Very, very few creatives have a liveable, regular income from their creative vocation, or from a singular source. Copyright protects all of your original work, from the moment you create it. And that means you have an exclusive, but limited time to monetise it, without any competition from others who might want to use your work for their own gain.
There’s a real push to put work out that is immediately and freely accessible to all, and while I support the generosity and practicality of this on the part of the artist, someone else may capitalise on your creativity, and you will miss that opportunity.
The fact is, most of us have multiple streams of income – from performing, displaying and selling our work, to teaching, editing, commissions, a side job, or some kind of other hustle to make enough money to pay the bills. I’m sure, like me, you’ve discovered that “copy and credit” doesn’t actually equal rent.
Only you have the legal right to do whatever you want with your work, and the potential income streams include collecting royalties, licensing the use of it to another party, selling it, performing it and getting paid, selling copies, or adapting it in any way for your financial gain.
It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been an artist, or how old you are, or whether you’ve made money from your creativity before. Copyright enables you to tap into multiple streams of income; some, like royalties or residuals roll in automatically, administered by a CMO and other income. Yes, you still have to hustle, but every stream belongs, and comes back to you.
Sure – give away what you want, but consider both your own financial future, and the impact your free giving has on your fellow artists. If you constantly gift your work, it will have no value, and the world will start to expect all artists to do the same. We don’t expect a store owner to give away all of their goods for free; even kids with a lemonade stand on the street understand their work has value.
Encouragingly, Creative NZ is one organisation that is actively advocating for fair remuneration for creatives in Aotearoa. Read more on this here >> In their own words, "This policy is a step towards ensuring that creative work is valued, that artists and arts practitioners are treated fairly when forming working relationships and are better supported to develop a sustainable career in their chosen field."
When you’re starting out as an artist, or if you don’t take your work seriously as a business, you can end up doing a lot of things for free/experience/exposure – something I discourage. No matter where you are on your career trajectory, you’ve likely invested time and money into gaining the skills you have, and as creatives, we need to recognise the value we’ve put on our own education and skill development.
At the very foundation of Copyright law is the recognition that your work has value. If the law can see it, let’s see it too, and make sure we know what it means for us!
Are you interested in finding out how copyright applies to you?
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Written by Karen Workman, Kaiwhakahaere Whakapa | Creative Rights Educator