Your latest DACS news: Payback royalties coming your way!

[Chris Burrows]

1 hour ago, Niels Quist said:

 

Yes, and Alamy have more details than you do. You are only paid for your own images (too bad, though) and only for certain uses in the UK. The first year they found a greater amount for me than I did myself. Perhaps also due to missing information available to us on RF images. I also think the work is time consuming (aware that some who do it themselves don't think so). And in that case 50% plus expenses can be yours instead. But I like my way.

 

Niels - the lazy one

 

 

Regarding RF images (and also RM images sold as RF in all but name) do Alamy have better details of usage than the photographer?  They may well have details of first usage but what about any subsequent use?

I spotted one of mine yesterday that was appearing for the fourth time, is Alamy checking for this or being notified?

 

To be fair I probably have an easier job spotting my uses as at least 90% of UK magazine publications appear in one of only about half a dozen magazines.

[Niels Quist]

41 minutes ago, Chris Burrows said:

Regarding RF images (and also RM images sold as RF in all but name) do Alamy have better details of usage than the photographer?  They may well have details of first usage but what about any subsequent use?

 

No, you are probably right, the photographer is probably the one to tally this.

 

41 minutes ago, Chris Burrows said:

To be fair I probably have an easier job spotting my uses as at least 90% of UK magazine publications appear in one of only about half a dozen magazines.

 

Yes, I think it is a lot easier if you are a UK citizen and regularly see these mags.

 

Niels

[Craig Yates]

DACS  payment today via ALAMY, $192.81 double to last years payout.

[Betty LaRue]

Alamy claimed for me. It came through today.

[Kat]

I've had a DACS payment today as well. My first one which is nice. 

[Jerome Wilson]

Betty,

 

Is there any indication that UK income tax is deducted when Alamy handles your Claim? 

I have been doing my own, and Her Majesty's revenue Department takes 20%.  The only way to get it refunded to me is to file a proof of US citizenship and tax status.  The form would cost $85 each year.  I also have to pay a $15 wire transfer fee to my bank.  I'm thinking that I wouldn't lose that much by having Alamy handle it.

 

Jerry

[Betty LaRue]

3 hours ago, Jerome Wilson said:

Betty,

 

Is there any indication that UK income tax is deducted when Alamy handles your Claim? 

I have been doing my own, and Her Majesty's revenue Department takes 20%.  The only way to get it refunded to me is to file a proof of US citizenship and tax status.  The form would cost $85 each year.  I also have to pay a $15 wire transfer fee to my bank.  I'm thinking that I wouldn't lose that much by having Alamy handle it.

 

Jerry

  I don’t have a clue if taxes were withheld.  There is only the dollar amount I have in my coffers showing, nothing else.  For some reason, I struggled with filing on my own. I spent a lot of time doing it, getting rid of the unsuitable images, then sweating whether I was doing it correctly.  I finally figured it was worth 50% to forego the angst.

Betty

[spacecadet]

7 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

  I don’t have a clue if taxes were withheld.  There is only the dollar amount I have in my coffers showing, nothing else.  For some reason, I struggled with filing on my own. I spent a lot of time doing it, getting rid of the unsuitable images, then sweating whether I was doing it correctly.  I finally figured it was worth 50% to forego the angst.

Betty

 I just send in a sales summary and DACS decides what's eligible. All I itemise myself are any ISBN/ISSN numbers. It takes 20 minutes.

[Sally]

20 hours ago, Avpics said:

https://www.dacs.org.uk/for-artists/payback/frequently-asked-questions#FAQ236

 

How it works is fairly straightforward, but finding the information is what puts me off. We're indebted to the eagle-eyed forum members that report finding Alamy images but even then it's a tiny proportion of those that get used. I fear that if I claimed from the small proportion of uses that I know the details of then the amount I'd get paid would be smaller than that I receive from Alamy - and that for additional work that I'd put in making the claim.

I asked Alamy which of my imagess qualified because I didn’t think I had anything which would have done so. For the two images that did I wouldn’t have been able to find their uses. So, the lack of information may well outweigh the advantage of claiming for myself.

[Sally]

45 minutes ago, spacecadet said:

 I just send in a sales summary and DACS decides what's eligible. All I itemise myself are any ISBN/ISSN numbers. It takes 20 minutes.

Just seen this. So, are you sure that DACS has the wherewithal to know which of your images have been used in a UK magazine, book or or TV programme if you don’t have the relevant information? Or are they just paying you for the ones you have given ISBN/ISSN numbers for? I don’t expect you to know the answer, by the way, just making a point related to my last post.

[spacecadet]

17 minutes ago, Sally said:

Just seen this. So, are you sure that DACS has the wherewithal to know which of your images have been used in a UK magazine, book or or TV programme if you don’t have the relevant information? Or are they just paying you for the ones you have given ISBN/ISSN numbers for? I don’t expect you to know the answer, by the way, just making a point related to my last post.

