Font Industry Frustrations
Font Burner was created so that there would be a really simple way to add rich typography to your website. You shouldn’t have to be a professional web designer to use fonts other than Times, Verdana, Arial, etc. on your site. I knew that font designers and font companies would be hesitant to this idea, but I had a (perhaps naive) optimism that the value of the growth of typography online would win over the industry players. I might have been wrong.
Since the launch of Font Burner last April I have had several conversations with Font business people and I can’t point to a single person who has shown any interest in embracing sIFR. At best, they are willing to turn a blind eye to the use of sIFR. At worst, they expect an additional payment for a special sIFR license.
Think about that for a second. You legally purchase a font. You can use it freely anywhere you want. In advertising, on television, in a book, on the side of a plane, in your logo, anywhere. But if you want to use this font on your website, stop the presses! Oh, no! If you want to use the font that YOU PAID FOR on your website you will have to purchase an additional license. That is ridiculous. It is greedy, plain and simple.
This type of restrictive stance is a symptom of an industry that is only interested in turning a profit. This became even more clear to me when I had some correspondence with a representative from a relatively unknown font distribution website. I won’t give them the satisfaction of a link or mentioning them by name.
I was approached by this company because they wanted to know if I would be interested in promoting their free font of the month. At first I thought it would be a mutually beneficial partnership. I would promote their free font of the month and in exchange they would let me use the font within the Font Burner system. But when the details of how the arrangement would work were explained, the obvious one-sided arrangement became apparent.
The company had no interest in letting me use their free font on Font Burner. In fact, they don’t allow the use of any of their fonts with sIFR to anyone without an additional license. Yes, you heard that correctly. You would have to buy a license to use a sIFR version of a font that they are GIVING AWAY FOR FREE! To quote:
We would not want our free font of the month posted to your site, either temporarily or permanently. Thus we were hoping that you would simply promote the free font, and link over to our site for users to download it.
Can you believe that? They expect me to promote their products and send traffic to their site without getting anything in return. They expect something for free in one breath and then in the next they refuse to loosen their restrictive policies in the slightest bit! I can’t use the very font that they want me to promote on my site without being in violation of their license! Unbelievable.
I will end this post with my response to this unscrupulous solicitor:
Thanks for clarifying your license restrictions. Unfortunately, I can’t endorse a company that takes such a limiting stance in regard to sIFR. I don’t agree with requiring additional licenses for using sIFR. If you purchase a font I believe you should legally be able to use it on your website without having to pay extra for that “luxury.” Frankly, I think you have more to gain from making it easier for people to use fonts online than by restricting them, but you guys have to run your business however you feel comfortable. Thanks again for contacting me, and keep me in mind if the licensing atmosphere loosens up at (campany name withheld).
Yes I agree with you, people who seek to gain your support must give you something in return. It would be just common sense, I think.
December 20th, 2008 at 5:09 pmI am a font enthusiast and this is baffling.
Most fonts you would be facilitating the use of are ‘free’ fonts, right? That come with a license under which they’re free for personal use?
So someone can download the font, make graphics out of it, and put those graphics on their blog, but Kellogg’s can’t use it for cereal boxes.
So what’s the difference if someone is using it through FontBurner? The end result is the same, and Kellogg’s is still no more apt to use it illegally.
June 26th, 2009 at 10:01 amsmells like the music business to me. Here are some folks that are not willing to sit down and figure out what’s going on in the new world, not interested in innovation. They beg for the status quo or being able to make money off the internet without doing it on the new terms.
This kind of dinosaurism is surely the first step in bringing themselves down in the near-future?
November 2nd, 2009 at 1:06 am