# Paying royalties to musical artists



## Oceans11 (Aug 7, 2009)

Hello everyone, this is my very first post & I can't believe I actually found a forum that's dedicated to the T-shirt industry but I'm glad I did some research first. 

I'd like to start my own t-shirt business & this came from my own encounter of seeing a lack of t-shirts depicting images of musical artists in "candid" or natural shots like the famous John Lennon I Love NY shirt. Or Miles Davis "A Kind of Blue" trumpet playing shirt. 

I'm almost certain this has to do with legalities & royalties but is there like an all in one legal shop you can go to, pay one time & start cranking out shirts with musical artists on them or do you have to contact EACH & EVERY artist you plan to do a t-shirt about. 

Obviously faster & easier is better however I don't have a problem with contacting each one. 

I plan on starting with about 2 dozen artists first & see how well they sell & then go from there. 

Any wisdom would be greatly appreciated!


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## veedub3 (Mar 29, 2007)

Oceans11 said:


> I'm almost certain this has to do with legalities & royalties but is there like an all in one legal shop you can go to, pay one time & start cranking out shirts with musical artists on them or do you have to contact EACH & EVERY artist you plan to do a t-shirt about.


You will need permission from each artist. I would think the cost to accomplish this feet would be astronomical.

Katrina


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## Oceans11 (Aug 7, 2009)

veedub3 said:


> You will need permission from each artist. I would think the cost to accomplish this feet would be astronomical.
> 
> Katrina


You are quite possibly right. Maybe that's why you don't see a lot of shirts floating around like this. Thanks for your input.


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## mikelmorgan (Nov 1, 2008)

I print Elvis shirts for one of my contract customers, He paid a bundle for the rights and has to pay a percentage of sales to boot. They have to approve every print before production also. I do quite a bit of licensed products for him and it is no small task getting the license.


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