The mistake that landed my face on Times Square
Pay sports content creators - exposure isn't payment.
Thank you for being here. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to Idée Fixe, the newsletter for curious minds. I’m Toni Cowan-Brown, a tech and F1 commentator. I’ve spent the past five years on the floor of way too many F1, FE, and WEC team garages, learning about the business, politics, and tech of motorsports. I hope you’ll stick around.
The mistake that landed my face on Times Square
This is a story I wrote over a decade ago - one about creators, intellectual property (IP), and knowing your worth. Slightly different than my usual business and tech of motorsports, but an equally important one as sports increasingly embraces creators and influencers. So why bring it back up now? Two reasons.
First, I almost found myself in the same situation again recently, which made me realize just how little the influencer and creator economy has changed. Despite all the talk of creator empowerment, brands are still taking advantage of creators, often without their knowledge or consent.
Second, after spending time in LA this past week, speaking with creators and influencers across different industries, one thing became painfully clear: IP theft is rampant, it happens fast and often shrugged off. Almost everyone I spoke with had a similar story - brands using their likeness, images, or content without approval, sometimes maliciously, sometimes through sheer negligence, but always at the expense of the creator. And the result is the same - everyone is making money but the creator.
The Lesson I Learned in 2011
Thirteen years ago, I learned a valuable lesson: young women are easy to monetize, but they rarely see the (full) financial benefits. And when they speak up to ensure that they too benefit from being themselves, they are often criticized - labeled as "difficult," "problematic," or "setting the wrong example."
Take OnlyFans creators, for instance. The reason they face so much backlash isn’t because of the platform’s content but because they control their revenue. No middlemen. No agencies or brands siphoning off a percentage. It’s direct creator-to-audience monetization, and that kind of power shift makes a lot of people uncomfortable. This is a whole other conversation for another day.
Back in 2009, I started a blog called The FashionCloud, where I documented my lifestyle, outfits, and travels. But I quickly realized that putting my life on the internet, day after day, made me more miserable than happy. What I did love, however, were the events - the opportunities to meet incredible people and visit places I never thought I’d go, like the Delvaux factory in Belgium or Rihanna’s first ever fashion show.
One such event was the opening of a Forever 21 store in Antwerp - this is the event that kicked off a series of unfortunate lessons. Here’s an excerpt from a piece I wrote about it in 2013:
"In their slow but steady expansion across Europe, Forever 21 finally arrived in Belgium, opening massive stores in Antwerp and Brussels. Like many other bloggers, I was invited to various PR events designed to ‘get the word out.’ I attended fashion shows, parties, store openings, and was even interviewed for The Skinny, Forever 21’s blog. Finally, I was asked if I wanted to be featured on digital billboards outside the Antwerp store alongside a few other bloggers. It sounded exciting, something new for Belgium, so I agreed and sent over a high-resolution photo of myself.
Three weeks later, my face was up on the big digital screens in Antwerp. Then, it all went horribly wrong."
When ‘Exposure’ Turned Into Exploitation
What Forever 21 failed to mention was that, in addition to the screens in Antwerp (a city of 536,000 people), my face would also appear on massive digital billboards in Times Square - one of the busiest commercial intersections in the world, with “350,000 daily visitors”, in their own words.
I was never consulted. I never signed anything. I never gave permission. It just happened. And I only found out because a follower of my blog emailed to congratulate me on “my big moment.”
It wasn’t a big moment. It was a lesson in how easily a brand can take your image, slap it on a billboard in one of the world’s most valuable advertising spaces, and not pay you a cent, and expect you to be grateful.
The Creator Economy Is Booming - But IP Theft Hasn’t Slowed Down
The creator economy is worth an estimated $250 billion today and is projected to grow to $480 billion by 2027. With over 50 million people identifying as creators, brands have realized they can’t afford to ignore this space. But that doesn’t mean they’ve stopped trying to exploit it.
Even though influencers and creators today are savvier - less likely to accept "exposure" as payment or understand when exposure can actually be beneficial and how to utilise it - the fundamental problem remains: brands assume that if they have access to your content or likeness, they can use it however they see fit.
And this issue isn’t limited to social media influencers. Musicians, artists, and even AI-generated creators are seeing their work repurposed without consent.
The problem is twofold:
Lack of education – Many creators don’t fully understand their rights or the nuances of contracts, licensing agreements, and IP law.
Lack of regulation – The legal framework around digital IP protection is still catching up, making it easy for brands to exploit loopholes. The challenge with regulation is that it is almost always playing catchup to where the industry is heading.
What Creators Must Do to Protect Themselves
After nearly being blindsided again in 2024 - almost a decade after my Forever 21 lesson - I’ve learned that protecting yourself isn’t just smart. It’s essential. The following isn’t legal advice in any way, merely lessons I’ve picked up along the way:
1. Ask the right questions - before the work begins and make sure they stick to it
Brands often withhold information, whether intentionally or not. Always ask:
Where will this content be used? (Social media, website, billboards, TV, etc.)
Who will own the rights to the content? (You? The brand? A third-party agency?)
Will this content be repurposed in the future? (If so, how and for how long?)
What is the payment structure? (Flat fee? Royalties? Usage-based compensation?)
If a brand is vague, press for details - or walk away. And I can’t stress this enough - walk away. It’s not worth it and at the end of the day, these brands need good relationships with creators and influencers and most really do want to make it work and establish a good relationship where everyone is happy.
2. Get everything in writing
Never agree to anything verbally. A proper contract should outline:
Your payment terms (including usage fees for different platforms)
Your image rights (specifying exactly where and how your likeness can be used)
A time limit (e.g., the brand can use your image for 12 months, after which they need to renegotiate)
A clear licensing agreement (so you retain control over your IP)
If a brand refuses to provide a contract? Again, you walk away. That being said, I’ve also made changes and agreed to things on the fly with brands and partners I have a great relationship with but I know that by doing this I’m potentially opening myself up to problems down the line but I’ve almost established a long-term trusted relationship with some of these partners.
3. Trademark your brand
If you’re a creator with a recognizable name, logo, or catchphrase, consider trademarking it. This makes it significantly harder for brands to use your identity without permission.
The Bottom Line
The creator economy has given individuals more power than ever, shifting influence away from brands and institutions to people. But with that power comes the responsibility to protect our work, our brand, and our time.
Because at the end of the day, the only thing a creator truly owns is their name, their image, and their voice. And those are things worth protecting.
🔗 The US Government is not a startup | Wired
It feels like no one should have to say this, and yet we are in a situation where it needs to be said, very loudly and clearly, before it’s too late to do anything about it: The United States is not a startup. If you run it like one, it will break. A phenomenal piece. Read here.
🔗 How Lewis Hamilton Finally Got His Ferrari Red | Time
If it feels like Sire Lewis Hamilton has been in the headlines every other day. It’s probably because he has, certainly in the past month anyway. Read here.
🔗 YouTube’s podcasts now reach one billion users per month | Tube Filter
By pushing its podcast audience past ten digits, YouTube is adding another impressive figure for a category that has grown by leaps and bounds over the past four years. YouTube CEO Neal Mohan recently announced that his platform is “the most frequently used service for listening to podcasts in the U.S.” Read here.
🔗 How to Make it on YouTube in 2025 | YouTube Colin and Samir
If you watch anything this week, please let it be this interview with Jack Conte.
Great insights. Companies will often try to get something for nothing if you don't stand up for yourself.