How Etsy Sellers and Big Business Make Money on Public Domain Art (vice.com) 41
"Some people have figured out how to turn reselling public domain content into side hustles," reports Motherboard:
On Etsy, there are thousands of listings for downloadable prints and lithographs that are in the public domain. The concept is pretty simple: these merchants round up and download the most visually beautiful art in the public domain, and then sell prints on Etsy. But some of them don't even go that far and just sell digital files of the art. Then, the buyers can print out the prints at whichever size they want and use them as they please...
With that being said, there's also big companies like Walmart that are also trying to earn money off art in the public domain... Similarly, the Museum of Modern Art is selling "Red Canna" by Georgia O'Keeffe, which is now in the public domain, for $166.50 (on sale from $185). For the love of god, don't pay $166.50 for something you could download for free and print yourself for less than $16.
Of course, none of this is bad necessarily. The public domain exists in part so that people can give formerly copyrighted works new life -- sometimes an iconic painting simply needs to become a bedspread. But now that many new works are available for free, it's worth having a quick look around if you're thinking of buying vintage art. You might be able to get it for free elsewhere.
To be fair, the Museum of Modern Art is a non-profit -- and reportedly avoids all government funding.
With that being said, there's also big companies like Walmart that are also trying to earn money off art in the public domain... Similarly, the Museum of Modern Art is selling "Red Canna" by Georgia O'Keeffe, which is now in the public domain, for $166.50 (on sale from $185). For the love of god, don't pay $166.50 for something you could download for free and print yourself for less than $16.
Of course, none of this is bad necessarily. The public domain exists in part so that people can give formerly copyrighted works new life -- sometimes an iconic painting simply needs to become a bedspread. But now that many new works are available for free, it's worth having a quick look around if you're thinking of buying vintage art. You might be able to get it for free elsewhere.
To be fair, the Museum of Modern Art is a non-profit -- and reportedly avoids all government funding.
So? (Score:5, Insightful)
It’s public domain. That’s the whole point. Since when is this news that matters?
Re: So? (Score:2)
No shit.
The way the article reads, there is something seriously evil about anyone, anywhere, making money as a result of knowing something that someone else does not know.
Fucking morons.
Re: (Score:2)
Give some specific examples of that
Re: (Score:2)
Everyone knows that they sometimes start with public domain works. I want an example of how they prevent anyone else from using those same works (minus all of the Disney original stuff like story modifications, artwork, music, songs, etc).
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Re: (Score:2)
From a politicians perspective, the best thing is that outraged people are manipulable.
The best stories are the ones with a kernel of truth: like Global Warming, or Terrrorists in Iraq, who need to be pre-emptivevly invaded.
Re: (Score:3)
Let's just say there is a such thing as fair and honest dealing and if you're making money based on the customer not knowing a simple fact, your dealing is not fair and honest.
Of course, given the prices some of the sellers in TFA are charging, I don't necessarily think their dealing is unfair. Actually printing is worth something. Curation is worth something, and doing a high quality scan from a printed book is worth something. The prices shown in at least some of those example looked about right.
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I don't think it's a business' duty to inform the customer that they could get a possible substitute good elsewhere for cheaper.
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"not necessarily" (Score:2, Insightful)
The whole point (Score:1)
That's the whole point of the public domain. It also doesn't change the fact that time has value.
The last time I needed to put together an icon set for a program, I wanted the icons all in the same theme and normalized with each other. The public domain has plenty to offer and is an especially great way to pretty up something that wasn't even going to be sold or find its way past about 10 people. There is simply no point to paying for art and not using place-holders in such a use case.
Yet I was more than
A worse problem is the perma-copyrighted ones (Score:2, Interesting)
The ones never to be seen again and sometimes potentially lost to time forever are a worse issue.
Any company that puts their things in to open, public domains after a reasonable period is fine with me and whatever others do is up to them.
I have a lot of respect for those that do. I do it myself despite being able to make mad money off some art and programming. Sometimes even anonymously because I would rather they stand on their own two feet than be associated with past work.
Sometimes you just gotta make s
Why? (Score:3)
Of course, then I have to spend time figuring out printing options, determining if the printer/printing company supports the file in a lossless format or if I have to first convert it to something like jpeg, then determining if compression artifacts will show in the print, then I have to deal with color profiles, then I have figure out framing options and get it framed...
Or, I could pay someone else $150 to figure out all this stuff and get a nice printed and framed image shipped directly to me in the size I want.
Sometimes convenience is worth paying for.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
We can argue about the price, but there is definite utility in having someone else do the grunt work to produce a quality print and framing
Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Well ... (Score:2)
I blame the Copyright-Natsys for this article.
You know people will sell you a disk with linux (Score:2)
and make money on it ::shocked face::
Quality prints (Score:5, Insightful)
To be fair... (Score:3)
To be fair, that sentence has as much relevance to the story as a frog on crutches.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, it's a wagon, but what's a minor difference between friends? Think of it as crutches on wheels.
And? (Score:2)
And? I've bought new KJV Bible's at dollar stores. So what? King James' translators were unavailable for comment, being long dead.
The whole point of public domain is that you can use it, you can publish it, you can do what you like with it.
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And? I've bought new KJV Bible's at dollar stores. So what? King James' translators were unavailable for comment, being long dead.
And I (by contrast) got a more expensive one since I only wanted one copy and I wanted a binding that woldn't fall apart fast.
The whole point of public domain is that you can use it, you can publish it, you can do what you like with it.
And in this case, the great thing about the public domain is that both sorts are available.
Painting (Score:2)
I've been painting since 2017 and have made quite a few "real" copies of old masters paintings. It's great practice and you learn a little with each one. They're all hanging on my wall but I probably would let go of a few if someone wanted one. At least you would get a real painting and not something that came out of a printer.
From where I sit though, not many people are interested in buying paintings these days. Heck you rarely even see family pictures on the wall anymore, let alone a painting. I think it'