Licensing Music Under Creative Commons

Completely and utterly unrelated.

Moderators: raboof, MattKingUSA, khz

User avatar
nathan
Site Admin
Posts: 405
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2006 8:53 pm
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Been thanked: 5 times
Contact:

Licensing Music Under Creative Commons

Post by nathan »

I was wondering what Creative Commons License (if any) you fine Linux musicians use to release your music. Why do you choose CC if you do, and why do you retain full copyright if you don't? I'm beginning to really think about how I'd like to start releasing my music, and I'm curious as to what's already being done.
User avatar
GarryO
Established Member
Posts: 167
Joined: Mon Apr 06, 2009 7:30 pm
Location: UK
Contact:

Re: Licensing Music Under Creative Commons

Post by GarryO »

Hi, Nathan. I publish my tunes under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike license, for several reasons.

I like Creative Commons because it is the multimedia equivalent to the the Gnu Public License.
The GPL lets us use and share all this cool software.
Creative Commons lets you do the same thing. You can share, but you don't lose your copyright or ownership or control.

The nitty-gritty: I do what I do mostly for my own satisfaction, so it costs me nothing to share.
My music has no commercial value. I don't / can't back it up with live performances.
However I do want credit for what I've done and I would like other people to take the same approach if they choose to remix or whatever ( not happened yet AFAIK ).
I don't specify the Non-Commercial option because the likelihood of someone having a commercial use for one of my tunes is very small; but even if they did, giving them an initial freebie wouldn't hurt.

But maybe the most important thing is that having adopted the CC BY SA license,
I can build on the work of other people who've licensed the same way:
for example I've been able to do remixes of works by Ken Restivo and Dave Phillips, because they chose to share. I can use samples from the Freesound Project to spice things up.
All I have to do is give credit where it is due.
Choosing to share opens up creative possibilities that would not otherwise exist.

Whether any of this applies to you, I don't know.
studio32

Re: Licensing Music Under Creative Commons

Post by studio32 »

GarryO wrote: I like Creative Commons because it is the multimedia equivalent to the the Gnu Public License.
That's not totally true and a subject of an hot debate, I read recently.... GPL protects some fundamental/ethical rights, CC gives the possibility to skip those...
I can build on the work of other people who've licensed the same way:
for example I've been able to do remixes of works by Ken Restivo and Dave Phillips, because they chose to share. I can use samples from the Freesound Project to spice things up.
All I have to do is give credit where it is due.
Choosing to share opens up creative possibilities that would not otherwise exist.
Yeah that's an cool thing, and those remixes are cool too!

I read this paper last week, interesting stuff also about CC

http://goto10.org/flossart/
Free to download
User avatar
nathan
Site Admin
Posts: 405
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2006 8:53 pm
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Been thanked: 5 times
Contact:

Re: Licensing Music Under Creative Commons

Post by nathan »

Thanks for those replies, guys! I really appreciate hear about what license you use and why, GarryO. I'd love to hear from anyone else as well if they'd like to chime it.

As a composer, I hope that my music will one day have commercial value, and I'd like to make at least part of my living off of composing, so I'm really interested in models for this that allow viable, simultaneous commercial activity and CC licensing.
studio32

Re: Licensing Music Under Creative Commons

Post by studio32 »

how can you make money in music business? Let's brainstorm:

- selling songs/ cd's
- donations for example Radiohead way
- sponsors
- giving concerts
- selling merchandising stuff
- selling copyrights to allow other artists to use your songs
- making songs for projects like films
- contract by label


things that help
- popularity
- good music
- friends in music business
- broad social network
-

what is you view on music, culture and freedom?
-
-


a + b + c = your strategy
thorgal
Established Member
Posts: 739
Joined: Mon Apr 07, 2008 6:04 pm

Re: Licensing Music Under Creative Commons

Post by thorgal »

well, my view is rather contraposed : I hope that one day, I won't have to make money to make a living :)
I produce music because it's great fun and I must say I have no choice, it's just screaming from inside to come out! I would be very frustrated if I could not do let it loose.

