Ok, so the past couple of days I've been seeing stuff about book piracy all over the internet. John Green has said people have been e-mailing him celebrating the fact that they've illegally downloaded his work. Sophie Jordan expressed her lament at seeing a blogger wishing for a free-download outlet.
Now, before I get into why this is a bad thing, I'll tell you a story. Although I am not yet a published author, I can relate to John and Sophie.
In my offline life, one of my many jobs is that of a professional photographer. I take pictures, specifically actor headshots and performance photos. Recently, a client I worked with doing some 'pro-bono' out of the kindness of my heart work, took advantage of me. They found the photos of their shows advertising my buisness online, and flipped out, saying that since the show was their intellectual property, the photos belonged to them and I needed thier permission to use them.
(Which is absolutely UNTRUE. As an artist, you should always know the extent to which copyright covers you. MEMORIZE IT.)
I apologized for taking them by surprise, and said that I hoped we could continue working together in a professional capacity. They said they would have to think about it, and had no intention of paying me for the work I had done, and would not ask permission to use my photos in the future. As painful as that was I let it go, because I obviously did not communicate my needs as an artist clearly enough, and I wanted to continue the relationship.
I wish that was the end of the story. The next day everything broke open. When I came to work for my other job (They're in the same location) I saw that my photos had been used without permission on fliers, a website, and posters that were plastered everywhere. Not only that, but they were credited to someone else. For a photographer, this is pretty much the worst thing that can happen. When I expressed my distress, I essentially (and literally) had the door slammed in my face.
I immediately severed the relationship. I cannot work in an environment where my art is not respected, where it is stolen and posted everywhere, I gain nothing from it.
Here's where I bring everything together. Just like books for Sophie and John, photography is a huge part of my livelihood. If I can't get paid for my art, I won't have time to do it. I'll be busy working other jobs to keep food on the table. The same goes for authors--if you steal their work, think of it as stealing a piece of food out of their fridge. That may seem melodramatic, but it's true. If people keep stealing art, books, and music, it will eventually disappear. You don't want that to happen do you?
So please, please, don't steal from artists. We'd love to give our art away for free, but we can't if we want to live. So help us out. Don't pirate.
CV
Monday, April 23, 2012 at 12:05PM 
