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Artists Charge

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Anonymous

Can someone offer some advice on what a "standard" (if that is the right term) royalty percentage would be for an artist who does your board game artwork? This would be for someone who only wants a percentage of game sales with no other compensation. Also...what would the percentage be based on?

braincog
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Joined: 12/31/1969
Artists Charge

I don't believe that there are many examples that would suggest any "standard" for artists working only for royalties.

But if you're trying to figure out a percentage (probably based on net receipts) that is reasonable, figure out how much you'd have to pay this artist in order for them to do all the work for a fee rather than a royalty. Then determine how many games you are likely to sell in the first year. Multiply that by your game's retail price, and then be sure to account for wholesaler or retailer discounts if you plan to sell to those folks rather than to your customers directly (plan a 60% discount for wholesale). This is very roughly your net receipts (ignoring shipping costs, marketing, etc.) Figure out what percent of this amount would get the artist their regular fee. Then probably double or triple that to account for time value of money and the risk premium associated with the unfortunate liklihood that you won't sell as many as you thought you would.

Of course, this is just to get you started in negotiations. You can pull numbers out the air quite easily to justify increasing or decreasing the percentage. So in the end, it's just a matter of both agreeing to something that sounds fair to both of you.

gpetersz
gpetersz's picture
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Joined: 02/18/2009
Artists Charge

As an artist I can only second. A x2 or x3 for the normal rate is fair for taking the risk of getting none.

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