Last month at BlogWorld, Scott Stratten made an interesting comment during his opening keynote. He said “If your biggest problem is that people are pirating your content, you don’t have a problem.” As a photographer and content producer, that line stuck in my head as something to explore a bit. After all, a lot of photographers spend lots of energy fighting copyright infringement both proactively and reactively.
Who is Scott Stratten? He’s better known as @unmarketing, this year’s hot name in marketing and social media. He’s a great speaker, a smart guy, and an author. His book (also called UnMarketing
Piracy When You’re Really Awesome
If your content (including your photography) is stellar – and I’m talking really good, then it doesn’t seem to be a huge leap to think that the publicity from the work going viral and being seen by tens of thousands or even millions of people might be the publicity boost needed to increase your profile and profits.
Piracy When You’re Adequate
What about those of us who aren’t yet super-famous? What if you’re not a rockstar but rather are a decent photographer who produces work that meets the needs of your clients or fans but isn’t of the sort that is likely to become wildly popular amongst a large audience? Perhaps your work is highly-valued within your niche even though it’s not of a broad appeal to a general audience? What should happen with the occasional one-off piracy or infringement?
It’s Not Piracy if you License Freely
One situation which can’t be overlooked is licenses such as Creative Commons that allow creators to make works available for use at no cost under certain terms and conditions. With a free (capitalize that F if you’d like) license, the right to duplication and reuse is explicitly given and so it’s not a case of piracy at all. When we’re talking piracy, we’re really talking about people who have chosen not to give content away for free.
Solutions or Just More Questions?
In an era of remixing, how do we bring it all together? Lawrence Lessig would argue that copyright law needs to be reformed before it ends up abandoned entirely. The power of the internet is that content can easily be shared with new audiences. From a copyright standpoint, the weakness of the internet is that it allows one to easily infringe on the copyright of others.
In an age of widely-distributed information and media, how do you (as a photographer or other content creator) feel about the issue of piracy and widespread (often unauthorized) distribution?
How do you feel about Stratten’s assertion that widespread piracy of one’s content isn’t really a problem at all?
