The Creativity Project

(apologies first, for having accidentally posted this incorrectly under the wrong original subject–it belongs here, not under the “happiness” post)

Larry Lessig is one of the most dangerous people for creative businesspeople today. While theoretically he speaks to some very interesting and arguable admirable points, what he fails to address is just how, if the laws are changed as he envisions and advocates, how are individual creatives supposed to make a living?
I work with commercial photographers, most of whom do what they do out of the passion for making their art. They monetize it by licensing reproduction of their work, under the current copyright laws. So, if HP (for example) wants to use a picture by PhotoBob, HP pays him for the license to reproduce his work, and that license is priced based on the scope of the distribution of that reproduction (what we call “usage”). If he is to make available his work, for free, how is he to pay his bills?
The argument that making work free for personal/non-commercial use doesn’t work with today’s technology as much as Lessig would have us believe. For example, if PhotoBob tells Janie Smith she can use one of his images for personal use only, for free, and then Janie posts the image on her MySpace or Facebook page, that image is now available, for free, for whatever use Myspace, Facebook, or any of their users what to use it for! All control over that image is now gone. The terms and conditions for these social networking sites state that any materials posted become available for free use by anyone. So much for “personal” use….that simply does not exist in this reality.
These issues, for the independent artist, are life and death. Lessig may speak to today’s kids being different, but it has always been thus–each generation is different. That doesn’t mean that we need to make changes to accommodate their desires (these are WANTS, not needs) when those changes threaten the livelihoods (and, honestly, the lives) of so many others.