‘Who Owns My Work, and Why Isn’t It Me?’

Becca Farsace has been the face and mind behind much of The Verge‘s photography coverage for years, including the publication’s “Full Frame” podcast and camera reviews. However, this week, Farsace left to venture out on her own for reasons that hit close to home for many content creators.

In a “Why I left The Verge” video, which is part love letter to the great people Farsace worked with over her eight-ish years at the tech publication and part explanation of why she left, Farsace lays out very relatable reasons for her departure, including how work changed after COVID and what boils down to this question: “Who owns my work, and why isn’t it me?”

Lockdown Changed Everything

“…When COVID happened, everything changed,” Farsace explains. “Instead of making videos with my friends, I was alone in my home. And instead of every take ending with a laugh, there was just silence.”

Without her friends and colleagues, the job lost “so much of what made it special.” Farsace says it was hard to feel a connection, something so many people can relate to. The pandemic changed workplace dynamics in myriad ways, and even when lockdowns ended, many things were just never quite the same.

“Without being able to make stuff with my friends, I just didn’t feel as creative, so I bought an a7C and decided I was going to start making videos for myself,” Farsace explains.

Farsace tells PetaPixel that she has become much more comfortable “cold-calling (DM-ing)” folks she admires or going up to people at events, which will carry through in her post-Verge era.

“Everyone has a project that they are working on, and everyone wants to talk about it if you are willing to ask, but more importantly willing to listen,” Farsace explains. “So now I find that so much of the communal creation culture that I had at the verge exists in DMs and in coffee shops. It’s amazing what can happen if you aren’t too afraid to just say ‘Hi, I friggin love what you do. Can you please tell me more!'”

Who Owns My Work?

When Farsace made that first video on her a7C and started her YouTube channel in January 2021, a creative person’s worst nightmare happened.

“I got pulled into a meeting at The Verge and I was told that at any point in time, they could make me take down any videos they wanted and that I shouldn’t even be sure that I owned anything that was on any of my social media channels,” Farsace says.

“And that really scared me.”

At the time, Farsace had no intention to jump ship or leave The Verge. While Farsace had signed a non-compete when she started at the publication, she didn’t feel that what she was doing on YouTube or elsewhere on her social media accounts was competing.

“Yet, every time I posted a video, I lived in fear of being called into a meeting and being told that I couldn’t do that,” she says, instilling a fear that the publication held some sort of ownership over her.

Further, Farsace believes that colleagues at The Verge hadn’t been told the same thing concerning the content they created on personal accounts.

“That’s just not fair. If there’s going to be a policy, it has to exist for everybody, and I just didn’t see that happening.”

The ownership fears tie into another reason Farsace left — she didn’t own the content she created and put so much time and effort into.

“The Verge also owns all of your work, and that’s tough, that’s really tough to leave behind. So I’m excited to build something that’s mine,” she says.

“Looking forward, I am most excited to review more products that I wasn’t able to at The Verge,” Farsace tells PetaPixel. “But more importantly, I am excited to bring my vlog style to my reviews. It’s already heavily there, but now that my face is the brand I just feel like I can be more authentic to who I am instead of who The Verge is as a whole.”

Farsace clearly loves the people at The Verge and their work but wants to build something she owns, content that is truly hers. It’s a considerable risk, as Farsace admits, but one she’s excited to take.

“I learned so much from my time at The Verge, and the privilege I have to be able to take this leap is not lost on me,” Farsace explains. “But I reached the end of my runway there, and it’s time to fly somewhere else.”

People can expect Farsace to continue making the content she had been making at The Verge, just now on her own and with a more personal, authentic style and voice.

Viewers can follow Farsace on YouTube, Threads, and Instagram.

A Feeling That Resonates

This situation resonates with the team here at PetaPixel. The idea of content ownership is a significant priority with multiple team members here and clearly with many independent creators who have been outspoken on Threads since Farsace posted her video. There is often a disconnect between the nature of business at big publications and how younger content creators view their work.

While there’s no reason to dig into specific contractual details, it has been emphasized that the images I capture for reviews or stories remain owned by me. PetaPixel has a license to my work, of course, but my photos remain mine. Maybe that’s the difference of working for a small, independent publication or perhaps it has to do with the fact our beat is inextricably tied to making art, but it is an important part of why I work here.

As they’ve explained several times on The PetaPixel Podcast, when Chris Niccolls and Jordan Drake joined the PetaPixel team to head the YouTube channel instead of going independent, it was in part because they were able to achieve the security and support they wanted without sacrificing their creative goals or ownership over their most meaningful work.

As Farsace’s exodus from The Verge demonstrates, it matters a lot to people that they own what they make, and with good reason, because creating good content necessitates putting pieces of yourself into what you do. And nobody, nobody, wants to give up that agency, even if taking it back may come with significant risk.