Advocating for Individuality and Originality
What is this about?
In the age of social media, anyone can become famous. Think of Youtubers and Tiktok creators who through creation of original content were able to gain a following on their individual platforms. Many kids and teenagers saw this transition take place and feel that there is a place for them to become famous as well. While social media does offer itself to incredible things, sharing stories and images across the world in an instant, it also means that those young people who are trying to use the platforms to become famous would do whatever it takes, in many cases reposting others work without credit for clout. Artists deserve credit and compensation for the work that they do, even in a time where it is so easy to take their work and call it your own.
What makes an Artist?
In this case, an artist to me is a person who creates something. That could be a fine art such as painting or glasswork, but that also includes the musical, culinary, craft and any other form of personal and creative expression.
If an artist puts their work on the internet, why shouldn’t it be free use?
Artists use their time, money and energy creating worth that they love and believe in. As an artist myself, it would be devastating to see a project I worked on, potentially spent days or weeks to complete, be used without credit or compensation for my time and effort. As an artist or creator in any form it is extremely difficult to grow a following, you have to keep up to date with the current events, make something topical or something visually intriguing to capture a viewer’s attention, by using the work of another artist for your own purposes, you take away the credit they rightfully deserve and make viewers believe that you have created this work yourself. This isn’t to say that every person reading this is stealing art in this way, however, you may not even recognize that you have done it before, in some way, just about everyone has.
What counts as art theft?
Art theft in modern times is primarily reuse of imagery without permission or compensation to the artist. For example, googling an image to use for your company’s newsletter could be theft or even copyright infringement. Without knowing who took a picture and whether or not they require compensation or credit with its use is theft. There are shades of grey in this concept however, it is not always clear when use of an image is allowed. The only imagery that is always free for personal use are those which are famous enough that they can not be mistaken as your own, such as the Mona Lisa. Imagery isn’t the only art form that can be stolen, ideas and even spoken words can be taken from an artist by misquoting them or not giving credit for their intellectual property. A major problem in the stand up industry for example is the reuse of jokes you have heard. Of course, being around comedians and watching their specialism, there is bound to be some thematic overlap, but a comedian repeating a joke they heard someone else say is theft. If you can benefit from the use of another person’s creation without it also benefiting them, it is theft.
A common occurrence, especially on social media is the lack of accreditation to the original poster of content. Unfortunately, many people are desperate for a following, in a time where social media fame feels so attainable, those who aren’t able to capture an audience for their own work take the work of others to grow their own following. This is dishonest and is taking away sorely needed attention from the talented makers that made the art to begin with. As can be seen in these images, it is extremely common to hide credit to artists under the tag of the poster’s account or additional accounts that they have control of. I personally see all the time that accounts will repost another person’s content with credit, however, that credit is not clearly stated and is often hidden within that poster’s hashtags and links to follow their own page. The descriptions are so full of fluff telling you to follow their other pages and needless hashtags that the artist gets lost, they don’t want you to know that they did not create the piece themselves. The descriptions are so full of fluff telling you to follow their other pages and needless hashtags that the artist gets lost, they don’t want you to know that they did not create the piece themselves.
From what I’ve seen, on instagram specifically, the original creator’s name can’t even be seen unless you choose to select the “more” button to see the image’s full description. This is dishonest and damaging to the artist as these people who are reposting this work are not sharing the fact that they are using another person’s work to grow their own following. Not clearly giving credit to another’s work is plagiarism and needs to be avoided so the original creator receives the audience they are owed. Also, making your own tag more important than the artist in your description is just rude!
What can you do?
When you see these types of things take place you should warn the person reposting or using the art in whatever form that may be, in a lot of cases they are unaware of the damage that they could be doing to the artist’s career. Secondly, contact the artist if you see this happening, a lot of times it is small artists who lose out because of reposting of their images or videos and they need to be aware of the situation so they can handle it how they see fit. Lastly, consider the things you put on your own social media, are you using anyone else’s property and not making it clear it doesn’t belong to you? Consider whether you should delete that post, or give credit to the original artist.
What to do instead
Get inspired. When you see a video or artwork that you think is incredible, absolutely share it with others, provide context and further explore that artist’s work. It is extremely difficult to grow a following as an artist, so small creators would appreciate any influence they can get. Provide them with more opportunities to share their work with a larger audience by retweeting them, reposting their work with proper credit and show their work to your friends and family.
Lastly, create things yourself. Rather than using another artist’s work to grow your social media following, create your own content. Try a craft, make a new recipe, learn to play a new song on an instrument or sing. There is a whole world of opportunities for creation without using other’s work and trying to play it off as your own. The world needs more artists, and creating, especially during a pandemic where you are spending a lot of time at home, offers a healthy outlet for everyone to make something meaningful and to learn a new skill.
