A few weeks ago, a content creator I follow on Instagram (who shall remain anonymous) created a Tik Tok of her own. The idea of the video and even the audio was all hers. The audio credit even shows her name. It blew up a bit on Tik Tok, leading to a couple more popular content creators recreating the video on their own. But what bothered the original content creator was that she wasn’t given credit for the idea and audio behind the Tik Tok. Those who recreated the video would later give credit to the original content creator- but only after it took a couple of days after the fact.
As for me, I was disgusted by two things I noticed when this situation unfolded. The first was how slow those who recreated the video were to respond and give proper credit. The second was the few snarky comments I saw from other Instagram users about the original content creator being “entitled”. The argument was that she was acting “entitled” for wanting to have credit for the idea that she had created.
Is it true that people who want credit for their work are entitled? No, of course not. Artists aren’t acting entitled when they want credit for the art that they worked hard on. Musicians aren’t entitled when they want credits for lyrics they write or melodies they created. Writers aren’t entitled when they want credit for the words they write. This goes for content creators as well.
I find it ridiculous that the idea of getting credit is seen as being entitled or difficult. Creative people deal with this the most- and no matter what industry you’re in, it’s always frustrating. In my opinion, it’s basic decency to give credit for someone’s work. Whether it be a video, song, artwork- whatever it is, giving credit is important and necessary.
If you think that doing something so simple isn’t necessary, you need to consider something. For the sake of simplicity, let’s go back to the Tik Tok I mentioned at the start of this blog. When you watch it, you’re looking at a video that’s about 10 seconds or so long of someone acting in it while lipsyncing. What you didn’t see was all the time and effort that went into filming the video. You didn’t see the many takes that occurred before getting the final shot. You didn’t see the set-up that was needed to film the video on a smart phone. You didn’t see how the video’s audio was created. The entire process could’ve taken a couple hours or an entire day. It’s not nothing- it takes a LOT of time and effort to create content, let alone good content.
There’s one more thing to point out that matters: payment, or a lack thereof. Most content that’s created is done on a creator’s dime without being paid to do it by a company. Sponsored posts are one thing, but not all content creators can or will such posts. That means they aren’t being paid to take pictures or create videos for social media. That’s what makes getting credit even more important. It shows that you care about the integrity of their idea enough to give it the credit that it deserves.
If you recreate someone’s original idea, the least you can do is give them proper credit. It takes a moment to do it. Accidents can happen- you upload a photo that isn’t yours but don’t know where it’s from, only for the creator to claim credit for it. Again, it takes but a moment to fix this mistake. It may not mean much to you, but it means a lot- a LOT– to the original creator.
What are your thoughts on this subject? Have you had to deal with a situation where you weren’t given credit for something you created? Let me know in the comments down below!
xo,
Elizabeth
Elizabeth Sarah Larkin 