Copyright for Visual Artists

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Free Culture Links

• Creative Commons Creative Commons, the granddaddy of the free culture movement on the web. Free culture advocates belive that culture should be free. Creative Commons has established a series of licenses that artists can use to release the rights to their work. Date Posted: April 2009
• Lewis Hyde Hyde writes eloquently on the cultural heritage common to all humanity, and why it should not be commercialized. Date Posted: April 2009
• Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business Wired magazine's Chris Anderson explores the low, low price tag of pixels: "It's now clear that practically everything Web technology touches starts down the path to gratis, at least as far as we consumers are concerned."
  There is a voracious demand for free music, books and art: "The huge psychological gap between "almost zero" and "zero" is why micropayments failed."
      Traditional economics is based on financial exchanges in an environment of scarcity. In the digital world, bandwidth, storage and content (thanks to those who give away their creative work for free) are for all intents and purposes unlimited. It stands to reason that if there is a nearly unlimited supply of free artwork, why should anyone pay for it? According to Anderson, in the digital world reputation and attention are scarce and therefore of value, although a business model has not yet been established to exploit their profit making potential. (Source: Wired Magazine, Feb 08)Date Posted: April 2009
• Why do I give my photos away for free?Photographer Lan Bui explains why he gives his photos away for free. Date Posted: April 2009
• Should I work for Free?Photographer Gary Crabbe says "no". He has a great metaphor for the "exposure" that is often offered by companies who don't want to pay for your work: "The best way to think of an offer of “exposure” in exchange for your time, effort, and talent, is to picture yourself standing naked on a wind-swept Alaskan glacier in winter. That is exposure."
  On a related note, see his article on the microstock agency Fotolia which is now offering a quarter of a million photos for free.
  http://www.enlightphoto.com/views/2009/05/21/thud.htm Date Posted: May 2009
• Help, the price of information has fallen and it can't get up In 1997 Clay Shirky claimed that when the price of information bottoms out, "whole categories of currently lucrative businesses will be either transfigured unrecognizably or completely wiped out, and there is nothing anyone can do about it."
  In 2009 many major newspapers in North America fell victim to these economic realities. In addition to this, professional photographers are facing financial hardship as talented amateurs willing give their work away for free.Date Posted: April 2009
• Understanding Free ContentThis site has well designed graphics depicting how "people can now make perfect copies of digital content for free. That's why they expect content to be free because it is in fact free." This site offers the commonly held argument that downloading copyrighted content and using it without permission is OK because what you are downloading is not tangible (it's just pixels).
• Why do Visual Artists Work for Free? or, why visual artists are poor and plumbers are not. Should visual artists work for free? Why visual artists are regularly expected to work for free while other workers are paid. Date Posted: April 2009
• Public KnowledgeA direct quote from their site: "Our first priority is to promote innovation and the rights of consumers." They also work to maintain the public domain and support fair use.
  While I agree that the rights of consumers should be supported, we need to find a way to do with without damaging the economic rights of the people who create the visual art consumers enjoy.Date Posted: April 2009
• Free Culture NewsA blog commenting on intellectual property news that "promotes the public interest in intellectual property".Date Posted: April 2009
• Freeculture.org - Students for free cultureQuote from the manifesto page: "We will make, share, adapt, and promote open content. We will listen to free music, look at free art, watch free film, and read free books. All the while, we will contribute, discuss, annotate, critique, improve, improvise, remix, mutate, and add yet more ingredients into the free culture soup."
  Empowering consumers to use, remix and transform content is fantastic as long as the people who create the original content that others "remix, mutate and adapt" have their creations acknowledged and respected.Date Posted: April 2009
• Techdirt A popular technology blog focusing on a broad range of issues of interest to business, often with a strong critique of copyright laws. Date Posted: April 2009
• Digital Freedom Digital Freedom blog is concerned with the rights of consumers to freely use legally purchased digital music and electronic media including movies. Date Posted: April 2009
• Fair Use Lab The tagline for this blog reads: "Re-Imagining Accessibility Through Free Culture". The blog presents free culture through the lens of disability issues. Date Posted: April 2009