"Fair Use" Only if Picture is of Half Naked Chicks (Re: Beehive)
Many of you may be aware of a small controversy that took place on the Beehive last week concerning a concert flier. It started with a flier made by the good people at Fulton 55 for a show this coming Thursday:
What a good looking flier. So good looking, in fact, that the Beehive selected it as "The Best Looking Flier of the Week."
Then came the stink. Someone pointed out that the flier was not an original work, but a reworking of the Rock the Vote poster created by notable street artist Shepard Fairey (of OBEY fame).
With this in mind, Mike Oz decided to take the poster down. Well, shoot. That sucks, right?
We thought we'd make a few comments on the matter before you all run away accusing someone of plagiarism.
First, nearly every flier that comes through the Beehive is someone else's work. You think that all these clubs are hiring models every week to promote some lame party? Anytime you see a crazy picture of a house covered in stuffed animals or a couple of bikini twins about to kiss over a bottle of Absolut vodka (seriously, check this shit out), the odds are you're looking at someone else's work. And no one makes a stink about that.
Second, let's consider the source. Shepard Fairey garnered national attention when he created the iconic HOPE poster for the Obama campaign:
Well, it turns out that Mr. Fairey didn't have permission to use this photo which was taken by the Associated Press. That's right. The guy whose work Fulton 55 used does the same thing with other people's work, which must mean he's OK with it. I mean, he did plead guilty to it. So the poster was inspired by existing art, and somebody complained. Who cares? I’m going to the show just because they ripped off Shepard Fairey. And I hope that one of the bands plays a couple of cover songs too, because at its heart, all art is derivative of something else. I won’t complain.
Big thumbs down to Mike Oz for not sticking to his guns and leaving it up there.
UPDATE: Sny Sneedley found this Shepard Fairey quote: "And the meaning of their art pieces is completely different than the original intention of the source image and adds a new layer, a new value. It's transformative, and I think it should be fair use." From an interview with NPR. See the full transcript.
And, as always, feel free to question, comment, criticize, or suggest things to us at: goodbadfresno@gmail.com
What a good looking flier. So good looking, in fact, that the Beehive selected it as "The Best Looking Flier of the Week."
Then came the stink. Someone pointed out that the flier was not an original work, but a reworking of the Rock the Vote poster created by notable street artist Shepard Fairey (of OBEY fame).
With this in mind, Mike Oz decided to take the poster down. Well, shoot. That sucks, right?
We thought we'd make a few comments on the matter before you all run away accusing someone of plagiarism.
First, nearly every flier that comes through the Beehive is someone else's work. You think that all these clubs are hiring models every week to promote some lame party? Anytime you see a crazy picture of a house covered in stuffed animals or a couple of bikini twins about to kiss over a bottle of Absolut vodka (seriously, check this shit out), the odds are you're looking at someone else's work. And no one makes a stink about that.
Second, let's consider the source. Shepard Fairey garnered national attention when he created the iconic HOPE poster for the Obama campaign:
Well, it turns out that Mr. Fairey didn't have permission to use this photo which was taken by the Associated Press. That's right. The guy whose work Fulton 55 used does the same thing with other people's work, which must mean he's OK with it. I mean, he did plead guilty to it. So the poster was inspired by existing art, and somebody complained. Who cares? I’m going to the show just because they ripped off Shepard Fairey. And I hope that one of the bands plays a couple of cover songs too, because at its heart, all art is derivative of something else. I won’t complain.
Big thumbs down to Mike Oz for not sticking to his guns and leaving it up there.
UPDATE: Sny Sneedley found this Shepard Fairey quote: "And the meaning of their art pieces is completely different than the original intention of the source image and adds a new layer, a new value. It's transformative, and I think it should be fair use." From an interview with NPR. See the full transcript.
And, as always, feel free to question, comment, criticize, or suggest things to us at: goodbadfresno@gmail.com
inspired by, and directly taking are 2 different things. the fulton 55 poster is hardly inspired by, it's a direct rip off and if shepherd fairey wanted to sue them, he could, just like the associated press sued him. his obama poster used their work as a starting point, and went from their in an arguable amount of derivation, but it still was going to lose that court case as a copyright violation. the changes here are negligible and wouldn't stand up to any legal action.
ReplyDeleteas for there being other flyers that are copyright violation, or cut & paste disasters or whatever else that the beehive doesn't take down, such is life. maybe if people pointed out every time there was such egregious theft of intellectual property the beehive wouldn't run them either.
btw, there's a good chance i'll be at that show for at least part of the time (i enjoy jailbreak) regardless of the flyer.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a matter of fair use or sticking to my guns. It's a matter of what should be honored as the "best."
ReplyDeleteThe poster still exists. It was in Post No Bills. I'll probably post it again this when the event happens. But it lost the "best" tag. That's a qualitative judgment -- and it's my qualitative judgment to make.
To give you what I think is a fair analogy: It's like if I heard a band, was impressed, publicly applauded that band as being "good songwriters," then I found out the song I liked was in fact a cover. There's no sticking to my guns in that -- just owning up to what I thought was a mistake.
...they didn't design the poster. at all.
ReplyDeleteI thought we said that
DeleteShepard Fairey still sucks.
ReplyDelete