In a move that has left intellectual “property” (IP) advocates completely dumbfounded, artist and redditor obilex recently released not one, but eight high-resolution original works of art on Reddit. The images are free to download and no copyright is claimed. What's got the IP supporters really confused is that obilex is still making money.
Yesterday the artist announced the image giveaway with this post:
“I'm a digital painter/artist that just got into Bitcoin, I realized I have no easy way to sell prints to you guys, so I'm pulling a Radiohead. Here are some High res images, look at em, print em, tip me, or don't!”
As you may remember, the album “In Rainbows” that Radiohead decided to give away in 2007 was among their most widely-shared and profitable.
Obilex seems to be Bitcoin-savvy as well, as he's using a GreenAddress wallet to accept tips, which uses multi-signature security.
Obilex's move may prompt other visual artists to join both the fashion and cuisine worlds in completely bucking intellectual “property” claims in favor of making money and gaining popularity. The artist concluded in his post:
“[…] I paint a bunch digitally, and normally sell via a third party printer, but they only accept paypal and credit. Originally I was pretty stingy about watermarks and preventing people from printing my stuff but I just said screw it, Here are a bunch of high res wallpapers that I have painted or matte painted! Feel free to print them out if you'd like, I figure if somebody wants my art badly enough, who am I to get in their way[?] Bitcoin is something I would like to see more of in the art industry; it really makes being a worldwide artist a feasible thing for folks!”
You can check out Obilex’s art gallery at his website www.obilex.com and instagram.
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