What is Art Licensing ?

I'm often asked what is art licensing and my quick answer is that "I loan my art to manufacturers so that they can put it on their product(s)." Of course, it is more complicated than that and the word "loan" is very important because the manufacturer doesn't keep the art. They only use it for a certain period of time, on a certain type of product(s), and in a certain part of the world depending upon the terms of the contract. The beauty of licensing is that the artist gets a fee (either royalties on products sold or a flat fee for the loan of the art) and keeps the copyright so that she/he can license it to another manufacturer for a different type of product. Thus, it is possible to have multiple streams of income from one piece of art.