A Note on Integrity, Artistic and Otherwise

A Note on Integrity:

I am putting together the content for an upcoming women’s series; a series that was inspired, in large part, by a blog post I recently read.

I could have just made up another name for my course and unabashedly utilized this woman’s idea, and she likely never would have been the wiser. But, that would have both felt really shitty TO me and been really shitty OF me. I don’t do that.

So, I reached out to the person via Facebook and told her I was really inspired by her story and I wanted to know if I could have her permission to use it, with author credit, in a program I was implementing for women. I explained my class concept and how I envisioned her idea fitting in. I also talked about how I was also an artist and I understand how ferociously disheartening it is when people don’t act in integrity around our work.

Guess what? The person got back to me within 20 minutes, gave me her blessing, told me she is excited that the message is getting out there, is grateful that I asked permission (and honored the copyright process), and shared that she was excited to see photos of the class once it goes live.

✨THIS is what artistic integrity (and integrity in general) looks like. When we ask permission, we are SUPPORTING the artist or the author or the creator. When we unabashedly steal and copy and sneak, we are degrading not only the person, but the process.

I share freely of myself and my art both on my Web site and in social media. I am incredibly GENEROUS with my both my heart and my work. I talk openly about my process, the projects, and the products. When I do that day-in and day-out, I am putting good out into the world. I am subsequently giving gifts to every single person who lays eyes on my ideas—whether or not they have ever given me a dime to attend a class or support my mission. I do that willingly, because the work I do is important and being a part of the collective good is part of my moral fabric.

There is an inherent risk to putting your content out into the world, knowing that most people believe they have carte blanche to copy/paste, repost, and pilfer ideas while passing them off as their own. I, for one, am growing increasingly irritated at the blatant disregard for and disrespect towards content creators.

Over the years, I have had people copy and paste content from my Web site into their Web site. That’s called plagiarism. I have had people take my logo and slap their name on it. If you can’t even come up with your own brand identity, how do you expect to run a successful and authentic business? I have had people steal my classes and then resell them as their own. That violates copyright law.

There are a few things you need to know about stealing other people’s work (stealing also = reposting and not giving credit):

👉 It’s illegal. And immoral. And unethical.

👉 Your BEST work—the work you are most aligned with and qualified to present—is always going to be YOUR OWN work. People see right through a fake. They might fall for it initially and give you their time and money once, but I guarantee you they aren’t coming back. The authentic energy around the whole transaction will be missing and people pick up on energy. No one likes a bullshitter.

👉 More often than not, if you ask an artist, they will give you their blessing as long as they are properly credited. Artists, by trade, are givers. But they, just like anyone else, don’t want to be taken advantage of. Nor do they want you turning a profit over something that was never yours to begin with!

If you have ever acted out of integrity with someone else’s intellectual property—DON’T DO IT AGAIN. It would also be a good idea to reach out and apologize for doing it in the first place. You can then finish off by going back and giving artist credit in all the places you neglected to the first time around.

On behalf of artists and content creators the world over, thanks for reading.

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