Monday, June 25, 2012

Dear Artists,


Dear Artists,
We've grown up to your music, we've wept to your poetry, we visited places from which we saw your photographs, we crafted projects from your instructions, we've been inspired by your painting styles.

It's the digital age, and you're going to need to adapt. We're downloading your music and sharing it with friends and strangers on the internet. We're posting your writings on our blogs, because ideas are free. We're sharing your arts, crafts and photography on Pinterest and other platforms. We will give it all to Pinterest and Grokster to distribute and profit from because they conveniently put everything in one place, and for free.

How you're going to make a living from your creations is your problem, not ours. You're just going to find a way to adapt and make money without copyright protection. Art is meant to be shared, get on with the program. If you can't figure out how to make a living with everyone distributing your content where they bloody well please, suck it up and go wait on tables.

Once again, thank you for the inspiration and making the world a more beautiful place. We're looking forward to complimenting you by handing off your work to Ben Silbermann, making him rich rather than you, but especially getting kudos for our refined style from our "followers." Remember, it's publicity! You should be grateful.

Genuinely appreciating artists as always,

The Pinners
This, above, is the message that pinners are sending artists/creators. They really do hate the artists as much as they love their art.

Quoting a comment from Julie Meyers Pron's blog Pinterest: Educate Your Users About Content Theft, "I haven't contacted any of the users because I know from past experience the hateful reaction you get when you ask people not to break copyright & reprint your recipe."

3 comments:

Libby said...

No I don't need to adapt, they need to obey the law and realize that on;y I have control of distribution.

zirconelle said...

I am a pinner. I came across your blog by accident. I understand the problems you are having and the frustration of dealing with a company which has no interest and no incentive to deal with the issue of copyright. It's clear that you need not just Pinterest, but those who use it to pay attention to your plight and act more responsibly. But may I make a suggestion? People might be more amenable is you didn't suggest that everyone on pinterest was either a thief or a pathetic no-hoper wasting their lives in front of a computer screen. It does no good to insult the people who are causing you harm, many of them unwittingly because the internet has made copyright a confusing issue, at least for people outside of the creative world (and that's most of us, by the way). But if the internet was only filled with business people trying to sell it would not be a viable place of business, for anyone. Companies as big as Google and artists such as yourself need us ignorant plebians to wander through the web and look, because then we just might buy. But not if you've told us we are stupid to be doing so. I was very inclined to think more carefully about my pins as I read a few of your posts, but the angry insulting tone of some of the others made me less inclined to be conscientious. I know you're frustated, but please remember you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. I know you're thinking that you shouldn't have to do anything, because we're the ones breaking the law. Alas the world isn't a perfect place and people don't always act perfectly. The truth is most people don't realise that copyright is involved, the way people didn't think that sharing music files might be illegal in the late 90's. They think of it the way I think of the scrap books my sister used to make of her favourite magazine clippings, although in reality it is very different. These concepts don't always occur to us, but we're willing to be educated. But not if you insult us.

Unknown said...

I agree with zirconelle. Personally, I use Pinterest to promote my work and I do genuinely think that I am helping to promote the work of others when I pin something they've done to one of my boards. I do understand that not everyone wants their work on Pinterest, and that is definitely their right. When I see "Do Not Pin" notices on various blogs and websites, I respect the artist's right to make that choice and I don't pin their work. However, when I repin something from another user, I take it on good faith that the original pinner was conscientious as well. Sometimes people may pin or repin your work without realizing that they are infringing. Of course, that doesn't make it acceptable, but I just wanted to mention that most people aren't actively working to prey on artists for their own benefit or that of Pinterest.