Self-employment is an option when working in any field of art. Visual artists tend to work independently because they usually create works of art for a fee or sell finished paintings. However, stage and costume designers, cabaret artists, and book authors are also usually self-employed. Writers who perform readings or musicians who regularly perform in various concert halls are self-employed, too.

If you are self-employed as an artist, you conclude contracts for work and labour with your clients. If you undertake to produce a specific work in return for payment, this is a contract for work and labour. The only thing that matters is the agreed result. How you achieve this result is—unlike with employment contracts—solely your decision. 

If you conclude a contract for work and labour, you are an entrepreneur and therefore personally independent. The characteristics of a contract for work and labour and self-employment are:

  • You have your own business infrastructure and your own resources (e.g. depending on the type of art, you have a website, a studio, a rehearsal room, a recording studio, your own instruments, your own equipment);
  • You have regularly changing clients;
  • You will not be integrated into any company;
  • You owe a certain success;
  • You have (artistic) creative freedom; you decide for yourself how to achieve this success;
  • You may call in employees or subcontractors;
  • You warrant that your work is free from defects;
  • If your work fails, you are responsible for it. 

Example: You play in a band and an organiser hires you for a concert. Although the venue and time are specified or negotiated, there is no integration into the organisation. In terms of content, you can design the programme yourself with your band and possibly hire a substitute. You and your band members act independently on your own account, and at your own risk. This is a contract for work and labour.

Labour law entitlements

As there is no employment relationship, self-employed workers do not have any labour law entitlements such as holidays or continued payment of remuneration in the event of illness.

However, there are other legal bases that are intended to guarantee that self-employed people are paid appropriately. The Copyright Act is one such example. 

  • If other people wish to use copyrighted works, they must pay the artist a reasonable fee. A fee is reasonable if it corresponds to what is customary and fair in business transactions, taking into account all circumstances for the granted utilisation options.
  • In addition, artists must participate in the resale of their artworks in certain conditions. If auction houses, art dealers, or galleries sell a copyrighted work of art, they must pay a certain percentage of the sales price to the artist if the sales price totals at least €2,500 ("resale right"). 

For detailed information, see the chapter on copyright law. 

According to social security law, there are major differences between employees and self-employed workers. Artists who work on a self-employed basis are generally "new self-employed” people. This means that they are compulsorily insured due to their self-employed activity, without being a member of the Economic Chambers (the statutory legal representative of self-employed people’s interests). For more detailed information, see the chapter on social security.

Do I need a trade licence?

In Austria, there are certain self-employed activities that are classified as trades and thus require a trade licence. For this reason, it is advisable to obtain information from the competent trade authority as to whether a trade licence is required for the intended activity. More detailed provisions can be found in the Austrian Trade Act (GewO)

Need for a trade licence: a trade licence is required for activities that primarily require manual skills. 

  • This means that you practise a arts and crafts. These include, for example, cabinetmakers, blacksmiths, or gilders.
  • People engaged in arts and crafts are compulsory members of the Economic Chambers, the organisation representing the interests of the self-employed ("compulsory membership").
  • People who practise arts and crafts are not considered artists under social security law. The special social security regulations for artists, such as benefits from the Artists' Social Insurance Fund, therefore do not apply to them. You can find out which special social security regulations apply to artists in the chapter on social security. 

No trade licence required: you do not need a trade licence for certain activities for which artistic skills are predominantly important. 

  • The artistic, "creative" activity is therefore in the foreground (e.g. works of visual art, plays, pieces of music).
  • This creative, intellectual activity is in the public interest. It should therefore enjoy a certain degree of state independence and be exercised with as little control and influence as possible.
  • Artists who are self-employed and do not exercise a trade are considered to be "new self-employed" under social security law. They do not have to be members of the legal representation of interests (the Economic Chambers).
  • Under insurance law, artists enjoy certain special regulations as "new self-employed" people, such as the option to report their self-employed activity as dormant. See the subchapter on the Artists' Social Insurance Fund.

 

Example: You are a landscape photographer and take artistic photos to sell later. You are classified as "new self-employed" because your artistic, creative activity is in the foreground. You are not a member of the Economic Chambers and do not need a trade licence.

Example: You are a fashion photographer and are commissioned to take photos of models in specified clothing according to a concept determined by the client. You are a commercial photographer and are subject to compulsory membership of the Economic Chambers. You need a trade licence.

 

Why is an artist "new self-employed"?

In Austria, a distinction is made under social security law between three categories of self-employment:

a) "New self-employed” people: this includes people who offer services for which you do not need a trade licence: e.g. artists, journalists, writers.

b) Tradespeople: self-employed people who require a trade licence for their activity, so-called "old" self-employed people.

c) Freelancers: these are people who practise "liberal professions" for which you do not need a trade licence. However, their activities are associated with a high level of responsibility and are of particular public interest (e.g. doctors, pharmacists, lawyers). Rules for these professional groups are regulated in special laws. Freelancers must be members of their own statutory interest groups (e.g. medical association, chamber of pharmacists, bar association).

In the past, only people who were members of statutory interest groups—i.e. only freelancers or tradespeople—were compulsorily insured and covered under social security law. This has changed with the introduction of the "new self-employed": now self-employed people who are not members of a statutory interest group, including artists, are also subject to compulsory pension, health, and accident insurance.