Who Owns My Online Content?
Posting your content online can be both exhilarating and scary. On one hand it’s a direct line to a sweet payday from people who are interested in purchasing that content, but on the other hand there is a constant fear that your content might be stolen without your permission. When you’re working with a platform designed to sell your content, you may be wondering who owns the ‘rights’ to that content. The law of the land is pretty simple — you created the content, so you retain all rights to that content. That means that you get to dictate who is able to utilize your content and it cannot be reposted without your express permission.
How do you gain ownership of your content?
Simple. If you create it, you own it. Whether it’s a photograph, a blog post, or a video, that content was created by you, so you own the copyright.
What you have less control over is the platform you post your content on. Each platform has its own rules, regulations, and terms of service that users must abide by in order to utilize that platform. For example, your TOS for Facebook may state that Facebook has the right to use content you post on their platform for their own promotional purposes–that’s why it’s crucial, especially when you are making a living posting your content online, to be aware of these terms before you post a single photo or video on that platform.
(Interested in the details of your FanCentro contract? You can find it here! Article 5.1 talks content ownership)
In short: read your contracts
As I mentioned, each platform you use has the right to set rules and guidelines on what type of content can be posted there and how it can be used. In order to retain full control of your online content you must be sure that you don’t accidentally sign your rights away.
Find out more!
Do you have your own legal questions? Send them to success@fancentro.com and we’ll answer them live on our upcoming webinar 1/20/21 at 3 P.M. You can register for the webinar by visiting Centro University.
