Use of other people’s media in your work
For all practical creative work, it would be nice to include media from other sources. However as an ethical content producer you should set some professional guidelines for yourself, rather than leaving it to chance.
In this way, you would have already considered the implictions of your actions and have a process already set up for dealing with any consequences, should they arise.
This is most evident when dealing with copyright and publishing work that may contain material from other sources.
This means that use of other people’s media may be permitted under certain criteria, and only for particular reasons, and only if a set of conditions are met.
This article will lay out what some of these reasons may be, defines what the typical conditions are, and will give practical advice on how you may present such media in your assignment.
The brief for your media content (be it from a client or self-created) will likely contain specific details on what use of media is permitted. So, the following information is meant to complement any guidance you have already received. If the information here contradicts anything you have been given professionally or otherwisae, by clients, then please follow those instructions instead.
Particular reasons why other people’s media may be permitted
Although the purpose of a piece of media content may vary, typically, one reoccuring aim is to demonstrate your orignality and creativity in skillfully producing media content.
However, there are certain occasions when you cannot capture media of a particular content, such as where the:
- content is historical (e.g., a record of a past event);
- content is private (e.g., you did not have access to this moment);
- content is geographically remote (e.g., you were unable to reach this location);
- content is restricted (e.g., you did not have permission at the time); or
- you are unavailable to capture the media (e.g., tou are yourself the subject of the content.)
On these occasions it would seem reasonable to permit ‘other content’ that is not captured by you, to be included.
This ‘other content’ must be by a named author, that you have shown reasonable care and caution to ensure is the correct person who originally captured the media or owns-the-rights to it (also known as the copyright owner.)
This is the first condition.
Condition #1: You must know the name of the copyright owner of the media you use.
Right-to-use media documents
When people share their own media content with others, they still remain the copyright owner. When they share content, they merely give another person the right-to-use that media.
Typically, they either give this right directly to a named person (such as named in an email from the owner), or they give persons unnamed the right though a copyright license.
Condition #2: You must have a document stating that you have the right-to-use this media.
If you know the copyright owner or have corresponded with them directly, then a copy of an email from them stating that they give you permission and right-to-use said media for your assignment would meet this requirement. Keep a copy of the email to archive and keep.
If you do not know the copyright owner personally, then you must have a copy of the text from their copyright license, where the license states that you have the right-to-use said media.
The text from their copyright license may either be pasted into a document in its entirety, or the full URL to an online copy of this text may be pasted into a document for you to archive and keep.
You may, or may not, be asked to submit these right-to-use media documents with your assignment.
In case the legality of your use of said media is ever contested, you have a duty to keep a copy of all right-to-use media documents for your own records.
Where to find a copyright license for media
If you have located a piece of media first and are now trying to find the copyright license, then you are unlikely to find a license for it easily.
Unless you have the time and funds to locate the copyright owner retrospectively and agree a bespoke contract with them (seldom recommended for assignments), it is more effective to search for appropriate media from a pool where you already know their copyright license.
The most widely known public copyright license agreement globally is Creative Commons Licenses.
It is recommended to use media that have a Creative Commons License.
Since there are billions of creative media files that artists have made available to share under this agreement system, there is a far greater chance you will find something that matches your required purpose.
There are several online portals available where artists have posted their content, these are typically grouped by media type.
A good start is to use this all-purpose search engine: https://search.creativecommons.org/
Or for specific media, searchable portals include…
Images: https://www.google.com/search?q=media&tbm=isch&tbs=il:cl
https://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/ https://unsplash.com/
https://www.pexels.com/ https://pixabay.com/
Music: https://ccmixter.org/search http://freemusicarchive.org/
https://www.jamendo.com/ http://magnatune.com/genres/
https://icons8.com/music
Videos: https://vimeo.com/search?license=by&q=media
https://publicdomainreview.org/collections/film
https://www.pond5.com/search?media=footage&free=1 (free)
https://www.pond5.com/search?media=footage&public_domain=1 (public domain)
https://pixabay.com/videos/search/
When you find a media file that you wish to download you must locate the page that contains its license text. This will either be complete text or a link, next to the media file description or by its download button.
You must read the terms laid out in this text.
Condition #3: You must meet all the terms of the copyright license to use this media.
Terms of the license
Virtually all (Creative Commons) copyright licenses that you encounter will require attribution as a basic term of use.
Attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor (copyright owner) endorses you or your use.
So, the first term of the license, which is the easiest to comply with, is:
CC-BY By Attribution – You must give appropriate credit.
The next, slightly more restrictive terms that you may encounter are:
CC BY-NC By Attribution, Non-Commercial – As above, plus you may not use the material for commercial purposes. For assignments this should not cause any issues.
The final and most restrictive terms are:
CC BY-NC-ND By Attribution, Non-Commercial, No-Derivatives – As above, plus you must not edit or modify the material. With these terms you can only add this media unaltered, so this may be unsuitable for editing in your own work.
If you find a media file with its copyright license and you can meet ALL its listed terms you can download it and use it in your assignment.
Presenting this media in an assignment
You must properly credit the author of the media, its source, as well as express the copyright license the media is under.
(A) Full details with hyperlinks
You might include text like this at the end of an assignment:
“Features the song Desaprendere (Treatment) by fourstones, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.”
Or, for an included image, you may use text such as:
“Furggelen afterglow by Lukas Schlagenhauf is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.”
This is an ideal attribution because it includes the:
- Title: “Furggelen afterglow”
- Author: “Lukas Schlagenhauf “ – with a link to their profile page
- Source: “Furggelen afterglow” – with a link to the original photo on Flickr
- License: “CC BY-ND 2.0” – with a link to the license text
(B) Minimal details with hyperlinks
If used in a short caption you could use:
“Credit: fourstones (under CC BY-ND 2.5)”
“Credit: Lukas Schlagenhauf (under CC BY-ND 2.0)”
This is sufficient as it names the author which contains a link to the source (this source page contains a link to the author’s profile and a link to the license text) and names the license.
(C) Text only with no hyperlinks
There may be times, such as at the end of a video where you cannot use hyperlinks. In this instance you must list its full credits.
Such as:
Song “Desaprendere (Treatment)”
By fourstones
Available at https://ccmixter.org/media/files/victor/6374
Used under a Creative Commons
Attribution-Noncommercial 2.5 license.
Or:
Image “Furggelen afterglow”
By Lukas Schlagenhauf
Available at https://flickr.com/photos/lschlagenhauf/38494602082/
Used under a Creative Commons
Attribution-Nonderivative 2.0 license.
If you were supplied a piece of media directly from the author and have written permission to use it (such as through an email), the following would be appropriate credit formats:
“The image “Protesting Our Rights” by Jane Smith, is used with permission, and supplied directly by the author.”
“Credit: Jane Smith (permission directly given)”
Condition #4: You must clearly and correctly attribute this media in your assignment.
Depending on circumstances you may use (A), (B), or (C) to attribute the media for your assignment.
All forms are acceptable as they include the minimal three attributing terms: author, source and license, where applicable.
And finally…
Condition #1: You must know the name of the copyright owner of the media you use.
Condition #2: You must have a document stating that you have the right-to-use this media.
Condition #3: You must meet all the terms of the copyright license to use this media.
Condition #4: You must clearly and correctly attribute this media in your assignment.
Please ensure that you have met the above four conditions for all ‘other content’ media that you use in your work.
Failure to do this for educational work, may affect the grade you receive and could be grounds for plagiarism-related disciplinary action.
Failure to do this for professional work, may lead to costly legal action as well as impact your reputation as an ethical content producer.
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