How NOT to run an art "contest" (Moved from Community Activities)

[eviltreestudios]

Contest is being revised.

[kayness]

so what's the brief?

[eviltreestudios]

What do you mean what's the brief?

[sone_one]

By posting or otherwise submitting Images, you grant to ETS and all other users of this Site permission to use your Images in connection with their use permitted by these Terms of Use (including making prints and gift items incorporating such Images), including an unrestricted, irrevocable, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free and fully paid up license under all Intellectual Property Rights to copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, reproduce, edit, modify, translate, transmit and reformat your Images, with or without having your name attached to such Images, in any manner or form and for any purpose, with full rights to sublicense such rights through multiple tiers of distribution. You will receive no compensation with respect to the use of your Images.

so youre basically saying "send us all youve got so it becomes ours and we'll use it as we please, without any form of benefit for you." right?

[7oz]

Not sure if anyone else agrees, but I find this kind of thing insulting. Why do people think they can just get artwork and design for free by coaxing people into joining their "contest"? "Oh you win a prize", "it will be great exposure!", I mean the prizes aren't even that good? Seriously we aren't some grade 4 art class.

Now, speaking as graphic design student, I will always go by what my instructors told us: "The only person you work for free for is your mother."

/end rant

[ashess]

Now, speaking as graphic design student, I will always go by what my instructors told us: "The only person you work for free for is your mother."

/end rant

but, duud, its not for free! you got a CHANCE to win 20 bucks!!!

oh no wait, its a gift card. for their own shop.

[SmallPoly]

Here's my design.



$20 plz kthx

[7oz]

Here's my design.



$20 plz kthx

Well you got my vote

[kayness]

hahahaha, you guys are too great! I was just initially confused by what they wanted...

I thought there would be something more than that but I suppose you guys are right, it's just, 'hand over everything you got and it'll be ours' thing.

[eviltreestudios]

We apologize for anyone who feels insulted by this. We are a young company who were simply trying to give artist who are having a hard time getting work an opportunity to get looked at. We are open to suggestions as to what we can do to make this more beneficial to people who are interested in something like this. So please if you have positive and sincere suggestions please list them and we will make changes. As far as the legal stuff written, that is stuff that we are required to put up per our lawyers. We were NOT trying to take advantage of anyone or "get art for free". So Once again you have our apologies. So please tell us how we can make this better for you.
Thank you
Evil Tree Studios

[Elwell]

So please tell us how we can make this better for you.

Fire your lawyers. Or yourselves.

Here's the original post, before the OP's edit. The Community Activities section of CA is for challenges/contests/activities from within the CA community. What follows is exactly what NOT to do:

ETS is having an art contest for the first season of the Evil Tree/Vegas Royalty clothing line. Send us all of your designs: hats, shirts, jackets, pants, coats, belts and etc.
Prizes:

1st Prize: Will have their design selected and and put into production for the first ever ETS/VR clothing line, a single piece of the winning merchandise, their design developed into an ETS video game and a 20$ gift card to use at any Vegas Royalty location or online.

2nd Prize: Will receive a single piece of the winning merchandise and their design entered into a ETS video game.

3rd Prize: Will receive their design in a ETS video game.

The top 10 pieces will be mentioned on Evil Tree Studios facebook and website.
www.eviltreestudios.com www.vegasroyaltylv.com

Send all submissions to: [email protected]

Legal:

SUBMITTED MATERIALS
All materials that you post on or otherwise submit via the Site and Services (“User Materials”) shall not be confidential information or trade secrets owned by you or any other party. You will receive no compensation for any use of your User Materials. Evil Tree Studios LLC or ETS may, but is not required to, post or use any of your User Materials that you may post or otherwise submit. ETS does not pre-screen User Materials that users provide or otherwise submit via the Site or Services; however, ETS may remove any posted or submitted User Materials from the Site or any Service for any reason without notice in its sole discretion. By posting or submitting your User Materials, you represent and warrant that you own or otherwise control all of the Intellectual Property Rights and other rights to your User Materials as described in these Terms of Use, including all the rights necessary for you to post or submit your User Materials.

