“You’re crazy, Rick! Anyone can steal your work? They could make money with it? They don’t even have to credit you?”
As to “crazy,” maybe.
First, yes, you can use anything I post on this blog for any reason: private, public, commercial, non-commercial, waste management, propaganda, berry picking, home defense… whatever; I do not care. If you can make money, great. And good luck with that because I would be curious to know how you did it. So let me know, huh? I am all for increasing the wealth of the world. I highly doubt your sales could have the slightest negative impact on my sales; in fact, you would probably be helping me. Heck, I might offer you a job.
Second, no, you do not have to credit me. You could crop or ‘shop out my signatures if you wanted. How could I stop you anyway? Keep lawyers and snitches on retainer?
I heard that Don Henley, the irrelevant ex-drummer for the once upon a time old rock band, The Eagles, employs sixty people to enforce copyright violations! He let that slip when whining about how he was losing so much money. A guy who employs sixty people to keep people from stealing from him? That kind of life seems dreary for a productive and prolific creator. Truly, if I do see my work being used, I am likely to write a note of thanks, not recrimination.
People are, after all, actually basically good.
I am going to place a bet on that. I bet that you would prefer to credit me out of simple, neighborly manners. I won’t lie and say I don’t care about getting credit. I do. But I am not worried about it. It would be cool if you gave me a plug, but I am not going to try and make you do anything. I might, though, actually want to help you use my work better if you actually asked.
So go ahead and use my art any way you want.
Third, I did not decide to do art because it was a good way to make money. I decided to do art because I wanted to express the beauty and wonder I saw and felt in the world.
Besides, I or my buyers do hold the original works. Think about that. The more copies out there, the more valuable those originals become.
So maybe not so crazy.