Recently many artists and craft workers have been approached by an organisation called Vi$copy. These approaches have had some artists believe that George Orwell's Big Brother and 1984 are really happening. However, this is not the case. The aims of this article are to explain what Vi$copy is, who may become a member, how it may assist artists in reliving some of the commercialisation burdens and how it allows artists to concentrate on creativity.

Vi$copy is a company limited by guarantee and established as a collecting society for visual artists. All artists have the right to claim fees for the use of their images under the copyright laws, but few have obtained payment for the use of their images. Vi$copy collect fees for artists from the publication of the artist's work, in catalogues, magazines, newspapers, television, cinema and all other forms of electronic and print media.

Membership in Vi$copy is open to all artists, painters, craftspeople, sculptors, photographers, designers, illustrators, cartoonists and graphic artists. There are no membership fees but by joining you agree to allow Vi$copy to negotiate the use of your visual work.

Vi$copy provides the following services:

1. A central contact point for copyright users to locate artists and obtain permission to reproduce their work.
2. A standard scale of fees that artists should be asking for when allowing reproduction of their work.
3. To ensure that your work is professionally managed they will negotiate the use of your work with any party wishing to use your work.

If you are Ken Done (or another successful artist), already negotiating the use of your copyrights under license then the Vi$copy management service may not be for you. If you are an artist or craftsperson which is unsure of how to commercialise your work, or would rather have someone else negotiate the license, then the Vi$copy management service is for you. Vi$copy will collect fees for you as an artist whenever your work is reproduced in magazines, catalogues, newspapers and electronic media such as CD-Rom.

In addition, as part of the management service, Vi$copy will do the administrative work for you to ensure that you are paid under the licensing arrangements; this includes sending invoices and debt collection notices to ensure you are paid. Vi$copy can also collect fees for the use of your work through photocopying in schools and universities.

The fees charged by Vi$copy, to an organisation wishing to use your work, will be by royalties in line with the standard scale.

If you already have some agreements in place these will not be affected by joining Vi$copy as you can state any existing agreements are to be excluded, and you can also limit the use of your work. Vi$copy will approach you with each query for the use of your work, and you can decide the extent of the use of this work. In all agreements Vi$copy will negotiate to ensure the quality of your work is maintained and stipulate that the proofs of the reproductions are required before publication to ensure quality. You may stipulate that wherever possible overprinting, cropping or image manipulation will not be allowed without your permission.

Vi$copy does not have the ownership of your copyright. You the artist retain the copyright in your work and retain the ultimate right to negotiate and use your work as best suits your needs. This is an important issue because the perception has been that Vi$copy takes control of the artist's copyright by an assignment. This is not the case because, you the artist remain the copyright owner.

When you join you agree to appoint Vi$copy as the exclusive agent to administer your reproduction rights. This appointment is similar to a manager being appointed to run a band. Your reproduction rights are the right to use your work in any visual form including transmission over any broadcasting transmission over any broadcasting medium. You can still retain control of the work as you still retain copyright ownership. Your copyright ownership means your permission must be given before any reproduction of your work can take place.

Vi$copy is affiliating with similar organisations overseas, which means that it will be able to license the works of foreign artists and arrange for the overseas licensing agreements for Australian artists.

This organisation is not for profit and earns its fees through charging a percentage as an administration fee on the royalties it receives for artists from the contracts negotiated by it and services provided. Any surplus received from these fees over the actual costs of running the organisation are then fed back into the organisation. Vi$copy uses the surplus funds for the benefit of artists, through education projects, lobbying for changes to legislation and other benefits for artists.

Vi$copy is not to be feared, it is an organisation which is designed to assist artists achieve the full benefit from their creativity. It will enable artists to become aware of the use of their work and to obtain royalties from the publication of their work. This should be welcomed and supported by artists, not evaded, as the aim is to benefit you.