Resale Royalty Calculator
Artists Resale Royalties Calculator
Artists in many countries including Australia are entitled to a royalty for each re-sale of their artwork. In Australia and the UK, it is 5%. Each country has their own legislation and conditions so you should check with your local authority for specific entitlements.
This is a simplified calculator that displays the value of art resale royalties due to an artist based on the input values. It calculates total royalties, royalties paid during the artists lifetime, and royalties bequest. It only includes royalty payments where the art re-sale value exceeds $1000 in value. It does not include the initial sale value of the artworks.
Example
Starting Art Value:$693 AUD,
Resale Period (years):10,
Art Appreciation Rate (%):4,
Artist Output (per year):12,
Artist Career Span (years):40
(Total Royalty : $ 1,604,120.00 AUD)
(Before Death : $ 194,856.95 AUD)
(After Death : $ 1,409,263.05 AUD),
Notes
Your future may be different. The calculator deals with averages and each person’s specific circumstances will be different. In particular, the below numbers are difficult to forecast and impossible to know:
- Resale period – some art may never resell and just get passed down a family.
- Art appreciation rate – some art appreciates a great deal, but much art never appreciates. Some art will depreciate – for example, art sold through an art gallery in good economic times may fetch a high price, and the same artwork may at a later time, during a recession, get sold at auction for a lower price – which is an example of deprecation. The rate suggested is the average rate of art appreciation globally and there is a lot of variation around this average including negative values.
- Artist output – this assumes all the artist’s output is sold. The proportion of art sold depends on pricing and many other factors so it is excluded. Some artists may produce a lot of work but sell very little. So consider the entry as an estimate of production that is sold, rather than unsold production that has been stored.
- Career span – This item is not only about the date of death, but also about things that happen during a career. Illness for example can have a big effect on a career span. Use your anticipated productive career span rather than your expected life span.
Approximate Modelling The calculator provides very approximate modelling. Try to be conservative and realistic with your input and don’t set yourself up for false expectations.
Who is this calculator for? This calculator is for artists, to educate us about how the potential for future resales could affect our prosperity. For example, an artist that sells work for a lower price and includes content that will help the new owner resell stands to make much more money from royalties than one who sells less art at higher prices to owners that rarely resell. VooGlue’s business model is designed to help facilitate the former strategy by giving artists a way to bind their additional content to an artwork – thus preserving its value, recording authenticated provenance and giving new owners an easy way to quickly resell. All of these elements stimulate higher royalties.
Make a Will. Take note of the income your artwork will generate after your death. This reinforces that artists should make a Will.
