, the BBC, and Historic Royal Palaces. To date, we have arranged tens of thousands of licences for DACS members across numerous countries, and we continue to break new ground.

In 2024, our Payback scheme distributed £5.3 million to a record-breaking 100,000 visual creators. We held events and published major reports on pressing themes, including artists’ earnings and the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the art sector. Our campaigns and policy work have led to substantial breakthroughs - like the adoption of the Artist’s Resale Right (ARR) by Australia and New Zealand - which continue to result in tangible benefits for artists everywhere. We will persist in campaigning to protect the artist’s right to be paid for their work in every form.

These achievements reflect the important role that DACS and other organisations play in supporting visual artists. We do what we do because of artists - nothing would be possible without them, and we are proud to work on their behalf. We look forward to another productive year in 2025 and anticipate even more success in the years to come.

Christian Zimmermann, DACS Chief Executive

2024 was a milestone year for DACS. As we celebrated 40 years of championing artists’ rights, we also reached a record-breaking achievement - with over 100,000 artists and estates being paid over £16.1 million in royalties. While we’re proud of everything we’ve accomplished over the past four decades, our focus remains on the future: strengthening rights, expanding opportunities, and securing better conditions for artists.

Looking ahead, our vision is clear, shaped by four strategic priorities. We will maximise royalties for visual artists and estates by streamlining licensing and distribution, ensuring creators receive what they’re owed. We will advocate for artists’ rights, from fair pay to Artificial Intelligence, working with industry partners and government to push for stronger protections. We will harness innovation, using data, technology, and collaboration to create real value while ensuring artists are recognised, respected, and fairly rewarded. And we will stay true to our values, embedding trust, transparency, and integrity into everything we do - supporting artists at every stage of their careers.

As the landscape for artists evolves, so must we. Together with our members, partners, and supporters, we can shape a future where visual artists and their work are truly valued.

In celebration of DACS’ 40th anniversary, we brought together artists, campaigners, arts organisations, galleries and thought leaders in the field of intellectual property (IP) rights to explore the critical challenges faced by artists in 2024 and beyond.

Throughout the year we hosted an exciting programme of public events where discussions touched on themes ranging from advocating for better working conditions for artists, artist-led reforms for greater agency, and the sector’s response to evolving technologies.

We also published a series of essays and interviews that amplified the voices of artists and experts alike. Adele Morse described her experience of copyright infringement, Michael Dayton Hermann, of the Andy Warhol Foundation, discussed the iconic artist’s legacy, and HENI’s Commissioning Editor, Rebecca Morrill, issued a passionate defence of the importance of physical books in an era of digitisation. 

Licensing enables brands to bring their projects to life using images from modern and contemporary art—including paintings, photographs, and graphic designs—while ensuring artists' rights are always protected. This was the reason DACS was founded: in 1984, DACS was established as a collecting society to manage licensing for artists when no one else did. 

Since issuing our first licence for The Sunday Times in 1984, we have come a long way. In 2024 we set up 1,900 licences on behalf of DACS’ members and made 30,000 images available on our image licensing platform, Artimage, to over 600 clients including Gucci, Deutsche Bank, Historic Royal Palaces, Loewe, Conde Nast, Swatch, Netflix and Guinness World Records. This generated £1.7 million for artists and estates.

SWATCH X TATE

We licensed works from Tate’s extensive collection for a series of collectible watches. The series featured DACS members' works, including Louise Bourgeois, Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, and Fernand Léger.

Loewe Perfumes 2024 Campaign

DACS licensed the use of Le Corbusier's modernist masterpiece, Villa Savoye, for Loewe's 2024 Perfume Campaign featuring actor Jamie Dornan.

Sister Productions for Netflix

We licensed works by Larry Rivers, Jim Dine and Karel Appel as set dressing in multiple episodes of the miniseries Eric starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

The Artist’s Resale Right (ARR) is a royalty that pays artists when their work is resold by an art market professional for £1,000 or more. DACS, which for years campaigned for ARR and helped bring it into UK law in 2006, collects and distributes these resale royalties. In 2024, artists and estates received £8.8 million in ARR royalties which amounts to an overall £134 million for more than 6,000 artists and estates since its introduction in the UK.

DACS also tracks sales of artworks by auction houses, galleries and dealers, applying a robust compliance process to identify sales which have not been declared. In this way we distributed a total of £1 million in previously undeclared royalties to our members.

In 2024, the UK government changed the currency operating in the ARR Regulations from EUR to GBP, simplifying the process and reducing regulatory burdens for art market professionals. This change, which follows the retention of ARR in the Retained EU Law bill, signals that ARR is secure within UK law.

Meanwhile, the campaign for a global ARR gained momentum, with Australia and New Zealand, following Mexico in implementing the Right.

Each year through our Payback scheme DACS pays creatives for their works in printed or digital publications, and on TV, for the photocopying, scanning and recording of their works. For many visual artists, photographers and illustrators, the service constitutes a vital and reliable source of income, helping to pay for the rising costs of materials, studio rent and bills, and providing an ongoing stake in the use of their works. 