In addition, by posting or otherwise submitting your User Materials that contain images, photographs, pictures, videos, webcasts or that are otherwise graphical in whole or in part ("Images"), you represent and warrant that: (a) you own the copyright in such Images, or that you have obtained all necessary license(s) from the copyright owner(s) of such Images to use such Images, or portions thereof, in keeping with your use in connection with the Site, the Services and as otherwise permitted by these Terms of Use; (b) you have the rights necessary to grant the licenses and sublicenses described in these Terms of Use; and (c) you have received consent from any and all persons depicted in such Images to use the Images as set forth in these Terms of Use, including the distribution, public display, public performance and reproduction of such Images. By posting or otherwise submitting Images, you grant to ETS and all other users of this Site permission to use your Images in connection with their use permitted by these Terms of Use (including making prints and gift items incorporating such Images), including an unrestricted, irrevocable, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free and fully paid up license under all Intellectual Property Rights to copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, reproduce, edit, modify, translate, transmit and reformat your Images, with or without having your name attached to such Images, in any manner or form and for any purpose, with full rights to sublicense such rights through multiple tiers of distribution. You will receive no compensation with respect to the use of your Images.

You are solely and entirely responsible for all of your User Materials that you post or otherwise submit via the Site or Services. You shall assume all risks associated with the use of your User Materials including any reliance on the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of your User Materials. ETS does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of your User Materials. You acknowledge and agree that by accessing or using the Site or Services, you may be exposed to User Materials from others that are offensive, indecent or otherwise objectionable.

EVIL TREE STUDIOS’S RIGHTS TO SUBMITTED USER MATERIALS

For all of your User Materials that you post or otherwise submit to the Site, including (a) comments to Communications Venues, (b) feedback, (c) bug reports, (d) piracy reports or (e) product suggestions, you grant ETS and the users of this Site an unrestricted, irrevocable, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free and fully paid up license under all Intellectual Property Rights to use, reproduce, publicly display, publicly perform, copy, edit, modify, translate, reformat, transmit and distribute such User Materials, with or without having your name attached to such Images, in any manner or form and for any purpose, with full rights to sublicense such rights through multiple tiers of distribution, and you also acknowledge and agree that ETS is free to use any ideas, concepts, know-how or techniques that you provide for any purpose without any compensation to you. You acknowledge and agree that ETS shall not be liable for any failure to store User Materials on the Site at any time.RESTRICTION AND TERMINATION OF USE

ETS may block, restrict, disable, suspend or terminate your access to all or part of the Site, Services and Materials at any time in ETS’s sole discretion, without prior notice or liability to you.

ETS reserves the right to do any of the following, at any time, without notice: (1) to modify, suspend or terminate operation of or access to the Site, or any portion of the Site, for any reason; (2) to modify or change the Site, or any portion of the Site, and any applicable policies or terms; and (3) to interrupt the operation of the Site, or any portion of the Site, as necessary to perform routine or non-routine maintenance, error correction, or other changes.

[Elwell]

Also, from a professional business standpoint, you probably want your site to contain more than this:

[eviltreestudios]

The company that handles our website they are having technical issues with their servers. We apologize for the inconvenience and we will have the site back up as soon as possible.
-Evil Tree Studios

[JeffX99]

This thread should be moved to: BS.org (Business Sense.ohrg).

[AvP]

I think having Evil in your name gave it away.

[PxelSlayer]

Or the fact that your legal disclaimer was, like...three times longer than your actual contest post...
Don`t get me wrong, having all terms and conditions out is great, but seriously...It`s like

"Draw me a tree...

LEGAL - we reserve rights to this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this...."

Get it?

