Licensing Fee

Merch licensing · Royalty threshold

System-brokered merchandising rights that let brands sell crawler likenesses while the crawler earns nothing.

Story so far

Zev lays out the economics when Donut demands her cut of the Donut Holes merch. Brands pay a licensing fee for a crawler's likeness, which makes even a fan club selling cartoons of a cat's backside a perfectly legitimate operation.

The crawler sees none of it by default. Hit the Tenth Floor and you receive a stipend and may negotiate a small — Zev stresses, really small — percentage of the licensing fee. Above a sales threshold, a percentage kicks in automatically, but Zev does not know what the threshold is and doubts anyone has ever approached it: not Remex, not Odette, not Ntumba, because the bar was set deliberately high in anticipation of crawlers becoming popular.

Role

The commercial machinery that monetizes crawlers' images without paying them.

Relationships

Zev — Explains the fee structure and thresholds to Donut.

Donut — Wants her percentage and is told she has not earned one yet.

Donut Holes — Paid the fee, legitimizing their merchandise.

Tenth Floor — The milestone that unlocks any negotiating power at all.

Sources — 1 recorded facts, by chapter

Chapter 11

System-brokered merchandising rights that let brands sell crawler likenesses while the crawler earns nothing.