Art Licensing: Is Adobe holding Artists Hostage with Creative Cloud?

Last May there were many irate Adobe software users when Adobe announced that they will no longer upgrade their boxed version (software owned by the purchaser) of Creative Suite (CS) software. Upgrades will only be available via their subscription based Creative Cloud (CC) membership. Adobe plans to continue selling CS6 software that can be downloaded from their website but it is already out-of-date because CC updated versions of Photoshop and Illustrator have already been released on CC. For more information about the controversy, read:

• "Adobe's Creative Cloud Move Causes Outcry And Confusion"
• "Adobe's Creative Cloud Sparks Thunderous Revolt"
• "Dislike Adobe's Creative Cloud subscriptions? Tough beans"

Because Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator are considered the standard software used in the art licensing industry, this has a HUGE impact on artists that license their art. The yearly cost of the subscription membership is much greater than periodically upgrading existing software applications. Artists that use the software to only manipulate scanned images of their work in Photoshop can get along fine with older versions. The problem will be later when computer operating systems are updated and possibly no longer recognize the old CS6 version.

But, artists that create art digitally have a decision to make because they depend on robust software. Should they use CS6 applications and no longer get updates that could enhance their art and speed up their work flow OR pay the subscription fee for CC membership? Below are some facts to help them make that decision.

Note: If you plan to subscribe to CC and already own CS software you need to decide soon because Adobe has a reduced first year membership price that ends shortly.

What is Creative Cloud
Adobe Creative Cloud (CC) is a subscription membership plan to use Adobe's creative software. It may be paid month-to-month or individuals can commit to a yearly membership at a savings. There are several levels and different pricing structures available. See the below section on "Creative Cloud United States Membership Price".

CC Misconceptions
There are many misconceptions on how a person uses the software after subscribing to CC. Below are a few but read "5 Myths About Adobe Creative Cloud" to learn more about CC. Also listen to the podcast with Adobe Senior Product Marketing Manager Terry Hemphill and children’s market illustrators Norman Grock and Wilson Williams, Jr. on "Once Upon a Sketch Podcast Episode 5 – Conversation with Adobe about Creative Cloud".

• Myth 1 - Operating the applications (Photoshop, Illustrator etc) is done on the internet and you must be connected to the internet to create files.
Truth: Cloud is really a misnomer because applications are downloaded onto a computer from CC and the computer does not have to be connected to the internet for the individual to create images.

• Myth 2 - File must be stored on the internet.
Truth: Files do not need to be stored on CC. It is an option.

• Myth 3 - You cannot access your files once you leave Creative Cloud.
Truth: Files belong to the individual BUT the individual will not have access to CC applications and cannot edit the files with CC if she/he quits their CC membership. However, files can be edited in owned Creative Suite (CS) applications IF they were saved in a compatible format with the caveat that any CC tools and functions not available in CS will not be useable.

CC Membership Pros
• You do not need to be connected to the internet to use the applications because they are downloaded from the CC website.
• You can use all CC applications if you subscribe to the annual membership plan. The membership subscription plan could be cost efficient if you use many Adobe applications.
• You can use all edge tools and services for web designers and developers.
• You can use all online services for file sharing, collaborating, publishing apps and websites.
• You can store 20GB of files (for most plans) that can be shared with clients and colleagues.
• There is no waiting for software updates.

CC Membership Cons
• You must pay subscription membership fees to use software.
• There is no guarantee that the membership fee will not be raised substantially after the first year.
• You do not own the software so if you stop subscribing to CC you will no longer be able to edit the files unless they were saved in a compatible format for CS versions. Note: A possible problem could be in converting CC files to JPEG formats if you are no longer a CC member. In other words, if the file is saved in a Photoshop CC format can it be converted to another format such as JPEG if you no long have access to Photoshop CC?
• Any images using new features and tools in applications that are updated in CC will require the user to continue using CC so that they can edit the images. That means an individual is forced to continue using CC regardless of membership price.
• You must confirm membership via internet every 30 days for month-to-month membership and every 99 days for annual membership. If you do not confirm, the CC applications on your computer stops working.
• If you need to use the software on more than two computers, you need to subscribe to additional memberships (same policy as for CS applications). The same applications can be put on two Macs, two PCs, or one of each.
• You must purchase separately all Adobe Touch Apps (Photoshop Touch, Kuler for iPhone, Ideas, Behance for iPhone, Creative Portfolio for iPhone).

