Youâve probably seen TikTok stars Addison Rae and Charlie DâAmelio do the âRenegade.â Theyâve made millions posting viral dance moves on the platform and earned movie, TV, and brand deals along the way. But neither of them created that choreography. It was Jalaiah Harmon, who was 14 years old at the time. Neither DâAmelio nor Rae initially gave her credit, and they apologized only after being called out. Influencers like Rae and DâAmelio have turned their stardom into lucrative careers. Rae, the highest-paid TikToker, made $5 million in 2020 alone, and DâAmelio, the second-highest-paid star, wasnât far behind. But many of the dances that made them popular arenât their own. They took them from Black TikTokers, who donât get the creditâor the moneyâthey say they deserve. âI made a challenge to a Da Baby song called âVibez.â And it went viral worldwide. Everybody was texting me, telling me like, âDamn, your challenge going viral on TikTok,ââ said OâNeil Rowe, a member of Collab Crib, an Atlanta-based influencer house. âI seen all these big people hitting my challenge, but they didn't give me no recognition at all.âThis past June, Black TikTok creators finally went on strike. They stopped creating dances to popular songs to take a stand against the lack of credit they receive. Many of them started with Megan Thee Stallionâs summer hit âThot Shit,â whose official music video premiered on June 10, the unofficial beginning of the strike. But a strike only goes so far, and some turned to copyrights to get legal protection. Thatâs not an easy task. But theyâve got helpâfrom the first choreographer to ever successfully copyright his work. JaQuel Knight is the mastermind behind some of the most popular dance moves of the 2000s. The 31-year-old choreographer rose to fame after creating BeyoncĂ©âs âSingle Ladies (Put a Ring on It)â dance and since then has become Hollywoodâs go-to choreographer, crafting dances for J-Lo and Shakiraâs 2020 Super Bowl halftime show and Cardi Bâs âWAP.â Yet he doesnât own the rights to most of his work. American copyright law hasn't changed much since the 1970s, when choreography was officially added to the revised Copyright Act of 1976. ââSingle Ladiesâ we've seen in feature films, we've seen on multiple TV shows. It has toured the world multiple times. Many people have made lots of money off of doing the choreography. And through all of that, I've made nothing,â Knight said. Traditionally, when a choreographer creates a dance for an artist or label, they sign a âwork for hireâ contract that essentially takes away legal ownership of their creative work. Fed up with this system, Knight set out to change industry standards. In 2020, 12 years after âSingle Ladiesâ debuted, Knight made history as the first choreographer to copyright his work. Today, heâs helping other dancers, many on TikTok, get the rights to their intellectual property as well. âNo one knew in the Seventies that you would be streaming music online or that your choreography would be on a multibillion-dollar game,â Knight said. âAnd thereâs nothing to protect the creators of those 15-second TikTok dances.âTo help protect his workâand the work of othersâKnight launched Knight Choreography and Music Publishing Inc., where he and his manager, Mary Pelloni, are working with a lobbying firm in California to start what they call a âcopyright movement.â He also recently partnered with Logitech to help up-and-coming choreographers get their work registered.âWe've started helping Keara Wilson, who did The Savage Dance, and the Nae Nae twins, who did the Savage Remix, the Young Deji, who created the Whoa that's in everything,â Knight said. (When Rae appeared on Jimmy Kimmel last year to teach him some popular TikTok dances, she didnât mention Wilson.)While Knightâs efforts have gained traction, the viral nature of the internet makes it difficult to copyright every popular dance routine. That hasnât deterred him. âMy goal is to create a system, create a world where, regardless of where you are in this space, regardless of how high-end or how homegrown you are, you know, the system protects you, and looks after you, and has your back. That's the type of system we need.â
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