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Dragon Rant: YOU Control the Rights to Content Distributi...
3 years ago
This is something that has been on my mind for a while now. A dear friend of mine went through an experience a while back that left them drained and unmotivated because they had been asked not to distribute art they created and instead let the commissioner sell access to the work for profit.
Thankfully, they realized that they did deserve more payment for giving up distribution rights to their art so someone else could make money off it, and got themselves what they felt they were owed.
But then I came to find out this is not a one time thing.
So I felt a calling to spread the following message to artists new and old about this fact;
YOU CONTROL THE RIGHTS TO YOUR DISTRIBUTION OF WORK
When you create something, you have the right to distribute it how you see fit. Whether that's through a publishing company or simply posting online, the right to distribute it to people is yours. As a community, it's inherently recognized that it is not right for someone to just take your work and post it on their own page without granted permission.
Now, I am of course not talking about art theft. Whether it's done maliciously or not though, you should not give up your right to distribute UNLESS it's worked out with the commissioner first. Private commissions are one such example.
Some people are rather shy about their interests. I've done some private story commissions for others in the past, and I didn't charge anything extra for the private aspect because the distribution was directly to the customer. They weren't going to repost it anywhere, so I had no trouble doing it.
But if this person wanted to, say, include my story in some sort of online subscription based fandom magazine, and asked me not to post it into my gallery, and I would see no money from subscribers for my service, then what I would do is charge a fee to sell my right-to-distribute.
You do not owe a commissioner your right to distribute. I actually did some reading, and what one should be charging for right to distribute can be anything from 40% of the price of the commission to 80%. But these are just the average. You, as a creator, can sell your right to post your work for whatever you feel it's worth. ESPECIALLY if it's a commissioner's intent to profit from your work.
Now. I am writing this not as some sort of callout against any individual. I am writing this because I want artists to recognize the value of their work and that it extends beyond just the finished piece. And that they shouldn't simply give up the right to post content that can only help their page grow to a commissioner for free just because they ask. Yes, you might lose a commissioner by rejecting their asking, but if their business model relies on getting artists to give up their right to distribute without compensating them, and then selling their work for profit, then it's not one I want to support, and I hope you artists out there recognize it's not one you have to support.
Now. I'm not going to be self focused enough to ask you all to link this specific journal around. But this issue needs to be talked about.
So my call to you all is to do that. Talk about it! Make your own posts about it. Share your own experiences. Help the community recognize the value their content has, and that they shouldn't give up their right to share it to someone else just because they're asked to.
Thankfully, they realized that they did deserve more payment for giving up distribution rights to their art so someone else could make money off it, and got themselves what they felt they were owed.
But then I came to find out this is not a one time thing.
So I felt a calling to spread the following message to artists new and old about this fact;
YOU CONTROL THE RIGHTS TO YOUR DISTRIBUTION OF WORK
When you create something, you have the right to distribute it how you see fit. Whether that's through a publishing company or simply posting online, the right to distribute it to people is yours. As a community, it's inherently recognized that it is not right for someone to just take your work and post it on their own page without granted permission.
Now, I am of course not talking about art theft. Whether it's done maliciously or not though, you should not give up your right to distribute UNLESS it's worked out with the commissioner first. Private commissions are one such example.
Some people are rather shy about their interests. I've done some private story commissions for others in the past, and I didn't charge anything extra for the private aspect because the distribution was directly to the customer. They weren't going to repost it anywhere, so I had no trouble doing it.
But if this person wanted to, say, include my story in some sort of online subscription based fandom magazine, and asked me not to post it into my gallery, and I would see no money from subscribers for my service, then what I would do is charge a fee to sell my right-to-distribute.
You do not owe a commissioner your right to distribute. I actually did some reading, and what one should be charging for right to distribute can be anything from 40% of the price of the commission to 80%. But these are just the average. You, as a creator, can sell your right to post your work for whatever you feel it's worth. ESPECIALLY if it's a commissioner's intent to profit from your work.
Now. I am writing this not as some sort of callout against any individual. I am writing this because I want artists to recognize the value of their work and that it extends beyond just the finished piece. And that they shouldn't simply give up the right to post content that can only help their page grow to a commissioner for free just because they ask. Yes, you might lose a commissioner by rejecting their asking, but if their business model relies on getting artists to give up their right to distribute without compensating them, and then selling their work for profit, then it's not one I want to support, and I hope you artists out there recognize it's not one you have to support.
Now. I'm not going to be self focused enough to ask you all to link this specific journal around. But this issue needs to be talked about.
So my call to you all is to do that. Talk about it! Make your own posts about it. Share your own experiences. Help the community recognize the value their content has, and that they shouldn't give up their right to share it to someone else just because they're asked to.
Now, I have a price in my TOS for the transfer of copyrights to the piece in question. Especially in cases like what you’ve here described, that’s an invaluable piece of information for any artist to be aware of.
Truth be told I've considered doing something similar in the past - commissioning work to sell as part of a story-focused kink pic bundle - but could never make it "feel" right, selling someone else's work.
It's kind of concerning seeing this being a rising thing in the community too - folks trying to recoup the cost of their original comms by selling them in packs. You shouldn't be trying to make commissioning a business.
There are reasonable agreements that can be made, much the same way as graphic design works for business logos etc. But a lot of people fail to realise that preventing an artist from being able to post work, and add to their portfolio, is going to cost a lot more than their standard comm rate, and is going to require a lot more work in general.
At the end of the day, the idea may be provided by the commissioner but the artist put in the work to make it happen. They deserve to enforce their rights of their own works.