Apologies if I’ve seemed a little obsessed with the Digital Economy Bill this past week or two. I hope my Twittering hasn’t been too big a turn off, but I felt it was important, so here’s an explanation why:
As a photographer, I make my living from both commissioned work and my back catalogue of images. This archive is a combination of commissioned work where the licence or exclusivity period has ceased and the images may have a value to thers, plus other stock images shot specifically for that market. I’m in the process of overhauling my websites and shortly will be licencing images direct to buyers using photoshelter, more later.
Images such as the Stirling Moss and model are continual sellers, especially taking into account his recent accident with the lift shaft…. This income enables me to build a viable business model, in addiction to undertake work at rates that may not normally be viable. See my post on Working For Free for more on this.
So you can imagine the impact that Clause 43 of the Digital Economy Bill would have on my livelihood. It was time to defend my business.
It’s often said that getting photographers to agree on anything is like herding cats. We’re an individual bunch, if you get my drift and in the past, that has proved our undoing. Negotiations with large corporations like Getty have gone badly wrong. This time, for some reason, it all came together with the formation of Stop 43. This website, with representatives working hard behind the scenes and establishing direct contact with MP’s in London were able to spread the word and bring pressure to bear in a way that I can never recall before.
By harnessing the power of social media on Twitter and Facebook and bringing a reasoned argument to bear, the issue was discussed in a way that has perhaps never been done before. BAPLA’s appalling attitude, the vested interests of the large companies and groups pushing forward the bill were all highlighted, giving in the best result for photographers since the original copyright act was introduced.
The important thing now is to move forward and introduce a new dialog to give a fair deal for photographers as well as finally tackling the genuine issue of orphan works and how they can be brought out for society to see and non-profit organisation to benefit from, without independent creators being hammered by large corporations.