Arts Law: Putting Works online | FAQ’s for Artists and Arts Organisations

Arts Law has put together answers to some of the most common questions they’ve received from artists and arts organisations about showing works online and digitising collections.

Questions such as the below are addressed along with links and resources to help:

• I am an art centre/gallery and I want to put all the artists’ art works on our website to sell them online.  What do I need to think about?
• Are there any Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property issues to consider?
• We work with artists to sell their work. How can we protect their work when we promote it online?
• I have found images of artworks from Google, public collections or other galleries on the internet. Am I allowed to use them on my website?
• Our organisation wants to show works by deceased artists on our website. Is the process different than for living artists?
• We have recorded interviews with people that we would also like to publish on our website and social media. Are we allowed to do this? 
• We have video footage and photographs from events, panels, conferences and lectures that we would like to share on our website or social media. Are we allowed to post these recordings and photos online?
• I am an artist and am thinking about posting my work on social media.  What do I need to think about?
• I am an artist due to exhibit in an upcoming exhibition that has been cancelled and rescheduled as an ‘online exhibition’. What do I need to think about?
• I am an artist whose work has been reproduced online without my consent. What can I do about it?
• We are a performing arts organisation wanting to post videos of our performances online. What do I need to think about?
• We are a music organisation wanting to post video and/or audio recording of our performances online. What do I need to think about?

Contact Arts law if you have any specific legal queries as this information is a general summary only and does not replace getting legal advice.