A brand new report  Artists' rights funds in numbers provides for the first time a comprehensive insight into the impact of collectively managed rights funds on artists' finances.

The report was compiled by the Danish Artists' Council and provides a comprehensive overview of how many of the country's professional artists receive royalties.

The figures cover the part of the collectively managed rights funds that are paid directly to individual artists and cultural creators from e.g. Koda, Filmex, Gramex and VISDA for the use of music, film, TV productions and visual art.

68 per cent of all artists receive rights payments

The new data, obtained in collaboration with Statistics Denmark, shows that approximately two-thirds (68%) of artists in Denmark receive collectively managed royalties.

"The role of rights funding has not previously been analysed across all art forms. The figures we present here fill an important gap in the existing knowledge of artists' working conditions," says Søren Bang Jensen, chairperson of the Danish Artists' Council about the report

Proceeds go to new projects

In addition to figures and tables, the report includes interviews with prominent artists who say that rights fees make it possible to develop new creative projects. One of them is musician Asger Techau, who says in the report that rights fees are an important part of the economy behind his work.

Without royalties, I wouldn't be able to afford to create new music. Everyone is playing it safe and looking for the next hit. There's a desperation in the music industry these days, where everyone is fighting to be seen and heard. Without rights funding, I don't think much new, meaningful music would be created in the Danish music industry."

For music artists, royalties account for 43 % of the total income from artistic endeavours. But when the average is broken down by gender, the figures show that men have more rights income than women.

In the interview section of the report, Pernille Rosendal explains how she is experiencing declining rights revenue since the advent of streaming services:

"In my younger days, my music was played a lot and generated a lot of royalties. Today, my income from royalties has dropped sharply. One reason is that the big streaming services pay those of us who created the music far too little for streaming. Another reason is that my music is no longer played as much on the radio. And I have no doubt that the latter is a matter of age."

The Danish Artists' Council's report Artists' rights funds in figures can be downloaded her.

Read news about the report's key figures and data her.