Read the Dutch version of 'Copyright for creators: how do you arrange it online?'
As a creator, you always have to deal with copyright, also in the digital domain. If you want to make your work digitally available, it is good to have a clear view of your legal position. Are you a photographer and want to put your portraits on Flickr? Or are you an actor and want to share a piece of a performance via Twitter? From a talk show host who wants to stream a live show via their own channel to a composer who wants to upload a composition to YouTube, we are happy to help you with the following questions.
Start orienting yourself based on these questions
What are you putting online and why?
The first question is, what exactly do you want to put online and why do you want to do so? Do you want people to only view your work or should they also have the opportunity to download it? Do you want others to freely adapt or reuse your work, or only under certain conditions? Do you want them to mention your name when they reuse your work or is that not necessary? And can they use your work for commercial purposes or preferably not?
Answering these questions helps you determine under what conditions you want to share your work. You can record this in a license or terms of use. This is possible with a Creative Commons license (CC). This license indicates to all users what is and is not allowed with your work.
Tip: Determine which license is best for your work. To determine this, you can use the handy tool here from Creative Commons: Choose a License (opens in new tab).
Who are the legal owners?
When you create a new work, copyright automatically applies to it. You don't have to do anything, and users are not allowed to reuse your work without permission.
In addition to your own rights, it is also important to consider the rights of others. If you created the work together with someone else or share the rights, or if you are using something from someone else. For example, a collaboration with a musician, composer, choreographer, or producer, and the use of a poem, text, portrait, or artwork. Ask for permission to make the work available online and check under what conditions you are doing so.
Ask for permission to publish work online that you created with someone else.
Permission for online use
Permission from the legal owners to use the work in a physical product or live does not automatically mean you have permission to continue sharing it online. Explicitly ask for permission from the legal owners if you intend to share the work online.
An exception: works in the public domain
Works that no longer have copyright because the creator passed away 70 years ago or more can be used freely. Also for commercial purposes. A new copyright arises on your adaptation. You can record how others may reuse your work through a license.
Where are you putting your work online?
There are different ways to make your work available online. You can do so via your own website, a third-party website, social media, or online platforms like YouTube and Bandcamp.
These platforms have their own conditions under which you can make your work available. Find out what these conditions entail for your own (legal) position.
What revenue model are you using?
Do you want to make your work available for free or do you want to receive compensation for it? What rate do you want to use for what type of work? As a creator, you can issue a license or terms of use in which you describe what others can do with your work.
As a revenue model, you can choose, for example, paid downloads or a subscription system directly from your website. Some popular examples are: Lubach TV (opens an external link), where you can watch recordings of Arjan Lubach's show for a fee, Unveil (opens an external link), a global platform for art photography that uses blockchain technology, and finally Wattpad (opens an external link), a platform where authors can share their stories and novels with a global community of readers.
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