2024 marked the 25th anniversary of this collective licensing scheme, which has now overall generated £80 million for creatives across the UK - and the service is going from strength to strength. This year we distributed £5.3 million in royalties to over 100,000 visual creators and their representatives – a 10% increase in the number of members receiving payments.

At DACS, we have always worked hand in hand with artists to provide insights on the issues that matter most to them – and in 2024 two key themes stood out: the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and the cost-of-living crisis.

As AI and other technologies evolve, new art forms, methods of artistic practice, means of communication, and crucially, models of remuneration, copyright, and licensing are emerging. In January 2024, we published a landmark survey of 1,000 artists which revealed growing unease among UK creatives about the evolution of AI, specifically how unregulated AI could negatively impact their careers, future opportunities, and copyright. The rapid development of this technology has also created a skills shortage, leaving many artists feeling ill-equipped to adapt to a new world.

Though sobering, the survey’s results will help inform our response to an open consultation launched by the Government to ensure the UK’s legal framework for AI and copyright supports both the creative industries and the AI sector. The consultation invites feedback on proposals to enhance rights holders’ control over whether their works are used to train AI models, build trust and transparency between sectors, and ensure AI developers have access to high-quality training material.

Meanwhile, DACS commissioned the University of Glasgow to examine UK-based visual artists’ earnings. Again, the findings were stark. Surveying over 1,200 visual artists – from photographers and painters to illustrators and sculptors – the report revealed that the median income for visual artists is just £12,500 a year. This represents a 40% decrease in earnings since 2010 (£16,000) and is 47% lower than the income of full-time minimum wage workers (£23,795). 

Over 80% of artists described their earnings as 'unstable' or 'very unstable,' while 51% said they had to supplement their income with additional work. Even when working several jobs, artists still earned a median income of just £17,500, significantly below the national minimum wage.

As voters flocked to the polls for the 2024 General Election, DACS joined 26 arts organisations to launch a new Visual Arts Manifesto, highlighting the critical role of the visual arts in the UK’s £126 billion creative industries and outlining key policy recommendations for the next Government to better support the visual arts sector.  

The manifesto calls for a comprehensive package of measures, from fairer pay and support structures for creatives and reforming the curriculum to foster creativity and empathy, to protecting free entry to museums and galleries. Recognising the global influence of the UK’s visual arts sector, the organisations also urged the Government to re-establish a creative and cultural agreement with the EU and rejoin Creative Europe.

Over 4,000 artists and arts professionals, including Dame Sonia Boyce, Sir John Akomfrah and Heather Phillipson, co-signed a letter to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, backing these policy recommendations.

Later in the year, with a new Labour government in place, DACS and allies from across the sector reconstituted the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Visual Arts and Artists and met for the first time. Originally established in 2021 with secretariat support from DACS, a-n & CVAN, the APPG brings together 29 members including arts organisations, MPs and Peers, and provides a space to address the priorities outlined in our Visual Arts Manifesto. 

In this way, DACS is taking a leading role in shaping government policy on issues like copyright law, arts education, fair pay and AI regulation, ensuring that policymakers hear from visual artists and estates on the issues that most affect them, and that the visual arts ecosystem continues to fuel creativity, diversity and economic growth.

Since 1984 DACS has campaigned for groundbreaking initiatives with the potential to bolster artists’ ability to make a living from their work. And with a new UK government taking office in the summer, DACS has been advocating strongly for two key proposals.

Appointing a Freelancer Commissioner would ensure that the needs and interests of the UK’s freelance visual artists and creative workers are permanently represented and understood across Whitehall. The Culture, Media and Sport Committee have backed this recommendation in their  Creator Remuneration report, while independent think tank, The Fabian Society further recommended the proposal in their publication, Arts for us all.

Meanwhile, we are calling for the creation of the Smart Fund – a model whereby technology manufacturers would pay creators, performers and communities for the visual art that is downloaded, stored and shared across electronic devices. This could raise around £300 million a year for creators, and simultaneously provide more cultural funding, at no cost to the Government, the taxpayer or consumers.

DACS has always had an international outlook, having taken inspiration from the French Société de la Propriété Artistique des Dessins et Modèles (SPADEM) when we launched in 1984. For four decades, we have worked closely with experts and artists around the globe to share ideas, best practice and experiences, and build a better world for visual artists.

We are part of an international network of rights management organisations, representing 180,000 artists in 36 countries. As part of this network, we ensure our members receive the royalties owed to them from the licensing or resale of their work across the world, not just in the UK. It also means we represent our sister societies’ members in the UK.

In 2024 we proudly hosted the annual CIAGP (International Council of Creators of Graphic, Plastic and Photographic Arts) conference, bringing together collective management organisations (CMOs) from around the world. The conference served as a vital and timely forum for exploring global developments at the intersection of artificial intelligence and intellectual property, and for organising a collective voice. As the visual arts landscape adapts to new challenges, CMOs are uniquely positioned to advocate for fair rights and protections, ensuring that visual artists everywhere receive the support they need to flourish.

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