Guidelines for Media Participants

Overview for Press and Media 

Built on a virtual canvas from the artistic ecosystem that is Black Rock City, BRCvr provides participants with a dazzling spectacle of awe-inspiring digital artwork and captivating eye candy within the platform, all of which is licensed for each participant’s personal use. 

Since the virtual space does not allow for the issuance of press badges or for participants to spot physical cameras, it is of the utmost importance to us that any press and media be respectful of the privacy of all participants and ensure media is used in a way that upholds our community principles of decommodification.

BRC Media Agreement

If you are shooting images or video for personal, non-public distribution (i.e., just sharing with friends and family through your personal social networks), you do not need to sign a separate agreement.  

If you plan to attend BRCvr as a Press or Media Participant or use any footage professionally and/or through public distribution, you will need to sign our BRC Media Agreement first, and abide by the following sets of Guidelines for Media Participants.

What Is Personal vs. Professional Use?

“Professional Use Media” is used to describe any media project that is intended for public distribution.

Personal Use Media:

Virtual burners are welcome to use the virtual AltSpace camera to capture photos, videos, and audio recordings obtained at the event for their personal use, which includes:

  • Sharing with your friends and personal social media networks.
  • Displaying on personal websites—as long as the websites do not sell any products or services, and do not pretend or appear to be an official Burning Man or BRCvr website.
  • Posting to your personal accounts on photo-sharing sites such as Flickr, Instagram, YouTube, and Tumblr—as long as the posts aren’t commercial in any manner and the accounts aren’t used for purposeful promotion. You may not directly monetize any media through paywalls or advertisements.

Even if your images and videos are for Personal Use, you must read, understand, and follow the Photo & Video Rights and Responsibilities below. Every virtual burner with a camera has a responsibility to be respectful to the community and its members!

Professional Use Media:

If you wish to use any photo, video, or audio from the event for any non-personal use, you must sign our BRC Media Agreement first, and abide by the following sets of Guidelines for Media Participants.

Non-personal use includes:

  • Publishing photos in a printed or online book, magazine, or newspaper.
  • Using footage in a professional quality video.
  • Displaying images on a non-personal website or in a gallery show.
  • Using imagery in a documentary or TV show.
  • Distributing media to any third-party group or publication. This includes offering photos for publication, or making any commercial or promotional use of event media.

A general rule of thumb for whether a use is non-personal: Is the event imagery being used for financial gain, OR being widely distributed beyond your personal network of friends and family? If either of these is true, please sign the BRC Media Agreement and read the Guidelines for Media Participants below.  You are also responsible for obtaining clear and informed consent from the subjects in your photos and/or video. If your image or footage violates the privacy or other rights of another participant, you should not display it in any public manner. 

Guidelines for Personal and Professional Projects

Whether you are shooting photography or videos in virtual reality for personal use or a professional project, every participant in AltSpace / BRCvr agrees to:

  • Respect other participants’ privacy and ask for permission BEFORE shooting.
  • Not distribute video that violates someone’s personal privacy (e.g., capturing private information via someone’s voice, such as an address, phone number, financial information, or other personal information).
  • Abide by the BRC Media Agreement and secure any necessary use licenses from artists or interviewees for all professional projects not qualifying as news coverage (we can help put you in touch with the artists).
  • Seek and receive permission from Big Rock Creative before distributing publicly.
  • Remove images from distribution if requested.

Any participant representing a publication, news organization, or non-personal blog will need to apply for approval. 

Photo & Video Rights and Responsibilities

  • You have the right to express yourself and create art as a photographer, videographer, and/or audio artist.
  • Unless you have prior written permission from BRCvr, you may only use photos, videos, or audio obtained at the event for personal use – and only if the photos, video, and/or audio do not contain information that would violate someone else’s personal privacy.
  • You are responsible for respecting the participants you wish to record and seeking their permission before photographing or filming them. If you are asked to stop filming, you must do so immediately. You have the responsibility not to interfere with the immediate experience of other participants.
  • The Burning Man symbol, the phrases “Burning Man” and “Black Rock City,” the design of the Burning Man (aka “the Man”), as well as other key city infrastructure are protected by trademark and/or copyright law. In keeping with the principle of Decommodification, these trademarks and copyrights may not be used for any commercial or third-party purposes without Burning Man Project’s written consent. 

Professional Use Rights and Responsibilities

  • Anyone who plans to shoot video or photography in BRCvr for non-personal use must sign the BRC Media Agreement before filming. 
  • All members of the media—and anyone else who plans to make non-personal use of event imagery—must use the word PRESS or MEDIA in your AltSpace Avatar User Name so other Avatars can recognize you as such.
  • You must use model releases for all recognizable individuals. We may ask for verification of these releases before granting permission to use an image or footage commercially.
  • The copyright of a design, written work, artwork, or performance is owned by the person or group who created it. You must ask permission before capturing such artwork and performances and obtain signed model/property license(s) or release(s) from all appropriate parties.

Trademarks and Copyrights

Protecting Our Community

Guided by the Ten Principles, BRCvr actively protects the event and our community from exploitation and commodification, whether deliberate or accidental. The foundation of that protection is our policies for the use of our intellectual property (“IP”) and imagery from the BRCvr event. These policies have two objectives:

  1. Defend the principle of Decommodification by limiting the use of photos and videos from the event, and of recognizable words, symbols, and designs belonging to our licensors, which are protected by copyright and trademark laws; and
  2. Protect participants’ right to privacy, freedom of expression, and creative immediacy, which avoiding having participants or their art used as a backdrop for commercial shoots or advertising campaigns without their express written permission.

How BRCvr Regulates IP

We monitor the use of our IP, our Licensors’ IP, and event imagery all year long. Participants are also sensitive to these issues and keep a watchful eye out for unauthorized uses.

Our interest in regulating IP and image use is more than philosophical. In addition to protecting the privacy and rights of our participants and artists, we are legally obligated to enforce our trademarks and copyrights, as are our Licensors, in order to retain them and avoid confusion with third parties. If we do not remain diligent, the legal rights and protections that our principles and culture enjoy could be diminished against future violations. For example, our Licensors routinely enforce against promoters who advertise “Burning Man” parties or use the Burning Man symbol or images from the event without their permission.

Trademark & Copyright Use

“BRCvr” is a protected trademark of Big Rock Creative Inc. The Burning Man symbol (logo), “Burning Man,” “Burning Man Project,” “Black Rock City,” “Decompression,” “Precompression,” “Burnal Equinox” and “Flambé Lounge” are protected trademarks of Burning Man Project. The design of the Burning Man (aka “the Man”) and Man base, the map and layout of Black Rock City, the design of the City’s lampposts and the Ten Principles are protected copyrights of Burning Man Project.

These trademarks and copyrights may not be used for any commercial or promotional purpose whatsoever without prior written permission from Big Rock Creative (for BRCvr) or Burning Man (with respect to their protected trademarks and copyrights identified above). In order to preserve the “Man” for use in gifting and as an affinity symbol for our culture, we do not license this symbol, or any likeness, for commercial or outside purposes. 

If you have a question that isn’t addressed here, feel free to contact us at athena@bigrockxr.com.