Free and Open source art content

Discuss how to promote using FLOSS to make music.

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Audio_4
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Free and Open source art content

Post by Audio_4 »

Hi im a aspiring artist who wants to be able to create free and open source content not just limited to music, but also sound effects, digital art and even video games. Where do I even start and where do I begin. Im located in the USA so of course whatever US laws and bs they have.

As for sites or platforms that host the content which ones should I use that benefit FOSS? most people use Sound cloud for example for music but I dont know anything about sound cloud.

As for Audio clips and sound effects where should I contribute those to? It may not be all music but video game creation without sound effects sounds pretty dull.

Extra, If I have trademark or copyright a artist name would I be able to use a fictional character as my artist name? For example "Solaire of Astora" of the Dark Souls fame.

I was thinking of asking this question to a trademark firm but they wouldn't understand the greatness of FOSS and might try to persuade to be a greedy POS like them.
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Re: Free and Open source art content

Post by Basslint »

Audio_4 wrote: Mon Feb 15, 2021 1:53 am Hi im a aspiring artist who wants to be able to create free and open source content not just limited to music, but also sound effects, digital art and even video games. Where do I even start and where do I begin. Im located in the USA so of course whatever US laws and bs they have.
Hello! You should start by learning about the Creative Commons licenses. If you want to make strictly F(L)OSS things, there are three licenses of interest in order of strictness:
1. CC0 -> Equivalent to public domain
2. CC-BY -> Equivalent to MIT/BSD license, attribution to the author is needed and nothing else
3. CC-BY-SA -> Equivalent to the GNU GPL license, attribution to the author is needed and derivative works must be released under the same license

All allow commercial works. This is a requirement for something to be called FLOSS!
As for sites or platforms that host the content which ones should I use that benefit FOSS? most people use Sound cloud for example for music but I dont know anything about sound cloud.
Many FLOSS project need graphic work, as a matter of fact! Just check out your favorite projects which need some visual work and offer your help via email to the author, mailing list or bug tracker (on sites like Github). On this forum there is a board for the MusE DAW, perhaps you could start there!

A site where you could upload your work is https://opengameart.org/ , another is https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
As for Audio clips and sound effects where should I contribute those to? It may not be all music but video game creation without sound effects sounds pretty dull.
https://freesound.org/ (and also https://opengameart.org/)
Extra, If I have trademark or copyright a artist name would I be able to use a fictional character as my artist name? For example "Solaire of Astora" of the Dark Souls fame.

I was thinking of asking this question to a trademark firm but they wouldn't understand the greatness of FOSS and might try to persuade to be a greedy POS like them.
This is complex for me to understand because I am no lawyer and not American. But as far as my understanding goes, you would be fine: Solaire of Astoria is likely not trademarked. The trademark is usually requested for things like the title of a game or of a studio. That said, corporations tend to send cease-and-desist letters even if they are legally wrong just because they already pay their lawyers and people can't afford to fight them (not saying From Software would but better be safe than sorry) so you'd better add some variations like "Solare of Asturia" to be safe.
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Re: Free and Open source art content

Post by milo »

I remember the time before CC licenses. Some people tried to use the GPL or LGPL for music, but it didn't really fit. There was also an Open Audio Licence that people used for a year or two, but it was legally flawed and didn't have as much flexibility. OAL was a copyleft license, and didn't have a BSD-style equivalent. When CC hit the scene everyone pretty much abandoned the other options.

I am not a SoundCloud user, but I know that it is possible to use CC licenses there. It is also possible to allow downloading the actual file, but this must not be enabled by default because very little content on SC has the download button enabled. Maybe I'm just being an old fuddy-duddy, but I like to have the mp3 file in my collection. If I can't download your song, then I will most likely never ever listen to it again even if I liked it.

There were also a few efforts to make dedicated Free audio sites. Freesound.org was one of these. Jamendo.com was one too, at least initially. At the time it started up those of us who wanted to make Free music were still reeling from the demise of mp3.com, and I really wanted Jamendo to fill that void. Obviously that didn't happen.

Bandcamp is also pretty open to CC licenses, if I recall correctly.
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