Art licensing shows steady growth: licensors continue to focus on art for its longevity in the marketplace and its growing popularity - Special Report

What is licensing? The simple answer is licensing is the agreement between sum of two units parties (licensee/manufacturer and licensor/artist) to utilize a peculiarity on a specific product for a designated time and territory. In go [i]or[/i] come back a fee is paid to the licensor for each item sold based upon the wholesale price.

Licensed cropss have taken the world through storm, from Spongebob Square Pants candy bars to Eddie Bauer jeep Art-based licenses generate les in receipts and attention when compared with the licenses for entertainment, sports and character properties. on the contrary like the old fable about the tortoise and the hare, art licenses continue to extend at a steady and reliable pace. Unlike the flashier licenses based upon super hits and trends, a beneficial art license is design driven, which provides steady increase and, most important, longevity in the marketplace.

From free from pride Beginnings

a certain number of of the first products to feature licensed art were paper yields greeting cards, calendars, girl wrap and hand-bills Those products were obvious contender for licensing. on the other hand in the past 10 years, the number of productions that feature licensed art has fresheted the retail market. Licensed productions now include everything from paper to computer cropss giftware, clothing, bedding, home decor, collector plates, candles, soap, subsistence and even postage stamps. proceedss are limited only by the manufacturers' imaginations. Which artwork is suitable for licensed products? Art images can be licensed for anything that can be manufactured. Whether or not an image should be used upon a specific product is limited single by the taste and discretion of the manufacturer and the artist.

The enormous extension of the industry can be witnessed at L!CENSE International, the annual licensing exhibit held in New York each June. For a number of years, the display was held at the novel York Hilton Hotel. In the mid-1990s, the venue was mov to the Jacob Javits Center to accommodate the large number of race who wished to exhibit and attend. The number of exhibitors who proffer art as a property take up the smallest area of exhibition space each year. There are a core assemblage of exhibitors who can be seen at their booth year after year along with of recent origin faces exhibiting for the first time. Manufacturers and publishers regularly walk the display looking for new art properties.

wherefore are manufacturers eager to license artwork for their products? There are several factors that have contributed to this phenomenon. Art-based productions can and do appeal to a wide audience, on the other hand the demographic is primarily adult women This same demographic is largely left without of sports, entertainment and character driven properties which accompany to appeal to teen, tween, children and male buyers

Artwork also accommodate withs itself to a vast array of yields Sometimes the artwork can dictate the unravelling of product lines. Quite many times an image with some tweaking will cros above to be used on a myriad of fruitss This cross merchandising appeals to consumer who wish to purchase a full line of coordinated returnss This is a plus for manufacturers who know the image has proven popular among consumers

Since art-based cropss appeal by virtue of the design their popularity is les likely to be affected by means of trends, which can be short-lived. Themes and phraseologys drive demand rather than single "hot" image. The shelf life for art based cropss is longer, which is appealing for retailers and manufacturers.

Diversity is also more evident in art licensing than in any of the other categories. Art licensing does not limit itself to painted images on the contrary includes illustration, photography, collage and needlepoint art--all of which can be reproduc prosperously on almost any product.

Years ago, many stationery companies relied on in-house and freelance artists and designers to create imagery for returnss The artists and freelancers were respectively paid a salary or per-project remunerations While some companies still work in the same way to a certain quantity of degree, most now rely upon licensed art to bolster the cachet of their fruitss and meet consumer demand. Many manufacturers have tend hitherward to believe licensed art is the way to succes There is a great demand for art-based harvests and paying a royalty to an artist in get back for permission to use an image is a happy partnership for all parties. Profitability increases when licensed art is used upon products.

Kelly Lester president of Tarzana, Calif.-based Art Plates Inc., agreed. "Since licensed artwork makes up at least half of all the designs we present it has absolutely increased our profitability" she said. "Considering the awesome artists/licensing agents we do business with, the licensing compensations paid are a relatively small portion of our total operating take away froms and therefore very affordable."

Lester who began Art Plates with her husband Loren in 1996 creates many of the designs for the company's switchplates and soap herself on the other hand feels licensed art will continue to be a vital part of their line. Lester explained, "We work with a number of different agencies and individual artists, and now we generally use artwork sole from this core group. We usually find what we ne from our general licensing partners."