This is a response to “What is “Original Content” Anyway?” by ScotchAndPancakes.

I think the spread of content on tumblr is actually one of the greatest things to have happened on the internet. Most of us get too caught up with the idea of owning something we created. We live in a new age where anything is remixed, reedited, reblogged, and reimagined. Nothing is wholly original in this world, everything is inspired by something else. If you post a photo on tumblr that is reblogged thousands of times over and spread over all the internet, why not revel in the impact you’ve had on thousands of lives instead of complaining how no one knows you were the original photographer? This applies to writing, music, drawings, movies, etc. I post original content in the context of content made by someone else, my writing accompanied with music. Some people follow me solely for the music, others only for the writing, and everyone else both. Sometimes I see my writing reblogged, reedited, and sometimes just plain copied and pasted with no credit attached. However, as long as no one crosses the line by taking full credit, I don’t care how much it’s spread because at the end of it I produced something that people were compelled to spread, and that is a worthy achievement. Tumblr is a step forth because we are becoming less greedy with our creative content, every thing is becoming a worldwide collaborative. You can see that the landscape of art is changing. Fewer and fewer people are buying music, movies, and books. There is such an abundance of art in the world, may it be anything from masterpiece poems to a humorous cat GIF, there is no more need to sell it or keep control over it. This abundance of art is the greatest thing to ever happened, because it has increased competition and collaboration. And the competition is no longer in the commercial money-making spectrum. The competition is purely on the creative side. Everyone strives to make a poem that will be read by millions of people on the internet, or a cat GIF that will be reblogged on tumblr thousands of times over, or a song that will be shared on Facebook, etc. This is the new world, content that is made with authenticity is out there, and there is a whole lot more than there ever was. What is happening now is an explosion of art and media unlike anything before, embrace the love that’s being spread around because art is not about who made it, it’s about how it makes you feel and inspires you.