Creative Cloud United States Membership Price
Annual membership for US individuals are billed monthly for most popular desktop applications. Click here to see what applications is included. Note: The price is locked-in for an annual membership. The member is obligated to paying 50% of the remaining annual fee if she/he decides to quit the subscription before it ends. The price of the subscription for a month-to-month member is not locked in.

To find out if CC is available in other countries, look under Purchasing and availability section in "Adobe Creative Cloud / FAQ".

Annual fees
• new CC member (do not own CS applications); $49.99/mo
• CS upgrade (CS3 - CS5.5 customers) ends 7/31/13; $29.99/mo
• CS upgrade (CS6 customers) ends 8/31/13; $19.99/mo
• Students & teachers (requires institutional affiliation); $29.99/mo
• Single application for non CS customer (limited access to services); $19.99/mo
• Single application for CS3-C6 customers (limited access to services); $9.99/mo

Month-to-month fees
• Single application for non CS customer; $29.99/mo
• Other month-to-month plans are available but you need to contact Adobe to find out the price.

Free 30-day trial membership for all apps (limited access to services)

Click here for more information about membership plans.

What is the Alternative?
If you do not want to be held hostage to Adobe's Creative Cloud subscription plan, you only have the two choices. Continue using Adobe CS6 or older versions of Adobe software OR start using software from other companies. Alternative software may not have all the bells and whistles but they will do the job. On top of that many are free and most are much less expensive than Adobe. Below is a list of articles that discuss alternative software.

• "How to build your own Adobe Creative Suite with cheaper Mac app alternatives"

• "What are good alternatives to adobe software"

• "10 Photoshop Alternatives That Are Totally Free - Gizmodo"

• "10+ Best Free or Open Source Photoshop Alternative Software"

• "Is there an alternative to Illustrator? Here's 5 . . ."

• "10 Best Alternatives to Adobe Illustrator"

If you object to Adobe holding artists hostage and you want to voice your opinion, sign a petition on change.org for "Adobe Systems Incorporated: Eliminate the mandatory "creative cloud" subscription model." ( http://chn.ge/12xLnTE ) Over 36,000 people have sign it. They need 13,000 more signatures!  Thanks Debra Valencia for sharing this link.

Your comments are welcome. Please click on the comments section (below) to write your comment.

Combine Business, Art, Education & Fun – register for ArtBizJam

Treat yourself by attending ArtBizJam to learn important information in growing your art business and rejuvenating your creativeness. Eleven classes by art director Anne Brown of Magnet Works, and licensed artists Lori Siebert, Paula Joerling, Phyllis Dobb will be given at beautiful Seascape Resort in Destin, Florida September 18-22, 2013.  The classes will cover tracking art, self promotion, creating an ideal portfolio presentation for product developers, improve work flow, creating multiple revenue streams, creating textures and much more.  Book your reservation ASAP because only a limited number of attendees (12) will be accepted.  More information can be found at ArtBizJam.

LinkedIn Takes Harassment & ID Theft Seriously! And so do other online forums.

Most people that sign-up on the professional network LinkedIn (LI) probably do not read the user agreement before they become a member. It explicitly states certain criteria that are not allowed when using LI and may cause LI to "restrict, suspend, or terminate the account of any Member who abuses or misuses the Services including abusing the LinkedIn message services and creating multiple or false profiles." It also prohibits harassment. Below is an abridged list of what is expected of LinkedIn members. Note: Not included in this list is many others including copyright infringement because they are outside the realm of this discussion.

LinkedIn expects its members to:
• Be Real. "Unlike some other online services, our members need to be real people, who provide their real names and accurate information about themselves. It is not okay to provide misleading information about yourself, your qualifications or your work experience, affiliations or achievements on LinkedIn’s service." Members are not allowed to:
– Create a Member profile for anyone other than a natural person.
– Upload a profile image that is not your likeness or a head-shot photo.
– Use or attempt to use another's account or create a false identity on LinkedIn.

