Episode 20 - Art Licensing Is A Business
Rule number one, art licensing is a business.
Throughout your licensing career, you will meet some amazing people. You will connect and build relationships with them. You will build trust. However, remember, art licensing is a business. As long as your art is selling products for them, they will keep working with you, but if the sales of your licensed products decline, don’t be surprised if they stop working with you. The key is to not take it personal.
There must be trust on the part of both licensee and licensor. They trust you to provide them art in a timely manner and you trust them to sell the product and pay your royalty on time. You are business partners in a sense so there has to be trust.
Over the past 18 years of licensing my art, I have made a few mistakes…..ok, more than a few, but from each one I gained knowledge and experience. In this video, I share my experience with my first licensee and how that relationship taught me a valuable lesson about business.
Thinking back on this experience, I almost laugh at my naivety. There are many glaring signs that point to my licensee as the infringers upon my rights as an artist. At the time, had I taken my feelings and emotions out of the equation and looked at this logically from a business point of view, I would have seen it.
Lesson learned, my friends. I hope you can learn from my mistake.
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