Apart from the new arrangement forced on DACS by the CLA where uses are matched up directly, I don't think that's how DACS works. If the use falls into the categories covered by the scheme, it qualifies. ISBN/ISSN numbers also count.

DACS can tell from the sales summary and net revenue report which uses are qualifying and which aren't. Those that are go on your tally to determine which payment level you get. It's cumulative, so you can get into a higher category with time.

[Sally]

10 minutes ago, spacecadet said:

Apart from the new arrangement forced on DACS by the CLA where uses are matched up directly, I don't think that's how DACS works. If the use falls into the categories covered by the scheme, it qualifies. ISBN/ISSN numbers also count.

DACS can tell from the sales summary and net revenue report which uses are qualifying and which aren't. Those that are go on your tally to determine which payment level you get. It's cumulative, so you can get into a higher category with time.

I think I follow that, ie so long as your statement shows a book/TV use then DACS will accept it. But the two images that Alamy paid me for didn’t have any information about use at all. They just said eg

21 MB
3444 x 2162 pixels 
2 MB compressed

so if I had just sent in a list of all my sales these wouldn’t have been accepted, presumably.

Do you know , if Alamy does the claim on you behalf, whether the contributor gets put into a higher category, or is it Alamy who is?

 

 

[spacecadet]

Those are RF sales. We don't get enough licence detail for you to do your own claim. Alamy has that info so presumably it can.

I have very few RFs- that's one of the reasons.

I do my own claim so can't answer the other question.

[NYCat]

Mine (done by Alamy) has shown up. It is almost twice as much as last year. I'm not surprised that it is larger. I've been very happy about more and more sales.

 

Paulette

[Michael Ventura]

DACS showed up in my account yesterday too.  Thanks Alamy!

[BobD]

Mine showed up this morning, just over double last year.

 

 

[Alan Beastall]

 

Just dropped into my account this morning, up by 77% from last year. This relates to the increase in sales so far this year.

 

Alan

[Sally]

3 hours ago, spacecadet said:

Those are RF sales. We don't get enough licence detail for you to do your own claim. Alamy has that info so presumably it can.

I have very few RFs- that's one of the reasons.

I do my own claim so can't answer the other question.

Ok, thanks for the explanation. I don’t have many RF images and not very many RF sales compared to RM,  but those are the only two with such limited information. The rest of my RF sales all have the use listed. 

[Rico]

My DACS payment showed up! I can't remember if it's up or down from last year...but it's all good

Thanks Alamy

(edit)  Curiosity got the better of me. It's up a bit from last year

[MandyD]

so this is an automatic opt in?

[Rico]

5 minutes ago, MandyD said:

so this is an automatic opt in?

I think so. I've never really done anything to opt in.

Maybe some of the more seasoned posters can enlighten us. 

[Bryan]

When I ceased to make my own claims and went over to Alamy I saw an increase in the amount payable, despite the 50% hit. 

 

Very happy with the arrangement, zero hassle and a decent payout.

 

You have to opt out if you don't want Alamy to do it for you.

[MandyD]

1 minute ago, Bryan said:

When I ceased to make my own claims and went over to Alamy I saw an increase in the amount payable, despite the 50% hit. 

 

Very happy with the arrangement, zero hassle and a decent payout.

 

You have to opt out if you don't want Alamy to do it for you.

thanks Bryan

[John Mitchell]

1 minute ago, Bryan said:

When I ceased to make my own claims and went over to Alamy I saw an increase in the amount payable, despite the 50% hit. 

 

Very happy with the arrangement, zero hassle and a decent payout.

 

You have to opt out if you don't want Alamy to do it for you.

 

Interesting to hear that. Why do you think the payment went up?

 

I've always filed myself, so I don't have anything to compare the reults with.

[Bryan]

20 hours ago, John Mitchell said:

 

Interesting to hear that. Why do you think the payment went up?

 

I've always filed myself, so I don't have anything to compare the reults with.

 

Hi John

 

Presumably I wasn't able to provide sufficient information to DACs. I just sent them a spreadsheet of my sales edited to take out those that I thought were not appropriate - and , to be honest, I wasn't really sure what could and could not be included. 

 

I did spend some (a lot actually) time trying to pin down the book sales, but was never sure if I have got the lot, or whether they were covered by the DACs agreement.

 

Hope that people don't follow my lead next year and then find themselves short changed  

 

Edit - on reflection if we try to get a meaningful comparison between a claim through Alamy and going it alone, the % of your DACS payment of your total sales might be a more meaningful statistic than the DACS income this year. In my case it is 0.61% of total gross sales since joining Alamy