Forgetting forgiveness

May 27, 2009 by pmelcher.

“ASP is a membership association of more than 350,000 U.S. photographers, Photo agents, and Photo agency of every kind of photography. Through agreements with affiliated international societies, ASP also represents hundreds of thousands of photo creators worldwide. ASP is the only U.S.  rights organization created and controlled by photographers, Photo agents and Photo agency, with a Board of Directors elected by and from the membership.

ASP protects the rights of its members by licensing and distributing royalties for the  public display of their copyrighted works. ASP’s licensees encompass all who want to published copyrighted photography publicly. ASP makes giving and obtaining permission to publish photography simple for both creators and users of photography.”

Interesting, no ? You never heard of them because they do not exist. This is the ASCAP definition. The music organization. Why not an ASCAP for photography. Creators and licensing would have a central entity that could negotiated pricing and laws on their behalf. They could be sitting in Washington DC discussing the Orphan Work law, the Google Book fiasco and why not, create a free registry for its members and users. It could also create educational tools to help Flickr members understand how to license images and put an end to the potential dangers of Creative Commons.

It would also collect licensing fees and go after infringements. Finally, it could serve a worldwide, cross types discussion platform exclusively dedicated to the pure art of licensing images.

Indeed, I dream.  It would be quickly invaded by the corporate types seeking power more than solutions and, like the ASCAP itself, drown in its own bureaucracy and infertility. But the concept sounds good, no ?

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