During the week my positive impressions of the current Australian government were severely damaged when I found out the government was actually considering a resale royalty model that is nothing like the UK model.
When the Australian government announced that they would be introducing a resale royalty for artists I was extremely impressed and excited to say the least. Although there are many people in the art market who view the resale right as a major threat to the thickness of their wallets but as far as I am concerned there is a much bigger picture to consider which I have written about previously. Because of the success of the resale right in the UK as implemented by DACS, I and many other people presumed that the resale model implemented in Australia would be pretty much the same as the UK with a few minor tweaks to suit the Australian market.
Unfortunately during the week my positive impressions of the current Australian government were severely damaged when I found out the government was actually considering a resale royalty model that is nothing like the UK model and would severely limit the royalties able to be collected by established artists. The model being considered would limit artworks eligible for a resale royalty to those that had been created after the implementation of the resale royalty in 2009. This would mean that pretty much all artists other than those who do not have a secondary market for their work would have limits placed on the works which they could collect a resale royalty. Of greatest concern would be the impact this model would have on the Australian Aboriginal artists who are the ones that are most deserving and most in need of the royalty. There are many elderly Australian Aboriginal artists who would benefit greatly along with their community from receiving the royalty yet would be virtually excluded from the right if this ridiculous post resale implementation creation date model is implemented. At the very least the model implemented in Australia needs to include all works created by living artists.
I would like to hear your thoughts on the resale right so I have devised some questions below that you can answer in the comments section below. If you are reading this post on another website other than the Art Market Blog please go here to post your comments.
1. Do you think that the resale right in the UK should be extended to include deceased artists who are still in copyright?
2. Do you believe that UK dealers would take their business overseas to countries where the resale right does not exist if the resale right in the UK is extended to include deceased artists?
3. Is there another resale model that you think would satisfy both the artists and the dealers?
**Nicholas Forrest is an art market analyst, art critic and journalist based in Sydney, Australia. He is the founder of
http://www.artmarketblog.com, writes the art column for the magazine Antiques and Collectibles for Pleasure and Profit and contributes to many other publications
