I mostly associate with musicians versus other artist types. It seems musicians are generally way ahead of the curve when it comes to being open minded and progressive about new technologies and using looser copyrights (i.e., giving their music away free). But, it seems most of the visual artists I know (painters, photographers, etc) still have a long way to go and get extremely cranky about perceived misuse of their works.

For example, photographers and artists will get extremely hostile if someone uses their work as a Livejournal icon. Bands, on the other hand, actively try to get people to use their songs for their Myspace profiles, etc.

I wonder how long visual artists are going to bang their heads against this wall. Not to suggest all of them are behind the times, or that all musicians are up to speed. Geez, I still see independent bands get cranky because their music is traded on torrents or Rapidshare. It just seems a much greater number of independent visual artists are copyright control freaks. Maybe it is just my own experiences and this doesn’t reflect reality.