Artists Rights Society

The Artists Rights Society (ARS) is a rights licensing organization that acts “…on behalf of our members to streamline the process for reviewing and approving or rejecting requests for reproduction.” It is “…the preeminent copyright, licensing, and monitoring organization for visual artists in the United States. Founded in 1987, ARS represents the intellectual property rights interests of over 30,000 visual artists and estates of visual artists from around the world (painters, sculptors, photographers, architects and others).

ARS' membership derives from two sources. First, ARS represents American artists who become its direct adherents and it represents foreign artists who are members of affiliated arts organizations abroad…ARS is also a member of CISAC (Confédération Internationale des Sociétés d’Auteurs et Compositeurs), the Paris-based, umbrella organization which oversees the activities of international copyright collecting societies in all media. As part of this international network of rights organizations, ARS maintains relationships with like-minded "sister societies" abroad. Through reciprocal agreements ARS represents the artist repertories of its foreign sister societies in the U.S., and they in turn represent ARS' American repertory in their territories.”

There is no fee for membership. The revenue structure is stated as follows:

“Revenues received by ARS from reproduction and
license fees are remitted to members or their
designated representatives on a semi-annual basis.
Payments to our members are accompanied by a
report detailing the title of the work utilized, the
name of the publisher or manufacturer, the nature
of the usage, and the sum collected for same. ARS
retains a minor percentage to cover its
administrative costs. All the non-revenue producing
work done by ARS, such as lobbying, policing
and prevention, is done at its own expense, and none
is apportioned to the artist. Artists need to bear in
mind that ARS is not an agent and does not
promote the sale of artists’ works, nor does it
perform the functions of a gallery or assist our
members in finding a gallery.”

There is a database available to view all of the artists that are represented, as well as a listing of their most requested artists and a listing of their represented American artists.

To learn more about the benefits of membership and services provided, visit the web site:
http://www.arsny.com/