I'm curious...
Jun. 7th, 2013 10:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ash48Something that has been on my mind for a while (hee...for a good reason I have to add) is how do fans generally feel about their work being used in other fans work?
If, for example, someone made a video showcasing fan art, fics and vids how would you feel if your work appeared it in? Or if your story was podficced? Or if your art was posted to a story? Do you think you should have been asked permission for it to be used or do you think that because you have released to the public domain it's available for anyone to use in a their own work? (I'm not talking about taking it and claiming it as their own - that's definitely a huge no).
As fans we take inspiration from products that are copyrighted (TV show, films, music etc) and we often use them in our own work - usually transforming them into something else to share with fellow fans. We don't seek permission from the source - once they are available to the public we jump all over them. How does that change for our own work - be it art, fic, vids, podfics? I know we don't get paid and nor do we make money from our work, so is that the sole reason why getting permission to use other people's fan work is so important? Is it just courtesy? Is it an unwritten etiquette amongst fans? Does it depend on the transformative work it appears in? Would it matter if the work was controversial or making a statement you didn't support?
Or am I missing a another explanation for why permission has to be sort and granted whenever we use other's fanworks? (I'm simply curious. I have no agenda here other than making sure I'm not missing some ethical morality (or law!!) when it comes to using fan works). And I'm not talking about taking other people's work and claiming it as your own. Or producing something that the viewer would assume is yours even if you can't give precise credit (I know that's murky, but there are times when it's obvious that the work doesn't belong to the creator - like a screen cap of a website for example).
For me I think the courtesy is nice, but I figure once my work is out there it's up for grabs. I'm usually honored when I see my work used in someone else's - or it's an inspiration for something else. Credit is nice, but not essential. I think part of the fan community is about sharing - but maybe I'm be naive on this front.
If, for example, someone made a video showcasing fan art, fics and vids how would you feel if your work appeared it in? Or if your story was podficced? Or if your art was posted to a story? Do you think you should have been asked permission for it to be used or do you think that because you have released to the public domain it's available for anyone to use in a their own work? (I'm not talking about taking it and claiming it as their own - that's definitely a huge no).
As fans we take inspiration from products that are copyrighted (TV show, films, music etc) and we often use them in our own work - usually transforming them into something else to share with fellow fans. We don't seek permission from the source - once they are available to the public we jump all over them. How does that change for our own work - be it art, fic, vids, podfics? I know we don't get paid and nor do we make money from our work, so is that the sole reason why getting permission to use other people's fan work is so important? Is it just courtesy? Is it an unwritten etiquette amongst fans? Does it depend on the transformative work it appears in? Would it matter if the work was controversial or making a statement you didn't support?
Or am I missing a another explanation for why permission has to be sort and granted whenever we use other's fanworks? (I'm simply curious. I have no agenda here other than making sure I'm not missing some ethical morality (or law!!) when it comes to using fan works). And I'm not talking about taking other people's work and claiming it as your own. Or producing something that the viewer would assume is yours even if you can't give precise credit (I know that's murky, but there are times when it's obvious that the work doesn't belong to the creator - like a screen cap of a website for example).
For me I think the courtesy is nice, but I figure once my work is out there it's up for grabs. I'm usually honored when I see my work used in someone else's - or it's an inspiration for something else. Credit is nice, but not essential. I think part of the fan community is about sharing - but maybe I'm be naive on this front.
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no subject
Date: 2013-06-07 08:53 am (UTC)I'd be highly pissed off if someone pretended one of my photos was theirs, and it does bug me if I find one of my photos watermarked by someone else - but if people want to use them for fanart of icons or whatever, that is kind of the reason I shared them in the first place. And it is nice to know that people like them enough to use them that way. I have been known to squee a bit seeing one of my pics in a webpost and I will point out that it's mine (in case anyone doesn't know LOL!)
With my own fanart - I don't know if anyone has ever been that bothered about anything I've created to use or abuse it!
From the other side, being admin for Supernatural Seriously Awesome on Face Book, I'm pretty careful about trying to find the artist or source of anything we post - which is one reason I really dislike tumblr. a) the ethics of posting on there are virtually non existent and b) with all th reblogging it's a pain in the arse to track down the source.
no subject
Date: 2013-06-08 10:19 am (UTC)I'm in a quandary about using con footage in a fanvid. I have recently dl'd a heap of footage and plan to use it in a vid. In some cases I have mentioned to the vidder that I would like to use it but in most cases I don't. I will credit "fans" at the end (like I did with my Jared vid). I didn't get into trouble for that one, so I still hope it's ok.
I've learned a thing or two about Tumblr recently and that is reposting is seriously frowned upon (taking someone's work without credit and putting it on your own tumblr) or reblogging it and removing the source. With a reblog the source is actually on the post so tracing it back is easy now. I think of reblogging as a way of reccing - as long as the source remains in tact it's all good.
xx