Earlier today I was walking down the street at a local art fair and saw a “no photography” sign forbidding people from taking photos of an artists’ paintings and thought a while about how paranoid and fearful people are that someone is going to “steal” their work.
After some thought on the topic I have decided to take the following stance:
free as bubbles
Everything on this website is uncopyright, including all my posts and photography.
Feel free to take, steal, repurpose, or do anything you want with anything you find here (including my best photos). A link or reference would be be much appreciated, but is not required. I’m not worried about ownership. I’m not worried about losing anything. There’s nothing I can possibly lose by someone taking something I created and using it in any way they want to use it.
The only reason for me to copyright something would be for me to control it, a need to derive income from it, or a fear of misuse. I have no such fears. Besides, even “altruistic-licensing” (such as creative commons, GPL) can get really hairy and become a mess.
I am supremely confident in my own ability to create new stuff as needed. As soon as I write, photograph, or otherwise create something it’s already in the past. If anyone finds a use for it, fantastic. If it helps them out in ANY way, fantastic.
I think a true artist never fears losing his or her craft. Lil Wayne and Leo Babauta will always be wellsprings of new original and fresh creativity, whether that’s in rap or fresh thought-inspiring writing.
If someone wants to use something I created and finds it helpful and wants to share it – that’s awesome. It’s a compliment to me. I am in no way diminished by it, only enhanced. Besides, anything I create I will never “always have”. I will have to relinquish it, at the latest, when I die. So why obsess or hang on to it? It’s gone the minute I am done creating it. So I’ll let it fly.
How inspiring. I’m not sure I have anything on my blog that anyone would want but I think I will follow your example. Same for my photos on flickr. I’ll update the creative commons license. Thank you for showing the way.
Zenhabits was my first inspiration, today I just wanted to make it more public. Glad to have have inspired you – Rock on!
Obviously I need to do the same. I’ve been toying with the idea of doing the CC thing for a while, and I think you may just be the tipping point.
Thanks! (And keep making good art, whether words or pictures.)
Howlin’ Hobbit
got uke?
I’ve licensed a lot of my photos CC (creative commons) for a while, but Uncopyright is a significantly different beast – I’m letting go of any attachment whatsoever. Most CC licenses still have rules people need to follow, but it still is a nice way of sharing work.
Glad to be a tipping point. Malcom would be proud
Very cool. But all I want to “steal” is the idea of not copyrighting everything I produce.
LOVE IT!!!
Hey Markus, I really like what you’ve said about the “Un-copyrighting” everything you’ve made. You really put things into perspective for me about my music. I would find myself worrying about copyrighting because I didn’t want someone to take my songs and actually make money off of them before I had a chance to. The truth is, the whole reason I’m creating this music is to inspire people and change their lives, even if for one second, in a positive way. So really, it’s fine if they get ahold of it, play it, sing it, and even sell it, because they could never duplicate my originality.
Great post here,
I think its great that you like to encourage the use and promotion of your work. Its the way the world should work – people being proud of their work being used and spread over the world!