Permission to Post

WELCOME TO THE AXEL CLUB:

Permission to Post

Every coach likes to celebrate the efforts and milestones of an athlete’s development. Landing the first Axel is always a big one and applauded at every rink. With the excitement of capturing this on video, coaches post this significant accomplishment on social media without thinking through important practices that should be observed.

Individual and Parent Permission

Before using someone’s likeness on a public site, you need that person’s permission. For people under the age of 18, a parent or guardian must grant the permission.

You should have the written consent, release, and/or permission of each identifiable individual person in the video to use the name or likeness of each identifiable individual person.

Written permission should include the individual’s name, the date, and a description of the permission (ex. can be for a specific use or for use in any manner throughout the world of all social media). Permission is necessary for situations such as:

• Video of a minor landing an Axel for the first time

• Pictures of an athlete at competition

• Photos of an athlete with test papers after passing a test

• Minors in the background on a crowded session

As a best practice, any social media posts should include a disclaimer regarding “parental permission to post”.

Copyright Owner Permission

Most online videos use streaming technology and are considered “public performances.” These usually require obtaining two rights: a reproduction right and a public performance right. Consider the following situations and permission questions:

• You take a video of new program choreography with the music playing — do you have rights to publish?

• You take a competition video from the stands — do you have owner permission, are you in compliance with music copyright laws?

Before posting, you should affirm and represent that you own or have the necessary licenses, rights, consents, and permissions to use and authorize the trademark, trade secret, copyright, or other proprietary rights in and to all user groups. For YouTube and music copyright information please visit the following resources:

• https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2797466

• https://copyrightalliance.org/faqs/what-rightscopyright-owners-have/

Educate Participants and Parents

Let’s consider this scenario. A parent videotaped her daughter in a figure skating club ice show group number and posted it on the Internet. In the post, the parent tagged and thanked the choreographer for the beautiful number. The skating club had permission to perform the pieces, but not to record or publish a recording. This is a copyright and ownership issue. The club now makes an official statement and announcement prior to every performance telling parents not to record the performance.

• Educate parents on the potential problems of taking and posting videos of skating performances at the beginning of and during the year.

• Get more than verbal permission to post, get it in writing and keep it in a file.

• Coaches should have individual consent to post when teaching private lessons.

• U.S. Figure Skating has excellent resources to help clubs navigate social media and forms such as Electronic Communication Policy and Name and Likeness Consent Agreement forms.

Please refer to U.S. Figure Skating’s SkateSafe Handbook for all rules, policies pertaining to athlete safety. Any violation of these rules could result in severe consequences.

In the end, if you are not sure you should post a video or picture, err on the side of caution and refrain from posting. There are hundreds of digital images being taken during skating competitions, shows, seminars, etc. every year and the digital images of these athletes will live on in perpetuity.

Keep plugging away with those Axels, but get permission before you post!