Licensing

Viscopy manages the rights in artistic works on behalf of the artists (and their beneficiaries) who create them. We do this by providing copyright licensing services to customers in Australia and New Zealand who wish to reproduce or communicate copies of art works. Art works can be used in a wide variety of ways including in books, on websites, greeting cards and posters, in newspapers, magazines, television, exhibition catalogues, merchandise, advertising and film. Viscopy provides licensing services to customers working in all of these sectors.

Viscopy represents over 8,000 Australian and New Zealand artists and around 40,000 international artists through our international partners.

The Viscopy licensing team can guide you through the licensing process, provide advice and quotes and suggest the right licence to meet your needs.

How do I license works through Viscopy? 

1. Search - Check if the artist whose work you want to copy is a Viscopy member using our online member search.
   

2. Request - Once the artist has been found, follow the ‘submit request’ link, or alternatively contact our licensing department for a quote by email: licensing@viscopy.org.au or by phone on: 02 9310 2018. You can view the information we need for a request on the ‘submit request’ page.
   

3. Licence - Once you accept the quotation Viscopy will issue a licence. The licence fee needs to be paid within 14 days of issue or before the copy is made (whichever is sooner). We will advise you of how the artist wishes to be identified in a by-line which will need to be included with the copy.

Why do I need a licence?

Under Australian law, the owner of the copyright in an artistic work has the exclusive right to reproduce, publish and communicate the work to the public; for example by printing it in a book or showing it on a website.

If you want to copy art works which are protected by copyright, you need to receive permission from the copyright owner (who is usually, but not always, the artist).

If the copyright owner is a Viscopy member you can apply directly to us for permission. If permission is granted, we will issue a licence which will state how you may use the work according to certain terms and conditions.

No permission is necessary if copyright has expired or a special exception applies.

Our charges

75% of the licensing royalties we collect in  Australia and New Zealand (and 90% of the royalties we collect from overseas) is paid to artists. The remaining 25% (10% on overseas royalties) is retained by Viscopy to cover the costs of providing our services.