In all art forms, whether it be writing, music, architecture, fashion or what have you, there are usually more well-known artists or larger companies that will steal the ideas of less known, yet more creative artists and companies. The larger artists and companies don't have the creativity or talent as the smaller, but they have a bigger audience, more money, more connections, or a more marketable look or sound. This draws in an audience or customer base, and the original creator of the work is never known, or becomes known long after the bigger name cashes in on their ideas and work.
If you have a small business of any sort, you are at risk for being targeted by larger names for ideas. And it may happen sooner than you expect. For example, there are social media content creators who are experiencing this, even though they only have 500 followers. Their posts are being taken and reposted by people who have 20,000. As long as there is value in your business, artistry, or content, you are at risk for being stolen from, no matter how small your name is. Luckily, there are some precautions you can take that will help you to protect your brand...
1. If you are promoting your business online, particularly on social media, make sure your friends and followers are not larger businesses that make a similar product or service to yours. Keep your competition out of your space. You may even have to beware of the smaller businesses that are similar to yours, because they are capable of stealing from you as well.
2. Copyright, patent, or watermark your merchandise and content so that it can't be stolen, at least not without consequences.
3. Perfect your work so that copycats will not be able to duplicate your work with the same quality and value that you put into it. If they tried anyway, it would just look counterfeit.
4. Know your work's worth. There are some works of art that creators are selling a lot cheaper than it should be. Some are giving away free samples or free content that shouldn't be free. Know the worth of your work and price it accordingly. Sometimes the right price point is all you need to keep out those who want to steal free or cheap art.
We live in a capitalistic country and people are always trying to cash in as much as they can for as little effort as possible. This has made people lazy. They don't want to work for anything, they don't want to invest in what they're building, and they don't want to give credit to those they are stealing from. Everyone must protect themselves from these vultures. Protect your brand, protect your ideas, protect your artistry.
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