This text explains the benefits of various collaboration agreements and outlines what should be considered when entering into such collaborations and agreements concerning them.
By: Miika Kärnä, Master of Law, creative industry lawyer, Sound Law Oy
Art can be created alone. You can also promote your art independently.
When art captures the audience’s interest, the resulting sales and use fees can also be collected individually.
The challenge of working solo, in a simplified sense, is that all the tools needed for creating art must also be built by yourself, and the audience reached depends on how many people you can personally inform about your work during your lifetime. However, in practice, nearly everything in professional life happens with the help of others. It is therefore beneficial to connect with professionals from various fields and initiate collaborations. The risk is minimal. Even if nothing materialises immediately, such initiatives may bear fruit later.
This text explains the benefits of various collaboration agreements and outlines what should be considered when embarking on and negotiating the terms of such collaborations.
Before drafting a collaboration agreement, it is essential to clarify your goals and identify what kind of assistance is needed to achieve them. Once this is clear, assess whether the potential collaborator can help reach your goals. Do they possess the necessary qualities, skills and contacts?
You are trying to sell your artwork independently but cannot secure a buyer at your desired price of EUR 1,500. 100% of 0 euros is still 0 euros.
You engage an agent who takes a 30% commission on the sale of your artwork. The agent finds a buyer willing to pay EUR 1,300, resulting in EUR 910 for you after the commission.
The purpose of this simplified example is to illustrate that collaborating with an agent when selling your art may reduce your share of the total revenue, but it often increases the overall income, making the financial outcome more favourable. In such cases, collaboration is therefore beneficial.
“I haven’t signed the contract yet”, is something I often hear in my legal work. However, the parties may have already been collaborating for some time, with mutual contributions. In such cases, a shared intent and some form of agreement exist. The problem is that in such activity-based agreements, the parties may interpret the purpose, duration and responsibilities of the collaboration differently.
In practice, all economic activities involve another person or legal entity (companies, public bodies, associations), and some form of agreement is therefore always present.
When you exhibit your art or sell your expertise, there is no doubt that you have entered into an agreement with someone. The question is: what have you agreed on?
Agreements are based on mutual consent. Without shared intent, no agreement exists.
A legally binding agreement can be formed:
📝in writing
@electronically
verbally
based on the activity of the parties
If there is mutual intent to accomplish something, the method of agreement affects how likely it is that the parties and external entities understand the rights and obligations similarly. From experience, the likelihood decreases, unresolved disputes increase, and the predictability of official decisions diminishes as one moves down the list of agreement methods.
For financially significant collaborations, I advise creating a written agreement based on the objectives and consulting a professional if there is any uncertainty about understanding the terms correctly.
In summary, written agreements not only provide legal protection and clarity in collaboration but also promote effective cooperation, risk management and success in operations.
Freedom of agreement is a right protected in our legal system, granting individuals over 18 whose legal capacity has not been restricted by court decision the right to enter into binding agreements.
If you belong to this group, freedom of agreement allows you to make binding agreements with any party and on the terms you choose. Conversely, this freedom also gives you the right not to enter into an agreement if the proposed terms are not in line with your goals.
Note that for certain agreements, the legislator has deemed it necessary to limit contractual freedom to protect the so-called weaker party. For example, labour laws contain mandatory provisions that employers and employees cannot override.
Balancing the principle of freedom of agreement in our legal system is the principle of the binding nature of agreements, which means that when you voluntarily enter into an agreement with a party under certain terms, you are bound by it for the agreed duration. The binding nature of agreements is a natural and necessary condition for cooperation and predictability in operations between individuals and legal entities (companies, public bodies, associations). You are entitled to receive the agreed matters, but you are also obligated to fulfil your part. Generally, no personal reason, unless specifically agreed on, alters the binding nature of the agreement you have entered into.
For example, if you have entered into a client agreement with Visual Arts’ Copyright Society Kuvasto, you have granted Kuvasto the exclusive right to collect use fees for your existing and future works throughout their entire protection period (your lifetime plus 70 years) in the following areas:
a. Exhibition fees
b. Production of copies and distribution in printed materials
c. Production of copies and online dissemination to the public
d. Photocopying and similar rights managed by Kopiosto
Therefore, during the validity of the client agreement, you cannot personally collect use fees for your works in areas in which you have transferred management rights to Kuvasto.
