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Tired Photographer Sells Stolen Photo As $300K NFT, Then Makes Pic Free For All
By Ell Ko, 22 Sep 2021
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Image via Cath Simard
When artwork has been stolen and reposted countless times, hunting down every instance and chasing up the infringers can be a taxing, frustrating process.
This has been the case for Cath Simard, a Canadian photographer and Sony ambassador, who took a photo of a road in Oahu, Hawaii, and has since seen it saved and reshared with no proper attribution to her name.
It spread so far over the internet, in fact, that a Google search for “hawaii road” will bring the photo up right near the top of the results page. With this prominence over the vast internet, arguing individual cases of her stolen photograph began to seem more futile.
So, a different approach was taken. Simard decided that instead of fighting what appeared to be a losing battle, she would auction the famous photograph as a single non-fungible token (NFT). Then, it would be released to the world entirely for free commercial usage.
That was the beginning of the #FreeHawaiiPhoto project.
Simard’s idea was that the “virality” of an image increases its importance, and therefore, its value. “We believe that copies make the original more valuable,” she states. So, when the image is released for free use, even more people will download and use it. Then, the NFT will become even more valuable.
(2/4) This project originated from the idea that the virality & widespread use of an image increases the importance of provenance & therefore the value of the NFT. We believe that copies make the original more valuable.
— Cath Simard (@cathsimard_) September 18, 2021
“This project is basically the result of a few hundred hours,” Simard tells PetaPixel. This involved “analyzing the market, coming up with the idea of flipping the script on the old licensing model, storyboarding the video, researching all the illegal uses, putting together the video, the music, coming up with the marketing plan, executing the marketing plan, [and] the website.”
#FreeHawaiiPhoto’s NFT was minted on SuperRare and Simard set the reserve price for 100 Ether, which equates to US$300,000 at minimum given Ethereum’s value today. This was meant to reflect the amount she should’ve been receiving for the use of the photo.
It ended up selling for that price, and the image has now been released for free use. Now, its new licence states that all versions of it can be used for both commercial and non-commercial purposes, even without attribution. But, of course, credit is appreciated.
The only things that you can’t do with the image is mint it as another NFT or license it to a third party “without significant alteration.”
NFTs are “a new possibility when it comes to making a living off your art,” declares Simard, who had been trading in NFTs long before the conception of the project.
“I’ve made more in NFTs within the last six months than licensing images for my entire life.”
[via PetaPixel, image via Cath Simard]
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