ROYALTIES FOR ARTISTS

The Arts Law Centre is urging artists who sell their work to make sure the image is also registered with the Copyright Agency so they get a royalty if it is sold again.

“We have resale royalty in Australia which means if an artist’s work is sold for a second time on the secondary art market and it’s sold for more than $1,000 through an art gallery or an auction house, then the artist is automatically entitled to five per cent of the value of the painting, which is wonderful,” she said.

“But you do need to be registered with the Copyright Agency for resale royalty to get that because otherwise they don’t know who the artist is,”

Ms Robertson said people who sold their art through Aboriginal Arts Centres had their work automatically registered, but independent artists needed to do this themselves.

She is part of a team currently visiting the Pilbara.