Smartphone owners could be slapped with new 'levy' from Labour
Labour could introduce a "smartphone levy" to try and help creatives survive an artificial intelligence (AI) threat. An open letter to the new Labour Party Culture Secretary also proposes a "freelancers’ commissioner" to champion the cause of the low-paid in creative industries.
More than 4,000 artists have called on the government to create a levy on smartphone sales. This can then be used to fund visual art in the face of cuts, studio closures and the rise of generative AI, the letter - sent to Lisa Nandy - explains.
“Despite this, many … visual artists, particularly freelancers, are among the creative industry’s lowest earners,” the letter says. “We must address these disparities and support these essential workers," the letter has explained to Ms Nandy.
It wants to set up a “smart fund”, backed by the Design and Artists Copyright Society (Dacs), which collects royalties and manages artists’ rights, and the Contemporary Visual Arts Network. It could generate about £300m a year through a small levy on sales of smartphones, computers, tablets and other devices that can share creative content.
The letter said: “Artists have been unsupported for too long, and the new government has the opportunity to put this right – by investing in creative education, by supporting freelance artists, and by enabling new spaces for the creation of art, across the UK.”
Christian Zimmermann, Dacs’s chief executive, said arts venues face challenges from “the dramatic reduction in culture spending by local governments, and the reduction in funding streams supporting independent artists, to the rise of generative AI that threatens the copyright and livelihoods of visual artists."
He said: "UK artists need robust support to continue creating the works that enrich all our lives.” Lindsay Seers, whose installations have been shown at Tate Britain, said: “Artists are free-funding their own works.
“Thousands of artists are being trained and they’re basically being led up the garden path because they just won’t be able to survive.”