When it comes to online source acknowledgment, we’re living in the wild, wild west. With more “content” than ever being posted, uploaded, and shared on exceedingly more platforms than ever before, it seems as if more importance is placed on the speed in which something is put up and consumed than properly crediting the parties responsible for creating it.
One person who knows that all too well is Ryan Holman. Last month, the Milwaukee comedian made a Making A Murderer-related meme that garnered millions of views on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, Imgur, various popular blogs, and more. However, his photo and joke went viral with little-to-no attribution going Holman’s way. Similarly, Milwaukee’s Hunter Ruth made a Scott Walker image (see above) that was spread throughout Wisconsin and beyond a few years ago—again, with no credit for doing so. Host Tyler Maas met the pair in Holman’s house to discuss their own experiences making memes, their thoughts on the murky principles of online ownership, and the parallels to theft in the realms of both comedy and journalism. We swear, it’s not as intense of a conversation as it sounds.
As always, this episode is brought to you by our friends at Ale Asylum. Music in this episode comes courtesy of Piles (“Blue Glue”) and Appleseeds (“2-4-10”). Subscribe to On The Record via iTunes or Stitcher (for free!).