Copyright and Facebook
Tracy left the following comment on my last post and I was going to respond to in the comments but I’m in the middle of moving everything out of my studio and bedrooms and office so they can do carpet today and writing a longer blog post about this seemed like a good diversion.
Facebook’s Image Policy
Be careful about the Facebook transfer. I know that they did have a policy of owning the rights to images that you post, including art images. I pulled mine off of the site. There was quite a backlash about it, including a few high profile news articles, but I don’t know whether they have actually changed anything.
First off – I really appreciate the concern – I love that artists are always looking to help other artists. What an amazing community we have – so thank you Tracy.
Facebook changed their policy back after the uproar and they are working on a new one with input from the user community. I do not view facebook as the bad guys – they were doing a bit of CYA and went a bit overboard then quickly responded to the concerns raised.
I don’t think facebook was ever after owning the copyright on artwork images and even so what could they do with a low resolution small image intended for viewing on a computer? It wouldn’t print very well so it’s not going to take them very far. Facebook is not in the business of marketing or licensing art. They are a software a service provider.
But wow – just imagine for a minute that they were in the business of stealing art and they stole mine and generated a huge buzz and got really rich. Woohoo! Wow – that would mean there is this huge market out there for my work (which really, I know there is, I’m just starting to tap into it). It would just be a matter of a bit of work on my part to jump onto the buzz that they would create.
Images on the Internet
I don’t believe that putting images on facebook is any different than putting them here – if someone wants to steal them and do things with them I do not authorize it’s kinda hard to stop them – it’s the internet. There are risks involved.
There are also risks involved in driving also – but the benefits far far out way them so I take a few precautions (seat belts, being a defensive driver, etc) and hop in my car almost daily.
Same thing with putting my art on the internet. I think the benefits far far outway the risks so I take a few precautions (only post low resolution images, include a copyright notice on my sites and in the descriptions next to all of my images) and upload new art as often as possible.
My thoughts on the subject, not intended as the right way to do things, just my opinion. Everyone has to assess the risks/benefits themselves and take whatever precautions they are comfortable with.
Now back to carrying stuff from Point A to Point B.
Posted by Lisa in: Being an Artist
Tagged: art, benefit, copyright, facebook, risk
Well said, Lisa. I agree 100%.
Hi Lisa,
I was really just trying to inform you about this, not advise you on a course of action. Quite a few artists I know were taken by surprise by Facebook’s policies and did not feel comfortable leaving images on their pages. Myself, I decided to take mine off until they either changed their policy or, at least, declared their intentions for these kinds of images. I confess that I never really followed the story beyond that. It just wasn’t a priority for me to place my images there and I never followed up on it.
I agree about the advantages of posting images on the internet; I have a website and a blog and post images on both. Obviously, I think the benefits outweigh the risk, too.
Thank Nicole.
Tracy, I understand you were just looking to inform me – as I said – it’s great we all look out for each other.
I have to agree with you here, Lisa. I know among my FB friends there was a big uproar. But I think most sites like flickr and shutterfly all have similar statements basically to save their butts in case of a lawsuit over unauthorized use – by anyone. From my very limited understanding of lawsuits, they follow the money. So in a case where someone downloads a picture from FB and uses it in an ad or whatever, and the artist finds out and wants to sue, the artist’s lawyers would follow the money which of course would end up at FB. Like I said, I’m no expert here, but I think that was the intent of the policy. I agree with you that FB is not out to steal low-res images to sell…where?
But wow – just imagine for a minute that they were in the business of stealing art and they stole mine and generated a huge buzz and got really rich. Woohoo! Wow – that would mean there is this huge market out there for my work (which really, I know there is, I’m just starting to tap into it). It would just be a matter of a bit of work on my part to jump onto the buzz that they would create.
Sadly, I don’t quite agree. Suppose the worldwide market for your work was $100. Of that, facebook extracts, say, $35. Not much money in the absolute single transaction sense.
But when facebook does that 50 million times, that’s 1.7 billion dollars. That’s a lot of money. So it could be that facebooks plan is to capitalize on this. Or not, I don’t know.
And in that case, the residual for you might be $65 instead of $100. Fair enough?
Of course, it might be that facebook makes $35 from you, $1.7 billion overall, and your work gets some attention and you make, say, $100k. Which would be a mighty sweet deal for both Facebook and for you, I would say.
It’s hard to know which model to apply.
Lisa, I enjoyed your post and I’m so glad I found your site.
it’s incredibly important that artists never, ever, give away their copyrights, not even to Facebook, who won’t use it for money making purposes. Let’s say Facebook owns the images of Drew Brophy (whom I handle licensing and marketing for), and Drew Brophy is already licensing his images to companies like Converse and Sigg and Wham O. Now, there’s a problem. Drew Brophy signed contracts with those companies stating that he is the sole owner of those copyrights and that he has complete control over those images. This is where the problem lies. The question is not “will Facebook make money off my images” the question is “do I want to lose all rights to my images”, thus creating a breach in contracts I already have with publishers, galleries, licensees, etc.
I always tell artists, protect your copyrights! Because, you need to, 100% of the time, be in control of anything that has your name on it.
I’m glad Facebook changed their policy – this a relief, as we regularly post copyrighted materials on there!
One other thing for artists to watch out for – Online Art Contests. Recently the Flight of the Concords had a great contest for someone to create their poster. When I read the fine print, it stated that they would own ALL the entries, 100% of the copyrights, and can do whatever they want with it. All artists should be wary of this. Your art is your brand – it’s you. You aren’t going to change your new and your style later – it’s you forever. If an artist has a distinctive style that is easily recognized, and they give away the copyrights and no longer have control, it can hurt them later.
I’ve had first hand experience with these things, so now I’m very careful!
I’m 100% with you on this issue Lisa. If I was worried about people stealing my images, I’d be more leary about what I post on my blog. I don’t think FB has any intention of selling my art – they just wanted to cover their butts. I’ve been thinking a lot of the outrage over this is much ado about nothing. Easily solved by not posting high res images.
There’s a huge difference between being protected with a copyright and being able to sue for damages. Some quick points about copyright:
1. Your work is copyrighted the instant you finish it. It is yours unless you deliberately give it away. (Unless the Orphan Bill passes).
2. The government will not pursue a violation of copyright for you. You must hire your own lawyer. That’s how laws are made in the US–lawsuits. Sigh.
3. You don’t HAVE to register your work for you to own the copyright.
HOWEVER, if you don’t register it, you don’t have the right to sue for damages. You can only sue for the violation. For example, someone steals your image and uses it in a newspaper ad. You can sue the violator for the cost of the ad space in the newspaper. That’s it. If you register your artwork, you can sue for damages–the worth of your artwork.
4. The good news: you can register all your artwork once a quarter for one fee, $45, I think. You put it on a CD, fill out the paperwork, and send it in.
5. Better news: Check out creativecommons.org A more flexible, realistic ways to protect yourself and allow use of your artwork.
Sorry this ran long.
i short, i agree with you. it is what it is. if i go way back i remember concern with leaving my portfolio for review after an interview. i got over it because i needed to. as an artits i think it is as important to believe in your ability to keep creating as much as leaning on what you have done before. besides who could steal the look of lisa call with out everyone knowing?
It is a weird possibility – that FB or other internet activity could compromise one’s work potential. That said, I don’t buy into paranoia either. I’m glad FB decided to reassess. I’m in the process of attempting to delete a bit of my web presence – I spread too many seeds in the beginning.
Thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts on this matter. Lots of good info for each artist to think about and what what works best for them.
Can you say a bit more about “upload new art as often as possible”? Were you talking about protecting your copyright or something else? Thanks.