New marketplace The Podium designed to help Australian artists missing out on resale royalties

For a long time, artists have lost out on money when their was was sold on. But a new market platform will change that.

Only 1.5 per cent of the top artists represented by Australia’s largest online art site had ever received the national Copyright Agency’s resale royalty for their work, a new survey found.

Online gallery Bluethumb’s managing director Edward Hartley has likened the royalty scheme to “lost super” for artists.

“The volume of art sells for well below $1000,” Mr Hartley said. “It means a lot of art falls outside the resale royalty scheme.”

Bluethumb has now set up its own secondary marketplace, The Podium, which will pay artists 10 per cent of the resale price when their works are traded by collectors on the site – double the official 5 per cent royalty fee.

In a survey of its top 1000 artists, who have collectively sold more than $20m of work, Bluethumb found 98.5 per cent had never received a resale royalty, despite 33 per cent knowing or believing their work had been resold.

Mr Hartley said works had to sell for more than $1000 and meet other criteria to qualify for the Copyright Agency’s resale royalty scheme, which mostly applied to auction houses and commercial galleries.

Bluethumb CEO and co-founder Edward Hartley. Picture: Keryn Stevens

Auctioneers could also charge as much as a 25 per cent buyer’s premium, and take another 17.5 per cent from the seller.

“Typically, 42.5 per cent is going to auction house, which is a huge amount,” Mr Hartley said.

“We are taking only 10 per cent commission from the sale, and also taking out 10 per cent which is then paid by us to the artist.”

If the sale meets the existing royalty criteria, Bluethumb will pay 5 per cent through the Copyright Agency scheme and the other 5 per cent direct to the artist.

“It’s a huge change, in the sense that it is the first time that art will be sold directly from collectors to collectors,” Mr Hartley said.

Since 2010, the Copyright Agency has distributed more than $9.8 million in resale royalties – of which 80 per cent were for between $50 and $500 – to 2195 artists or their estates.

More than 65 per cent of the recipients were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander artists, who accounted for 38 per cent of the money distributed.

The Podium will resell works by artists represented on Bluethumb from October, and will expand to pay royalties to other artists sold on The Podium in late December.

“It’s been a long time coming for us, because our whole ethos, our mandate and our mission is helping artists build sustainable income,” Mr Hartley said.

Five-time Archibald Prize finalist Kym Leutwyler has sold her paintings through Bluethumb since 2013 and is now also represented by commercial galleries in her home city Sydney and Chicago in the US.

“I’ve never received anything through the resale royalties scheme,” Ms Leutwyler said.

“I don’t actually know if my work has ever been sold on the secondary art market – there is no catalyst or database to inform me about that.

“I’m excited about The Podium, because in theory then you will have a really clear understanding of what collections your work is moving to, and the life that your work has taken on.”

Of the 6000 original works sold on Bluethumb in the past three months, only 14 per cent were priced about $1000 and would have qualified for the official royalty scheme if resold.

There will be no minimum resale price for works to receive the 10 per cent artist payment on The Podium.

“At a minimum, artists are six times more likely to get the resale scheme,” Mr Hartley said.

Bluethumb started in Brisbane but was bought in 2012 by Adelaide accountant Mr Hartley and his Melbourne-based brother George, who is an app designer.

It now represents more than 15,000 emerging and established Australian artists, including some from 25 remote Indigenous art centres.