DC Comics announces new creator payment plan, gives colorists cover credit and royalties
Creator rights are an ongoing issue in the comic-book industry, and DC Comics took big steps today to make it a more lucrative destination for work-for-hire talent. Comic Book Resources has posted an e-mail sent to freelance creators from DC co-publishers Dan Didio and Jim Lee, detailing a new payment plan that previews some considerable changes coming on July 1—starting with a new method of determining royalties based on net revenue, rather than cover price. Print and digital sales are now added together, and that sum counts toward reaching the threshold that triggers royalty, or “participation,” payments. There are also no longer separate thresholds for direct market, digital, and newsstand sales, making it easier for creators to reach the sales required for further financial gain.
DC has recently come under fire for its treatment of colorists, and this new payment plan sees the publisher remedying its past mistakes by finally granting “Color Artists” cover credit and royalties for their work. Digital First talent will also be eligible to “receive additional compensation and share financially in the success of their books.” These are the kinds of moves DC needs to make if it is going to secure the strongest talent, and hopefully this financial restructuring will reap creative rewards.
Didio and Lee’s full e-mail:
We have news to share regarding a project we have been working on for some time. We will be rolling out a new, modernized participations payment plan effective July 1, 2014.
DCE’s current participation plan dates back over 30 years and was created for a simpler and very different marketplace. The current plan no longer reflects today’s business landscape where comics are sold in a variety of formats and through a myriad of sales channels. Ultimately we made the decision that the best path forward was to create an entirely new plan that covers new work going forward. Great care and consideration went into building this new participations structure and we feel that it provides both us and all of you with a fair, competitive, and versatile plan for the future.
There are a few significant differences between this new plan and what DCE has offered in the past. Perhaps the biggest difference is that all participations will now be calculated based upon DCE’s net revenue from a book’s sale rather than on the cover price. This change gives us more flexibility to sell our material in new distribution channels that have different pricing models.
In addition, physical and digital sales will no longer be treated separately. Digital sales will now be added to print sales and the sum will count towards achieving the sales threshold which triggers participation payments.