Copyright
Your Music is sorted how about your Marketing?
Copyright gives Creators control over created materials. They decide who and how this material is used. The material is a product and forms part of their business income. Working in the Creative Industries, as we do, and in a marketing heavy segment, Music Artists need to be very clear about their obligations when it comes to Branding, Marketing, Promotion and Advertising.
Photos
If you employ a photographer to shoot photos for your next release or tour or simply your annual brand upgrade, make sure you sign an agreement that outlines who owns the copyright on those images.
If you pay the photographer, you SHOULD own the images. In Australia, under Copyright Legislation, the artist or photographer initially owns the copyright in their work with the following exceptions: A photograph taken by a photographer as part of their terms of their employment is owned by their employer. A clear agreement between you as the Artist and the Photographer will ensure that you own the copyright to the images taken by the photographer for which they were paid.
Without an agreement, the photographer could retain copyright making it difficult for you to use them in your campaigns.
Images used in Posters and Content
The safest options when looking for images for social media marketing are attribution-only and CC0 1.0 public domain licenses. Remember, any license that includes the word “attribution” means that you must give credit to the creator. Sites like Envato, Unsplash and Pexels offer you options to use. Working with AI can also offer alternative public domain licenced images.
Tribute Show Marketing
Most advertisements, and the creative elements therein, are protected by copyright for a lengthy term. Certain copyrighted images or language in commercials or print ads may be very effective in selling products. This means fonts, logos, images, palettes and even placement of art assets. Make sure your Tribute Show marketing in no way contravenes Copyright legislation unless of course you have written permission from the original Artist to do so.
Written by Nichola Burton. I work in partnership with Agents, Artist Managers and Event Producers, who juggle a diverse range of relationships in the Musoverse, to curate, manage and measure data in systems, experience, creative and content to support the entire Musoverse operation in my enterprise A Little Pitchy Copyright 202
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