Thank you for these questions @Toris64.
I have broken down answers to all 3 below:
Firstly, I though it might be of interest to hear a little more about how royalty payments work. The royalty is fixed on all works. If a sale is complete, royalties are set using our payment partner Stripe and paid out to artists on a quarterly basis. We have an extensive database that allows us to directly reach every artist or their management whose works are listed on FairArt. An artist does not need to be signed up to the platform to receive royalties, we do all the grunt work for them.
1 We will continue to pay out royalties to an artist’s estate for a period of 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the artist died. After this time, all royalties will be donated to an arts charity. In the unlikely event that an artist does not have an estate, the royalties will be donated to an arts charity. We currently only have contemporary artists on FairArt and there is little risk of the scenario playing out for the foreseeable future.
2 All artists on FairArt have been hand selected by the team and we have a means of contacting them directly, or in the case of somebody like Banksy or Blu, we have an address for their management on file. If royalties go unclaimed for a 12 month period after the initial point of contact, the funds will be donated to an arts charity.
3 We’ve been working on FairArt for a number of years, and it would feel like an immense waste of time if within just a few months of launching, our entire ‘raison d’être’ was proven to be a lie.
A number of artists are already aware of the platform and have taken part in interviews for our Instagram page - it wouldn’t take long for them to start calling us out publicly if we weren’t telling the truth about royalties. We are a limited company and would also be in serious breach of the The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations if we failed to pay out royalties as promised at the end of this month.
Royalties are paid out on a quarterly basis and the first payout cycle will take place at the end of this month. We cannot share our private communications with artists, but all past sales are readily available to view on the site and you can of course get in touch with the relevant artists to ensure they have received their royalty payments.
I fully appreciate that our approach is unorthodox, and that some will inevitably be sceptical at first. I hope the above has given you greater assurance, but equally happy to discuss this further if needed and open to suggestions.
Thanks,
Nick
