DACS

[jerry12953]

Anyone else get a nice DACS-shaped surprise in their bank account this morning?

It must be the easiest money in the world of photography these days.

 

[Graham W]

Yup.

 

[Ian W]

A what now?

 

[jerry12953]

DACS - it's a payment you get semi-automatically every year once you have applied for it. It is a lump sum in lieu of individual payments for your work once it has been published and thus been made available for photocopying, etc.

https://www.dacs.org.uk/

 

[Graham W]

You have to give proof of publication. Books and magazines only, newspapers and websites don't count.

 

[viewfromthenorth]

Not this year, although given how spectacularly unhelpful Alamy have been in the past with informing me and helping me, I'm probably not missing out on much.

 

[jerry12953]

Not this year, although given how spectacularly unhelpful Alamy have been in the past with informing me and helping me, I'm probably not missing out on much.

Haven't you supplied pics directly to publishers yourself?

 

[Graham W]

That's one of the problems, keeping track of where your images are used. I often licence pics out which include use as press releases, if they are used in a magazine I can count them, but only if I know about them.
Next year I should be in the next threshold for book use.

 

[jerry12953]

Most of mine have been published in my own books so I have ready made reminder of how many have been used!

 

[viewfromthenorth]

Haven't you supplied pics directly to publishers yourself?

Only once for a book, and a few times for magazines. However, I have a few hundred images with Alamy, so they deal with it via DACS but unless you pay Alamy a large percentage to sort it their customer service are unhelpful to say the least in my experience.

 

[jerry12953]

Do you get a DACS payment from Alamy for the work they have placed on your behalf? Some agencies do this, although it is a bit controversial. They take a cut which means less dosh is available for individual creators.

 

[viewfromthenorth]

Do you get a DACS payment from Alamy for the work they have placed on your behalf? Some agencies do this, although it is a bit controversial. They take a cut which means less dosh is available for individual creators.

Can't remember now. From memory, Alamy contacted me saying I'd had some sales, and to register with DACS, which I did. But when I tried to find out which images had sold, Alamy were of little use and encouraged me to pay them to apply for my money.

 

[jerry12953]

Can't remember now. From memory, Alamy contacted me saying I'd had some sales, and to register with DACS, which I did. But when I tried to find out which images had sold, Alamy were of little use and encouraged me to pay them to apply for my money.

Doesn't sound too good at all.

 

[SFTPhotography]

I think with Alamy the prices are so horrifically low now its largely academic...

Once you build the balance up you can just withdraw it directly to your bank acct via FPS.