Tech

OpenAura: The Site That Allows Artists Better Control of Their Images

Whether we like it or not, all of us are surrounded by a digital smog, effluent from our online activities and interactions with sites like Google, online retailers and websites that, er, we’d rather have erased from our browsing history before we died.

Musicians have this problem, too, although their issues are exponentially worse with audio and video files featuring them and their work careening willy-nilly through the Interwebs, regardless of what they want.

OpenAura, a new startup, understands this, especially when it comes to images.  Pando Daily explains:

[T]here’s…the issue of controlling the non-audio content surrounding your musical brand — that is, images. Nowadays all it takes to access an artist’s photo is to go to Google Images and find the best one that is *hopefully* not licensed; the artist has no part in this stream of available images, nor is he or she able to make any money from this process.OpenAura is a startup in beta attempting to put this content back into the hands of artists. It provides a website that aggregates artist images and gives musicians a cut when they are used. Today OpenAura has announced a slew of important content creator partners, including Getty Images, The Associated Press, Beggars Group, The Orchard, Pitchfork Media, and Sony Music Entertainment.

I’m hoping to have a chat with the folks at OpenAura later this week.  I’ll keep you posted.

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 38033 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

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