Want to start ‘The Credit Revolution’ in ArchViz ?

You may have noticed there has been a revolution forming within our industry, one that would be wise to follow closely. The mission is to raise the value perception of all ArchViz work.

For just over two decades, the digital side of visualization has been growing at exponential rates. However, as with all new fields, we have made some mistakes that have now also grown exponential.  One of the largest mistakes is to not enforce the deserved credit for the work when it is published.  Our predecessors in traditional media, such as painting, sculpture and photography have long established crediting precedents, albeit not without their own issues. ‘The Credit Revolution’  is our opportunity to do the same.  

To accomplish this, everyone in the industry needs to take a stand.

Over the last month some of the most respected studios, artists, event organizers, and online community founders have banded together to strategize this problem, led by well known founder of DBOX Matthew Bannister.  Matthew has long been a proponent of protecting IP rights and even wrote a very detailed article about contracts here on CGarchitect: Business in Arch Viz. Vol. 4 - Contracts.  Matthew states ‘This is not about me, and this is not about DBOX. This is about redefining the value of everyone in the industry through positive proactive change. What is the value of art without provenance? We need to work tirelessly to help each other to change that.’

There is a well thought out phased strategy in place to bring about this change , the very start of which is setting some crediting guidelines and ethics on Instagram.

There are two primary issues that we are currently changing. The first is ArchViz Rendering Companies (whose primary service is renderings) posting work produced by other ArchViz artists and rendering companies under the guise of ‘inspiration’. Their goal is to use others work to pull traffic to their rendering brand and business. Many of these Instagrams bury the credit below the first three lines, blurring the perceived authorship between their own work and the work of others. This is simply unacceptable. The Credit Revolution is taking the position that Rendering Companies should not post the work of others. The legal term is ‘passing off’ and the stance is that this is unacceptable in our industry. If your post is posted on another Instagram, make sure it isn’t a competitor misleading their audience into believing the work is theirs. The nature of social media is one of very short attention spans and quick scrolling through the feed.  This means 90% of the people would be deceived about the true authorship of the work.

The secondary issue is ArchViz aggregators (who don’t provide rendering services) posting the work of others, without permission and burying, or neglecting to, credit the authors. While this seems like good exposure for the artists of the credit is buried and not a live tag, the exposure is mute. Under analysis it is evident to The Credit Revolution that the goal of the aggregators is to do the bare minimum with credit to ensure that the audience doesn’t go and follow the artists. While these ArchViz aggregators on the surface seem to be supporting the industry, some are clearly using it to support only themselves. 

Currently to date ‘The Credit Revolution’ has turned close to 1 Million follower based ArchViz Instagrams to adopt what we are calling ‘FIRST line live tag Credit’. This ensures that all the artists and studios benefit from the exposure in a mutual fashion. ‘The Credit Revolution’ have also closed down the Instagrams run by ‘Rendering Companies’ posting others work. There are still a few out there but one by one they will need to conform to the new industry standard. The artists have the power to disallow the use of their work and with that its only a matter of time before this dubiously unethical landscape is cleaned up. To quote Matthew ‘the jig is up’.

Many of these ArchViz aggregators have amassed hundreds of thousands of followers and with this increasing audience the purpose of these Instagrams becomes clear.

‘The Credit Revolution’ is also calling attention to the main drivers behind many of these aggregators. All the studios and artists need to be aware that many sell products from their Instagrams using the link in profile to connect to products for sale. While there is clearly no (legal or ethical) issue with this practice it is important for everyone to be aware of how their artwork is ultimately used in an ‘economy’. The fact that many of the ArchViz aggregators are selling products means that FIRST line live credit should be the bare minimum expected for image usage. All artists deserve and should demand this. In exchange for ‘usage’ the artists are demanding FIRST line live tag credit. Anything less is unacceptable. 

Beyond ArchViz aggregators The Credit Revolution will be setting out to organize appropriate credit in general Architectural Aggregators that post photographs and renderings of Architecture (Deezen, Archdaily, Architizer etc). In this instance because the ‘subject’ is the project and Architect it is only logical that a tag credit sits AFTER the architect credit at the bottom of the content description. The same logic would apply to Architect and property development Instagrams.* Because the ‘subject’ of an ArchViz aggregator is the ‘rendering’ this is why FIRST line live tag credit is the only acceptable credit.

(*If the artist/studio does not retain copyright or negotiate credit in their client contract then of course they can expect to get no credit. In this instance they would need permission from the client to post the work they created.)

So what does that mean for you? It means if you are live tagged on social media you need to pay close attention to who just used your work and you need to determine if that use is ok with you. The Credit Revolution is in support of ArchViz aggregators who adopt a FIRST line live tag credit policy, but have zero tolerance for rendering studios using competitors work to further their rendering business marketing.  You also need to make sure you are policing how your work is used, because not doing so not only hurts you, but the entire industry. It sets a very bad precedent.  A bad precedent that The Credit Revolution is now taking upon itself to correct.

Lastly this is about helping each other. As a community we can police ethics and poor crediting practices. If you see another company or artists work without credit. Call it out. If we work together this positive change will happen organically.

So what can you do?
 

Starting November 3, 2019, the revolution officially kicks off and that means you have some homework if you wish to participate in the revolution.

 

Social Media Awareness Campaign

 

First download the images and videos from this feed and post them to your social media channels to show support for the initiative and to help spread the word.  https://we.tl/t-qxhA8KIuJ4

Update your Social Media post information
 

We are recommending everyone add the following text to all posts they make on social media: Make sure you change @studioname to YOUR IG. Also the email address.

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Publishing Guidelines | If you own or are affiliated with a company that provides rendering services you do not have permission to post our work. The jig is up. If you are an Instagram aggregator that posts Architectural renderings or graphic design then you must write ‘Image by @studioname’ in the FIRST line. If you are an Instagram aggregator that posts general Architecture/Interior Design photography then you must write ‘image by @studioname’ IMMEDIATELY after the Architect/Designer credit. We may choose to ask you to take a post down and the above should not be considered irrevocable permission to post <Studioname> IP. If you are a lovely client, the crediting requirements are outlined in our contract. For all other usages outside of Instagram contact <studio email address>

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Pay attention
 

If you would like to see updates on activations please go follow @thecreditrevolution on Instagram

If you would like to help ‘police’ bad crediting practices of ArchViz work then please follow #renderbywho

How will that help?

If you see an ArchViz post with crediting issues comment on that post with #renderbywho or call out the artist/studio if you know the provenance of the image. Be active.

Your comment using #renderbywho will allow those of us who have chosen to follow #renderbywho to see the issue, jump in and try and help correct the issue. This isn’t about ‘you’ and ‘your work’ this is about all of ‘us’ and everyone’s work all the way down to the beginner that made her first image yesterday.  We have to help each other. Don’t be a smartarse and abuse that hashtag. It will backfire. This movement is about raising the value perception of the entire discipline of architectural representation. Art without authorship is.............