DACS urges parliamentarians to maintain a strong and fair IP framework

For 40 years, DACS has been in the business of protecting the intellectual property of artists and creators for three fundamental reasons: firstly, it is essential to help artists be paid for their works, secondly, because for artists to be paid for their works they need to be able to protect their work, and thirdly because without IP protection, the value of their work, and the capacity of others to contribute to the rich arts ecosystem of this country dissipates at an alarming rate.

I’ve worked with many artists over my career and I’ve learned a lot from them. Their careers are mired in uncertainty; they start making work before being asked they take huge imaginative risks, invest vast amounts of time and, in the face of difficulty, they just keep going, all without any guarantee of reward or success. They are among the toughest, most resilient people I’ve ever worked with, anywhere.

They are the people who tell and memorialise our lived experience, who reflect back to us what we know and feel. Often ahead of the curve, photographers, illustrators, painters, sculptors articulate for us what we sense but can’t define: the stories of our lives. It’s no fluke that historians, wishing to chart the progress of a time or place, look to artists to see where change first began; because they sense and articulate our times before we even know where we are.

Nothing about this is easy, cheap or free. Artists pay for studio space, materials, assistance—and sometimes even heating. The most intrinsically motivated people on earth, they search constantly for new skills, tools, media to make their unique contribution to a millenium of culture that has given Britain its enormous allure: the soft power which draws the world to us, giving us respect and presence in the world.

Artists share many qualities with entrepreneurs; rife with ideas, they start before anyone asks them, learning whatever new skills are required to take their ideas further: negotiating, promoting, fostering new knowledge and networks. And all that without parental leave, sick pay and pensions that many of us in this room enjoy.

Each year DACS pays out around £17 million to over 90,000 artists of every kind. IP laws like the Artists’ Resale Right have proved regenerative, because the majority of artists and their estates don’t hoard their royalties but reinvest them into future work, making it accessible for the rest of us to relish.

But, we can’t afford to take this for granted. Over recent years, artists have faced a downturn in pay, with 2/3 of them saying pay conditions are making them consider leaving the sector. Many have left. Many more don’t think it’s worth trying.

And then we come to AI. Having run tech companies in the U.S., I’ve learned one thing: every new technology has a bright side—and a dark side. It is naïve and childish to imagine otherwise. AI, for all the promise that it brings, also brings danger and discouragement: in some areas, it has already destroyed 1000s of entry-level jobs which means that, for young artists, the first step on the ladder is now unreachable. And without appropriate protection, AI intrinsically threatens the centuries-old effectiveness of copyright.

If we want Britain to remain what it is today—a global beacon for inventiveness, originality and creativity—a strong, fair IP framework is crucial. Not just to protect the glories we already lay claim to, but to ensure that our generation, and generations that come after us, have a great story to tell.”