The internet is an amazing asset to technology today. Without it, we are left with only traditional style of media, which for some people is not that bad. However, with the internet, we can easily search for directions, restaurants, facts, images, and so on. The internet provides an opportunity for us to explore our world without traveling very far. However, like every great thing in life, there is always a catch.
Anyone can access the internet. Misinformation, such as a wrongly credited article or photo, can spread like wildfire. Did you know you can get in trouble for taking someone’s work and not appropriating correct attribution? When posting and sharing in the world of media, it is important to know about the three licensing types for media: royalty free, rights-managed, and Creative Commons.
Royalty Free License
The Royalty Free License allows the user to pay a one-time fee for permission to use the media without having to pay a reoccurring fee. According to the article “Royalty Free and Rights Managed Licenses Explained,” the Royalty Free license is the most common license that people get because of the one-time payment (https://everythingmicrostock.com/royalty-free-and-rights-managed-licenses-explained/). This type of fee allows the user to use the type of media multiple times for multiple projects. However, multiple people may be able to use the same media. This means more than one person will be able to publish the same media as another person if they have the correct license.
Rights Managed License
Much like Royalty Free Licensing, a Rights Managed license allows a person to purchase a type of media to use. However, the person has to explain how the media will be used and the price will be negotiated based off of how the person will use the media. According to the article “Royalty Free and Rights Managed Licenses Explained,” the Rights Managed License allows for a person to publish they media they have purchased without worry of multiple people publishing the same media (https://everythingmicrostock.com/royalty-free-and-rights-managed-licenses-explained/). The Rights Managed License allows people to customize how they use the media they purchased since it will not be mass distributed to other people to use. Rights Managed is more expensive than Royalty Free and the person has to pay repeatedly for usage of the media throughout different platforms.
Creative Commons License
The Creative Commons License provides a way for people to share and publish work for free while also attributing credit to the deserved author. This license does not require a fee to use the type of media; it just requires the user to attribute appropriate credit to the author of the media. Some authors may not even require attribution to their work. As the article “About The License” on the Creative Commons website states, there are multiple licenses within the Creative Commons License so that people may use the appropriate license to attribute appropriate credit (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/). This type of licenses allows for more freedom when choosing media because no purchase is required.
Now, you know how to correctly publish media material so that you are not plagiarizing and the correct author gets their rightful attributed credit.
© Jennifer McGowen 2020