Stealing is not a form of flattery, nor it is sincere.

William Beckett Tumblr Fanpage: "collecting" images without permission & reposting is also known stealing, also known as copyright infringement.

It has recently come to my attention that there several of my photos stolen that I took from 2 separate concerts of The Academy Is… and reposted on a Tumblr fan account dedicated to “William Beckett spam”. From what I gather the “spam” part being the person who owns the account “collects” photos of the band, concert images, etc. without the consent of the photographers/those who own the license to the photographs. You might think this is all well and good, but it’s not. In fact, it’s ILLEGAL!!! And why is it illegal? Because it’s COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT. I have fellow photographers who have had their concert/band photography stolen by these so called “fan pages” on Tumblr as well.

Look, I get it. You love the band, and you want to share your love with other fans via the internet with photos. However, it’s still illegal if you’re not getting permission from the photographer/owner of the copyrights. I own the copyright to these photos, and might I add that the copyright symbol isn’t just there for decoration! It’s MEANS I OWN THE COPYRIGHTS AS THE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE IMAGE.

When I became a photographer and started passionately engaging in myself in concert photography, I started to understand all the hard work it entails and why they have copyrights. The complacency in some people really bothers me when it comes to this matter. “It’s the internet, it happens,” or it’s a “sharing” community doesn’t cancel out the fact that you’re doing something illegal and will be facing legal consequences if you don’t respect the rights of the photographer. On another note, in the matter of “sharing communities” such as Tumblr, it’s just as simple as the things you learned in kindergarten: When you take something from someone, it’s not sharing!

So this means don’t repost my photos ANYWHERE. This means on your blog, your Tumblr, your photobucket, your livejournal, your flickr, your fan message board, etc. etc. etc. You get it.

If you run a fan website (meaning you own the domain and are respected as a sole provider in fan information by the band you are supporting and the band supports your site), then please contact me if you’d like to have my photos on your website, and I’m sure we can work something out. Otherwise, REPOSTING ANYWHERE WITHOUT MY WRITTEN PERMISSION IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED. I cannot stress this enough!