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Website builder Wix acquires art community DeviantArt for $36M

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Re: Website builder Wix acquires art community DeviantArt for $36M

#41

One potentially alarming sentence in this article is "Wix will open up DeviantArt’s repository of art and creative community to the Wix platform, giving Wix’s users access to that work to use in their own site building." Exactly what do they mean by that? Will it be opt-in? Will it only cover art that's already under Creative Commons? Will be it all Creative Commons? Does a Wix site count as commercial use? I can't i…

DeviantArt has been one of the better online hosting services when it comes to their handling of copyright. Buying them won't magically grant additional rights to Wix.

Based on the Submission Policy on DeviantArt's site, the essence of the agreement seems to be that as long as the work continues to be on DeviantArt, any DeviantArt site can use it royalty-free under a non-exclusive licence. The artist (or other submitter) is free to remove the work from DeviantArt at any time, and with some provisions about orderly handling the work is then no longer available for use on DeviantArt sites under those terms. The copyright and related legal rights in each work remain with the artist throughout (or with whoever else had them before, but they're not automatically transferred to DeviantArt).

Whether the acquisition means sites run by Wix now count as successors and therefore enjoy the royalty-free rights regarding uploaded works is one for the lawyers, but even if it that is the case, it seems that anyone who objects can simply delete their work from DeviantArt and in doing so withdraw the consent required to use the work on any other sites as well. That being the case, it would seem unwise for Wix to try to pull a fast one here, and a more collaborative approach would seem to be in everyone's interests including Wix's.

Re: Website builder Wix acquires art community DeviantArt for $36M

#43

One potentially alarming sentence in this article is "Wix will open up DeviantArt’s repository of art and creative community to the Wix platform, giving Wix’s users access to that work to use in their own site building." Exactly what do they mean by that? Will it be opt-in? Will it only cover art that's already under Creative Commons? Will be it all Creative Commons? Does a Wix site count as commercial use? I can't i…

Sounds like they'll let people build websites ala Wix but using their images from DA. Seems fine.

Re: Website builder Wix acquires art community DeviantArt for $36M

#45

One potentially alarming sentence in this article is "Wix will open up DeviantArt’s repository of art and creative community to the Wix platform, giving Wix’s users access to that work to use in their own site building." Exactly what do they mean by that? Will it be opt-in? Will it only cover art that's already under Creative Commons? Will be it all Creative Commons? Does a Wix site count as commercial use? I can't i…

Well... if this[^1] is still the DA licence (entry is from 2011), this won't be limited to CC and potentially concerns all art published on DA.

[^1]: http://jon-rista.deviantart.com/journal/Very-Concerning-Devi...

Re: Website builder Wix acquires art community DeviantArt for $36M

#46
post #39
post #8

From 2001-2007 I worked on helping build the community at dA. Had such an interesting and unique childhood and teenage years due to deviantART (and IRC). I owe everyone from that time a huge thank you for helping me become who I am today. It lost all it's magic (for me) when Scott and Eric Kolb left. Angelo is an absolutely amazing guy and I really really admire him but it was pretty sad to watch the community die. F…

Thank you for your role in creating such an amazing community. Things definitely began to decline post '07 and I eventually retired my dA accounts back in '12... But you're right, the experience it offered was completely unique and will be a subject of my nostalgia for the rest of my life. I met so many great friends through common interests, and would never have continued my interest in writing without it. And I alm…

> this generation's dA

That's Tumblr. Build for the ones after.

Re: Website builder Wix acquires art community DeviantArt for $36M

#47
post #39
post #8

From 2001-2007 I worked on helping build the community at dA. Had such an interesting and unique childhood and teenage years due to deviantART (and IRC). I owe everyone from that time a huge thank you for helping me become who I am today. It lost all it's magic (for me) when Scott and Eric Kolb left. Angelo is an absolutely amazing guy and I really really admire him but it was pretty sad to watch the community die. F…

Thank you for your role in creating such an amazing community. Things definitely began to decline post '07 and I eventually retired my dA accounts back in '12... But you're right, the experience it offered was completely unique and will be a subject of my nostalgia for the rest of my life. I met so many great friends through common interests, and would never have continued my interest in writing without it. And I alm…

Well... that's the first time I've ever been thanked. So, you're welcome. I think DeviantART worked pretty well because of the team that was charged with looking after it. We screened community leaders pretty heavily for being genuinely kind and good humans who, in very many cases, cared more about the community than the art. I think everyone who worked on community building really appreciated and loved art and (selfishly) realized that the way we could see the best art was to attract the best artist, and the best artists would only come to a safe place they could learn and grow without fear. Scott Jarkoff, Angelo Sotira and Eric Kolb are seriously some of the most gentle and loving people I've come across online. Happy to talk more - je@h4x.club

Re: Website builder Wix acquires art community DeviantArt for $36M

#49

One potentially alarming sentence in this article is "Wix will open up DeviantArt’s repository of art and creative community to the Wix platform, giving Wix’s users access to that work to use in their own site building." Exactly what do they mean by that? Will it be opt-in? Will it only cover art that's already under Creative Commons? Will be it all Creative Commons? Does a Wix site count as commercial use? I can't i…

Since you can monetize your artwork already on DA I hope this will be as simple and straightforward as opting into it much like you would with prints. And maybe letting someone search any Creative Commons licensed art with that as opt-out.

Re: Website builder Wix acquires art community DeviantArt for $36M

#50

Well I can say wix.com definitely isn't going to fly in Germany (eg. for the same reason that Mitsubishi's "Pajero" vehicle isn't marketed under that name in latin/US America and Spain) [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_Pajero

Actually: https://www.reddit.com/r/marketing/comments/3d1ux4/wixcom_ma... 160k views on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkAQLw5w1U4

Your weakness can be your strength...

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