• Be Professional. "We ask our members to behave professionally by not being dishonest or inappropriate. We acknowledge the value of discussions around professional activities, but we do not want you to use LinkedIn to shock or intimidate others. . . ." Members are not allowed to:
– Act dishonestly or unprofessionally by engaging in unprofessional behavior by posting inappropriate, inaccurate, or objectionable content to LinkedIn.

• Be Nice. "LinkedIn shouldn’t be used to harm others. It is not okay to use LinkedIn’s services to harass, abuse, or send other unwelcomed communications to people (e.g., junk mail, spam, chain letters, phishing schemes). . . ."

Case Story of Misusing LinkedIn Policies on Art of Licensing group
Recently a series of blog articles "Just launched a new series of blog posts about Legal in art & licensing with artist Jill Meyer as my first guest writer" was announced on LI Art of Licensing group. The blog article titled "Inspiration or Infringement" discusses artist Jill Meyer's experience with copyright infringement and the ramifications to artists that knock-off other artists work. An artist (Jennifer Bradley) posted a long comment on the Art of Licensing group and suggested that Jill show visuals of her art and the infringed art. In a later comment, Jennifer posted that it is a total fabrication that someone stole Jill's art. As the thread (comments to the post) continued Jennifer's comments became increasing abusive even though other artists stated they saw the infringed art and agreed that they were indeed knock-offs of Jill's work.

A few days after the start of the harassment, I joined the team of artists that were trying to reason with Jennifer. The following is my comment to the post describing what I discovered. ". . . I prefer to contact people via email instead of through LinkedIn so I use the LinkedIn profiles to get email address' usually by finding them on a persons website. When I wanted to contact artist Jennifer Bradley about some of her comments that she posted, her profile did not list her website so I Googled her name and when that didn't work I searched by her LinkedIn profile photo. I was shocked when I found her photo was linked to a person with another name and who is not an artist. THAT IS IDENTITY THEFT! I don't know why Jennifer Bradley did not use her own image in her profile but using someone else image is unethical and may be illegal!

By working together, our team was able to find the individual responsible for the harassment and who stole the victim's identity. It was reported to LI fraud department and they promptly removed Jennifer Bradley's profile so her comments could no longer be posted.

Consequences in Misusing LinkedIn Policies
LinkedIn takes abusing their policies seriously. They have terminated member accounts when members fail to post their image on their profile. And they also terminate members when they harass other members or create false profiles. Some people often use false profiles to comment on blogs and forums for various reasons. They also use false identities to comment on internet stores to endorse their own products in an attempt to increase sales. But false identities will not be tolerated on LinkedIn, Facebook and other forums as shown in the following section on Identity Theft is Illegal.

So what is the big deal? So what if you are kicked-off of LinkedIn by misusing their policies? Well, the real issue is the integrity of the individual who stole an identity like the Jennifer Bradley case described above. During the investigation of the case, comments on numerous forums questioned if this person was also stealing art and representing it as her own. After all, she was dishonest in stealing an identity. If it becomes known publicly the name of the artist who stole the victims identity and used it to harassed another artist, it will definitely impact her ability to license art. Manufacturers expect honesty and integrity from artists just like artists expect it from them.

So this is a warning for those who use a false identity(s) on LinkedIn. DON'T! You may get caught and pay the consequences.

Identity Theft is Illegal
Some people mistakenly think that using a false profile is not really identity theft and is not illegal. And, anyway no one will sue you because it costs too much, right? Wrong!

Dana Thornton of New Jersey was prosecuted in 2011 for creating a false Facebook page in her ex-boyfriends name who is a police officer. She posted comments portraying him as using drugs, hiring prostitutes and having a sexually transmitted disease. The judge ruled against her because Thornton's ex-boyfriend is a narcotics officer. Assertions of criminal activity can ruin his career. For her crime, Dana was given probation if she successful completes a one year PPT program which requires her to regularly see a probation officer, complete 50 hours of community service and undergo a psychological evaluation. The Dana Thornton case was highly publicized and you can imagine what this did to her reputation. Read the following for more information "Making a Fake Facebook Page is Identity Theft", "Nasty fake Facebook pages not OK -- that's ID theft, judge says", "Belleville woman accused of creating fake Facebook page to mock ex-boyfriend gets probation."

Also read a pdf formatted fact sheet about social media online "Identity Theft".

