Photo by Neil Soni on Unsplash
Keeping track of intellectual property law is essential for creators – whether photos, writing, editing, drawing, websites, programming, woodworking, etc. If created by mind and hand, knowing the rights and protections related to your income is essential to charging correctly for your labor. How courts interpret intellectual property protection within social media impacts advertising choices in dissemination to the potential audiences.
And last year had a biggee for the visual arts. “Court Rules Photographer Gave Up Exclusive Licensing Rights by Posting on Instagram” (The Hollywood Reporter, Eriq Gardner, April 14, 2020) — link includes the actual court Opinion. – https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/court-rules-photographer-gave-up-licensing-rights-by-posting-instagram-1290170/ (last viewed 4/6/2022)
TL;DR version – By posting on Instagram in public mode, the creator gave Instagram permission to share (with sublicense) content with its users royalty-free. Therefore Mashable could publish (and make money) on the work. In other words, post on media where everyone can see it, you have no content control and lose your intellectual property rights and income. The argument by the defending lawyer is Instagram is the only way to Advertise now-a-days. The answer by the courts is, yes, we see that but too bad.
How do you make a living without giving away samples your work and destroying your income base in the process?
That is the question. For me, it’s doing all my writing in a blog I pay for and control. I post links from Facebook and other social media locations to here. And yes, I know FB and the social medias throttle back posts with links that take you outside their application, thereby killing my ability to reach the audience without paying for advertising. My choice is retaining my intellectual property rights over the ability to create cash inflow.
What do you think? How can you reach an audience without destroying the value of your creativity?