Protecting your rights and your copyrights

The recent storm over at the Times Union’s “On the Edge” blog has reminded me of events in my past.  Let me elaborate.

First off, last week the OTE bloggers requested that musicians in the Capital District send some music to the TU for possible inclusion into a music video.  As you can read from the comments section on that post, the musicians were nonplussed that they were asked to submit music in exchange for “exposure,” which is code for saying, “We want your work for free, and it’s possible that someone else will hear your music on our music video and want to pay you for your future projects.”  Realistically, they just want your music for free.  Take that into consideration.

I’ve dealt with the “exposure” argument in the past.  It’s one of the reasons that I scrupulously identify in my blog any photograph taken by my cameras, and clearly mark that the photo was copyrighted by me.  The second that my finger touched the shutter button and the photo was created, that became my copyrighted photo.

And in the past, I’ve had people contact me, asking if they could use my photo for their projects, for their collages, for their magazines.  And I say to them, very clearly, “If you want my work, then you need to pay me for it.”  If they use the argument, “We’ll give you lots of exposure,” then I ask them to pay me MORE for the picture.

Because if you give up your work for “exposure” the first time, then you’re opening yourself to people NOT paying you for your future projects.  As in, “Why should I pay for your picture, when so-and-so does halfway decent photographs and he’s stupid enough to give his work away?”

Case in point.

A couple of years ago, I was contacted by an design company for a major restaurant chain.  They were in need of Capital District photography for a redesign of one of their restaurants, and they saw one or two of my photos on my flickr site.   They asked me for several high-resolution images of those photos for their project.

I responded back, thanking them for their interest, and quoted them a fair price for use of the pictures.

They responded back, saying to me that by the pictures being in the restaurant, that it would be tremendous exposure for me and for my work.

No, I replied back.  You’re going to use my photos, there’s not going to be a website or e-mail address on the pictures for people to contact me regarding the pictures, and patrons aren’t going to ask the restaurant manager who took the pictures and where can they buy prints of their own.  I quoted my original price.

A response.  They didn’t have much of a budget for artwork.  Now what that means is that they HAVE a budget, but they did not want to tap into that budget if they could get the photos for free.

Final quote.  I told them they could have a limited number of pictures, but there has to be something in exchange for their use.  If they want my work bad enough… then pony up some green.

And their response – they were willing to purchase the photos, and asked for my mailing address so that they could send a check.  Negotiations completed.  The pictures were sent, the check was sent, and if you have dinner at the Applebee’s in Latham, you might recognize some of my photos – including my HDR General Electric sign from 2009 – hanging on the Applebees’ wall.  All set and purchased.

And in the two years that the GE photo has appeared in that Applebees restaurant… I can count the number of requests for copies of that print based on its “exposure” in the eatery on less than one thumb.  Money talks, exposure walks.  Plain and simp simps.

Moral of this story?  Always protect what you create, whether it’s a photo, a song, a poem or an etching.  And never give your work away, no matter how tempting the “exposure” carrot might be.

Your creations are important to you.  Don’t ever compromise them.