[Shorinji_Knight]

I don't know any artist that would think this is ok. If you are a "studio" you should know better. It reads like a scam. If you had a lawyer give you that spiel (which I seriously doubt) then you need someone who understands working with artists. I think the first thing you're going to have to provide before anyone will ever take you seriously is some kind of pedigree that proves that you or your "studio" has actually done something before.

[ashess]

For all of your User Materials that you post or otherwise submit to the Site, including (a) comments to Communications Venues, (b) feedback, (c) bug reports, (d) piracy reports or (e) product suggestions, you grant ETS and the users of this Site an unrestricted, irrevocable, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free and fully paid up license under all Intellectual Property Rights to use, reproduce, publicly display, publicly perform, copy, edit, modify, translate, reformat, transmit and distribute such User Materials, with or without having your name attached to such Images, in any manner or form and for any purpose, with full rights to sublicense such rights through multiple tiers of distribution, and you also acknowledge and agree that ETS is free to use any ideas, concepts, know-how or techniques that you provide for any purpose without any compensation to you.

@ ets- here is the main problem in my eyes. having cheap prices is ok.. well, not nice, but it's ok. here you're basically saying artist will loose their rights if they enter anything. this is, seriously, not the normal way to do this.
you could have had a licence for publicicing in any relation to the contest instead. and one covering the winners maybe, but again, I think giving away a piece of art -for ever, in whatever way someone wants to use it- for 20 bucks is.. well I guess im not starving yet.

[arenhaus]

I think giving away a piece of art -for ever, in whatever way someone wants to use it- for 20 bucks is.. well I guess im not starving yet.

Not for 20 bucks. For a SMALL CHANCE to get 20 bucks.

[Brashen]

I move to create a shit list for studios that do this and have it as a sticky. We've racked up quite a few over the years.

[s.ketch]

Game designers and "idea men" need to learn to draw and 3D model and texture themselves before they even attempt to create a studio. Walking a mile in an artists shoe's will give you insight on what the work entails. Give yourself your own restrictions and restraints and ask yourself "How does this make me feel?"

[kayness]

I move to create a shit list for studios that do this and have it as a sticky. We've racked up quite a few over the years.

oooh. Got a link?

oh wow. now it's moved, this thread really took off! I feel almost embarrassed for the OP.

[Eric Lofgren]

Contest is being revised.

Seriously, don't even bother. There is simply no benefit to the artist with any sort of contest, with the supposed benefit of exposure being a joke and any rewards being inconsequential.

[Elwell]

Not for 20 bucks. For a SMALL CHANCE to get 20 bucks.

Not for a small chance to get 20 bucks. For a small chance to get a 20 BUCK GIFT CARD FOR THEIR CRAPPY STUFF.

[Shorinji_Knight]

Not for a small chance to get 20 bucks. For a small chance to get a 20 BUCK GIFT CARD FOR THEIR CRAPPY STUFF.

...which is probably gonna be made from the images you sent them in the first place.

[Jason Ross]

Contest is being revised.

I bet it is considering the ConceptArt.org ass whoop'n that was handed down.

[Brashen]

oooh. Got a link?

oh wow. now it's moved, this thread really took off! I feel almost embarrassed for the OP.

Don't have any links, but a quick search would probably result with a few hits. That's if the mods haven't deleted them already. There were countless occasions were studios were offering the same crud, and other scenarios where they were stealing art and purporting it as their own.

Contest is being revised.

And as for revising the contest. You've sullied your name here and can no longer have anything to do with this community.

[Vermis]

You've sullied your name here and can no longer have anything to do with this community.

Bit harsh? Not allowed to realise his mistake and run things a bit more realistically/honestly in future?

[Elwell]

Bit harsh? Not allowed to realise his mistake and run things a bit more realistically/honestly in future?

Not gonna happen. Remember, these are the geniuses that can't even keep their site live.

[Noah Bradley]

Awww. I was really counting on winning that $20 gift card. Darn.