Richard Prince is a contemporary artist in the united states that make a fortune off other peoples work. Since the early 70's, he has been "transforming" other peoples images and selling them for profit. In 1975, he recreated a photo of a cowboy that sold for over a million dollars! What? How is this ok? He has been in in headlines this week because of his showcase in the Frieze Art Gallery in London. Prince found all of his images on Instagram, blew them up to a larger format, and sold them. Some for over $100,000. This was investigated and found to be completely legal. Why? Prince "modified" the images by adding text and emojis underneath the photos. That's all. It was ruled fair and not any kind of copyright infringement. Apparently, there are no laws on how much you have to change an image for it to be considered your own work. This is very different from the music industry! If your song sounds at all like another song, or even uses a similar rif, you will get sued! Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke were sued by the family of Marven Gaye for reportedly $7.3 million dollars for the song Blurred Lines. That is only one example of many! How can these two industries be so different. I view them both as art and think they should be treated the same. Artists need to have original work in order to profit from it. If it is not yours, it is not yours to profit from. I don't completely disagree with what Prince did as I think those beautiful photos should be showcased, but I think that the true artists need to be credited and compensated... at least a portion of the profits should go to the actual photographers. The owners of those photos will never see a dime for their beautiful work. Take a look at this news cast and let me know your thoughts. Here is a good article the @courosa tweeted as well:
A reminder that your Instagram photos aren’t really yours: Someone else can sell them for $90,000
2 Comments
Fenella
5/28/2015 02:25:32 pm
Lisa,
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Robert
5/29/2015 03:51:03 am
Every time I feel that I am getting a handle on copyright there seems to be another facet that I need to consider. I had heard about people using other peoples Instagram images, but never really realized that it was to the scale/financial reward you mention. It still seems to come down to ownership.
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