Fanart contests are an increasingly common way for celebrities and media franchises to connect with fans. But among professional artists, these competitions have a bad reputation. This explains why Billie Eilish’s new “Make the Merch” contest has been met with an outpouring of backlash on Twitter, drowning out any potential fan hype.
The contest is part of Eilish’s ongoing collaboration with Adobe, which held a similar contest in 2019. a video released on Wednesday, Eilish asked people to submit fanart for official merchandise. Instead of enthusiasm, most of the responses came from people describing the contest as an exploitation.
These competitions are often accused of exploiting fans for free creative work, such as when JK Rowling asked children for illustrations for her new book. This bypasses the typical recruiting process for professional artists, replacing paid spec work with unpaid fan submissions.
One of the main responses to Eilish’s original tweet is a video from a professional artist, explaining precisely why this contest format is so controversial: “Work costs money”.
Several other responses criticized the contest fine print for art submissions, although there seems to be some confusion as to what the guidelines actually mean. While winning artists cede all rights to their art, “each entrant (except the grand prize or a first-time winner) retains ownership of their entry.” Other fanart/fanfic contests often retain ownership of all entry, not just winners, so it’s a better situation than some.
In 2019, the Eilish/Adobe Fanart Contest was won by a 16-year-old who received a cash prize of $1,000, a meeting with her idol, and a one-year subscription to Adobe’s Creative Cloud. She came in ahead of 8,000 other entrants, along with two finalists who won concert tickets but no cash prizes.
The 2022 contest offers bigger prizes: $10,000 for the winner and $1,000 for the runner-up, plus concert tickets and Adobe merchandise. The winner’s art will appear on merchandise and on stage prior to Billie Eilish’s tour performances. To some fans, that will seem like a lot, but it’s clearly unpopular among professional artists and among people who’ve seen similar contests go sour in the past.
The Daily Dot has reached out to reps for Adobe and Billie Eilish for comment via email.
*First published: January 27, 2022, 12:35 p.m. CST
Gavia Baker-Whitelaw
Gavia Baker-Whitelaw is a staff writer at the Daily Dot, covering geek culture and fandom. Specializing in science fiction films and superheroes, she also appears as a film and television critic on BBC radio. Elsewhere, she co-hosts the pop culture podcast Overinvested. Follow her on Twitter: @Hello_Tailor
