Resale royalties in Australia: here are some figures

It's not just data that can be concrete.  Here's
a piece of concrete artwork from Italy which,
embedded in the pavement, is unlikely ever
to be resold ...

From Anne Sanders comes news that, with regard to Australia, we now have some concrete data relating to that country's resale royalty scheme (thanks, Anne!).  This is really useful, since it provides a factual background for the debates that continue to take place as to (i) whether such a scheme should exist at all and, if so (ii) whether it should exist in its current form and whether its current benefits reach its intended beneficiaries.

The figures come from Senator Lundy, on behalf of the Minister for the Arts, in response to a set of questions from Senator Humphries  Readers will doubtless form their own opinions.

Minister representing the Minister for the Arts in the Senate 

SENATE QUESTION 

Resale Royalty Scheme 

Question No. 2677 

Senator Humphries asked the Minister representing the Minister for the Arts in the Senate on 24 January 2013: 

With reference to the artists resale royalty scheme and the Copyright Agency Limited (CAL): 

1. What is the total value of royalty collections to date, including figures for each quarter.

2. What percentage of the total value of royalties collected has gone to Indigenous artists, including figures for each quarter. 

3. What are the annual Art Centres figures for first sales of Indigenous art. 

4. What is the total value of the top 600 individual royalty payments to date. 

5. How many individual right-holders received the top 600 individual payments. 

6. How many of the top 600 individual royalty payments have gone to Indigenous right-holders, including figures for each quarter. 

7. To date, what is the total value of the lowest 2 000 individual royalty payments. 

8. If the scheme can deliver the smallest individual artist royalty payment at $50, with a 10 per cent administration fee of $5, why does the scheme charge an administration fee of $1 000 to deliver an individual royalty payment of $10 000. 

9. After deducting non-recurrent set-up costs, what is the average cost of the CALs individual royalty payments to date.

Senator Lundy – The Minister for the Arts has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question: 

1.The total value of royalty collections is $805,115.70. Data is collected on a six monthly basis. 

Period Royalty Collected/Value of Royalties2010 July – December: $26,191.80
2011 January – June: $128,323.80
2011 July – December: $204,811.20
2012 January – June: $153,670.50
2012 July – December: $292,118.40 

2. Since the commencement of the scheme, 59 per cent or $440,042 has been paid to Indigenous right-holders. Actual payment data is only available as a total. A disaggregation would require an unreasonable diversion of resources. 

3. The Department does not have the requested information. 

4. $296,772 

5. 150 

6. 301 payments for 91 right-holders. 

The data below shows the number of payments for each period according to when the eligible resale was reported. 

Period Resale Reported/Number of payments2010 July – December: 17
2011 January – June: 61
2011 July – December: 59
2012 January – June: 76
2012 July – December: 88
Total: 301 

7. $115,379 

8. The scheme allows the collecting society to charge a 10 per cent administration fee on each royalty paid to contribute to the scheme becoming self-sustaining over time. 

9.$30