Forums are cracking down on harassing and identity thefts. For instance, the popular forum Facebook does not permit impostors and bullying as shown in Facebook Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. Breaking the rules will remove you from the forum. This will affect not only connecting with friends but could affect business' if Facebook is used to drive customers to websites or other online business websites like Etsy and Zazzle.

Be Proactive
LinkedIn groups are for professionals and members should act like professionals. Help protect members in LinkedIn groups from harassment and be proactive. If you are being harassed or you see others that are being harassed report it to the group moderator so that LinkedIn fraud department can investigate and remove the offender if it is warranted. Likewise be proactive on other forums and report any bulling to moderators. You can make a difference!

Note: It looks like LinkedIn and social networks are being used for stalking besides harassment.  Read "LinedIn Stalker Concerns Prompt Petition to Add Blocking Feature."

The comment section to this article has been closed and all comments removed.  While my policy is to show all viewpoints on my posts, the comments on this thread became antagonistic and threatened to reveal private communications that may be harmful to all involved in a private dispute.  Artists work in a professional industry and should act like professionals.

New Art Licensing Magazine Published – "Art Licensing Art News"

With regard to my prior references in this article to the new Art Licensing Art News (ALAN) magazine, Art Licensing International (ALI) has advised me that it is NOT the publisher of the magazine.  I also received a post from artist Jenny Newland represented by ALI explaining the content of the first issue of the magazine.  Below is an excerpt from her post:

"I am responsible for the content in the Art Licensing Art News Magazine. My daughter Jennifer Nixon (Editor In Chief) and I (Graphic Designer), collaborated with Art Licensing agents with some of the featured stories in the magazine and our intent was simply to let everyone out there know about Art Licensing and their managment staff, and to showcase many of their artist's artwork. We had NO intentions of impling that Art Licensing International were using this publication to take advantage of artists. They have never done that to me or any other artist I know. Simply the magazine was intended to celebrate their artist and the artist's work. I'd like to address the "fine print" statement in the magazine. It should have never been written and I apologize for publishing the magazine with a legal statement that was not reviewed by a legal professional. It was a stupid mistake on my behalf. I take full responsiblity of the mistake and I am sorry it caused such an uproar."  

You can read Jenny Newland's full post in the below comment section of this article.

Note:  As is the case for submitting material to any publisher, artists who are considering submitting material to ALAN are still advised to carefully read and make sure that they understand the submission rules posted in the magazine before submitting any materials.

Below is an edited version of the original article.

This first issue of Art Licensing Art News features ALI artists and SURTEX news and plan in future editions to have articles on what is going on in the art world, what is hot and what is not. On page 8, they are soliciting magazine readers for articles of their own story, photo, recipe, tip or other submission. BUT, make sure that you read the entire submission guidelines. The section called "The fine print" states that "By submitting material for publication, you grant Art Licensing Art News, subsidiaries, affiliates, partners and licensees use of all material, including your name, hometown and state. We may modify, reproduce and distribute it in any medium and in any manner or appropriate place. We may contact via phone, e-mail or mail regarding your submission."

I interpret the statement to mean that you give ALAN broad rights to use your submitted material, including any artwork shown to illustrate articles, in any manner it chooses. It also gives ALAN the right to change and reproduce anything submitted and to use anything in the submission for any of their own purposes.

After viewing "The fine print" submission statement, intellectual property attorney David Koehser who practices in art and design licensing stated, "Based on the statement, anyone submitting work is granting the recipient a nonexclusive license to reproduce and distribute the submitted work, without restriction. This could include reproduction and distribution in print, electronically, on merchandise, in advertising (for the magazine or for other goods or services) or otherwise. The recipient (ALAN) also gets the nonexclusive right to modify the work, so they could make any changes that they choose to make, including deleting elements, changing colors, adding other material, changing the meaning or message, etc. This grant of rights is nonexclusive, so the artist would remain free to grant the same rights on a nonexclusive basis to others, but in reality no one is likely to be interested in licensing works under a nonexclusive license, especially if those works have already been published elsewhere and if the prior licensee has what essentially amounts to an unrestricted license to use and re-use the works."

Your comments are welcome. Please click on the comments section (below) to write your comment.

There are some interesting comments posted about this article.  Make sure that you read them.