Wil Wheaton is right: Stop expecting artists to work for free — or worse, for “exposure”
Do artists, writers, photographers, musicians and others deserve to be compensated for their work? The debate over working for free goes back a while now. But there are still people who haven’t heard the argument and think that “exposure” of creative work is reason enough for people to give away their labors.
The cult actor Wil Wheaton – best known for his roles on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and “Big Bang Theory” — has written a short piece that should spread the word that giving your stuff away to a wealthy company is almost never a good idea. And his Twitter rant is standing up for the rights of creatives as well.
Wheaton recently wrote a post on his personal blog called “Seven Things I Did To Reboot My Life” that included drinking less, working out more, and so on. A Huffington Post editor approached him about reprinting it there, and he asked how much they paid for the right to use his nearly 3,500-word piece — which will drive their traffic, hence their advertising, hence their revenues. He was tempted if they offered him something that seemed respectful.
Well, it turns out, the editor responded with: “Unfortunately, we’re unable to financially compensate our bloggers at this time. Most bloggers find value in the unique platform and reach our site provides, but we completely understand if that makes blogging with us impossible.”
Wheaton said no, and sent out two angry tweets to his nearly three million followers. It was about the principle of it, he said. “Huffington Post is valued at well over fifty million dollars, and the company can absolutely afford to pay contributors,” he wrote on the blog. “The fact that it doesn’t, and can get away with it, is distressing to me.”
pixelskylines
2087
germansingergirl
amandla
snowghoul