Hey. I was thinking of making a fan site on a pretty popular kids show. This would be my first website that I would have made, but am still tossing around ideas. I was just wondering, as a fan site, can it have pictures of the tv show on the web site for both it's design and extra illustration to posts? Or do I have to steer clear of using pictures, and things like that? As you can tell, I currently know very little about the web business Any help is greatly appreciated
I believe you would need some sort of disclaimer on your site to show your not claiming its yours. Hope that helped!
Yeah, a disclaimer should be used, and maybe some sort of source-link for the images. You could even try contacting the TV licensing for the program and see what they say - I'm sure they'd be happy to help.
Just make sure you don't copy exessive amounts of images or video. As to the domain name try not to include their copyrighted name in the domain, they could legally nab it off you.
Everyone in entertainment has, Press releases, bios, promo's, pr kits, and photos that are for promotional purposes. Start with that stuff, and you may even email them and ask for more. Also, You Tube is a great resource. If it is entertainment, or promotion, I am sure they have released some stuff on You tube. That's how I get all of my stuff.
Thank you very much for all the information. I should be able to think up some good domain names to try, and hopefully will be able to find some kind of 'fan kit' for the website.
be careful to check the license on "fan kits" or in your communications with them be clear if the site is to make money or not. Most fan stuff is designed for people making not for profit websites (ie fans) and if you have a for profit site then licensing fees must be paid.
That is not necessarily true. Every site, magazine, trade pub, and T.V. show is for profit. Everyone that reports on, writes about and promotes any kind of entertainment is a money making entity. You do not need a license to use promotional material to promote., and if you are selling products from this TV show through an affiliate program, or Amazon it is not a violation to use the promo materials to promote the sales. How could Rolling Stone promote a new album for an artist, without showing the cover, and promo photos. You cannot recreate, distribute or resell the promo materials, but you can use them for their purpose.
hmansfield, You and CashinX are talking about two seperate things here. CashinX was talking about fan kits. These are designed for fans, every day Joes, not for magazines. Press/promotional material is a different issue (which is what you are talking about). Grim, be sure to use press/promo material from the source though. If it does not come from the show/network directly, you might end up using something that a photographer and not the network owns the copyright for. Also, it is important to note that while all shows should have promo material, a small website is a different animal than a large publication. In this case (a kids show) they probably have stuff to just hand out, but some places will have different material (and possibly cost) for promo material for different levels of exposure. Just check with them and use what they give you.
Yeah, guess I'll look on the tv show's sites, find what I think is the promotional material, then contact them asking if I would be able to use it, for what i'm hoping too.
Don't confuse yourself with mainstream media, like Rolling Stone Magazine, Fox, etc. What they do isn't always the same as what you can do. Here's an example. Disney puts out audio press releases. Can you just throw them on your site like Fox or someone else does? Nope. From their site: DISNEY PARKS AUDIO FILES ARE PROVIDED FOR EDITORIAL NEWS USE ONLY BY MEMBERS OF THE PROFESSIONAL NEWS MEDIA AND MAY NOT BE COPIED, DOWNLOADED OR REDISTRIBUTED FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE. Notice the words PROFESSIONAL NEWS MEDIA. That's sources like Fox, CNN, Rolling Stone Magazine, and forth--not some guy from Jersey with a blog.
Yeah, what i'd be doing is more giving information on when new seasons are coming out, big events in the show, free fan made games, and a forum to discuss it all.
I have found it very easy to just ASK for promo material. My blog has only been up 2 1/2 months, and I receive press releases, photo's, tour info, podcasts, and I just ran a give away for signed copies of two brand new releases from, The Thrillseekers, "Night Music 2" and Stoneface and Terminal, "Wide Range" (Trance Music) that was suggested, and backed by the artist management, as well as my own copies of new releases sent to me, that I have reviewed and posted up, and I have more contests coming up. All you have to do is ask, and if they like what you are doing, they will send you stuff all the time to get the word out.
Awesome, yeah, one site I've seen that does a popular kids show gets exclusive interviews with the writers ... I guess if it helps advertise their show, they will think about doing it.
All you need is a disclaimer on the overall footer and also a disclaimer on your contact page is not needed but will help from people contacting you to complain about the site or send fan mail which will get very annoying fast.