The rest is secondary.
User avatar
GarryO
Established Member
Posts: 167
Joined: Mon Apr 06, 2009 7:30 pm
Location: UK
Contact:

Re: Licensing Music Under Creative Commons

Post by GarryO »

here is a couple things that may be of interest:

a (free) book, Larry Lessig's "Free Culture" : http://www.free-culture.cc/freecontent/

and Mr. Lessig again at the excellent TED : http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/larr ... ivity.html

Lessig is a founding member of the Creative Commons, and a member of the Free software Law Center, an organisation that provides legal services to free-software developers.
User avatar
simta
Established Member
Posts: 81
Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2009 3:35 am
Contact:

Re: Licensing Music Under Creative Commons

Post by simta »

i released my "free as in freedom" track under creative commons - Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike. other tracks i would probably release under the same.
HP laptop 1.6GHz dual core 2gig ram
Ubuntu 8.10 + Fedora 10
Tascam US-428
zotz
Established Member
Posts: 20
Joined: Mon Sep 29, 2008 7:23 pm

Re: Licensing Music Under Creative Commons

Post by zotz »

simta wrote:i released my "free as in freedom" track under creative commons - Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike. other tracks i would probably release under the same.
When you put NC in the license, you kick "free as in freedom" out the door. Try getting a license with NC terms listed as a Free Software License by the FSF if you doubt this.

all the best,

drew
zotz
Established Member
Posts: 20
Joined: Mon Sep 29, 2008 7:23 pm

Re: Licensing Music Under Creative Commons

Post by zotz »

nathan wrote:Thanks for those replies, guys! I really appreciate hear about what license you use and why, GarryO. I'd love to hear from anyone else as well if they'd like to chime it.

As a composer, I hope that my music will one day have commercial value, and I'd like to make at least part of my living off of composing, so I'm really interested in models for this that allow viable, simultaneous commercial activity and CC licensing.
I write lyrics for Packet In and I use Creative Commons BY-SA for my stuff, so far I think everything the band has done together uses that license.

I am interested in the subject of your post and have been putting together a couple of pages that relate to it:

Packet In Income Ideas Page
Packet In Promotion Ideas Page

Happy to brainstorm with anyone who is deeply interested in Free Art/Culture and in the possibilities of earning a living while making Free Art. (I hope that was clear.)

all the best,

drew
User avatar
Chipfryer
Established Member
Posts: 362
Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2009 12:43 pm

Re: Licensing Music Under Creative Commons

Post by Chipfryer »

What is the FSF please?
User avatar
autostatic
Established Member
Posts: 1994
Joined: Wed Dec 09, 2009 5:26 pm
Location: Beverwijk, The Netherlands
Has thanked: 32 times
Been thanked: 104 times
Contact:

Re: Licensing Music Under Creative Commons

Post by autostatic »

Free Software Foundation: http://www.fsf.org/
User avatar
Chipfryer
Established Member
Posts: 362
Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2009 12:43 pm

Re: Licensing Music Under Creative Commons

Post by Chipfryer »

Ah ok Auto Cheers for that.
Interesting topic.
User avatar
Chipfryer
Established Member
Posts: 362
Joined: Tue Nov 24, 2009 12:43 pm

Re: Licensing Music Under Creative Commons

Post by Chipfryer »

So ok.
I'm looking at a number of options for copyrighting my work. It's clear that the system we have over here is in backlog, indeed 2 years for conformation of any sort is ridiculous. Does CC copyright your work? I'm no bothered about people covering it, altering it so long as credit is supplied.

What if credit is not supplied to the terms of the license? What then?
zotz
Established Member
Posts: 20
Joined: Mon Sep 29, 2008 7:23 pm

Re: Licensing Music Under Creative Commons

Post by zotz »

Chipfryer wrote:So ok.
I'm looking at a number of options for copyrighting my work. It's clear that the system we have over here is in backlog, indeed 2 years for conformation of any sort is ridiculous. Does CC copyright your work? I'm no bothered about people covering it, altering it so long as credit is supplied.
1. There is having your work copyrighted. These days, this is automatic in most places.
2. There is registering your copyright. I think this is optional in places where copyright is automatic. I am guessing this is what you are speaking of.
3. There is licensing your work to others. This is mostly optional. The Creative Commons licenses are one way to license your work to others. You can license works falling under #1 or #2 above.

That is my rough take a a regular person. Does that make any sense? Research further and ask a lawyer if needed.
What if credit is not supplied to the terms of the license? What then?
If you had licensed your work under one of the cc licenses that require attribution (perhaps they all do) then they would be violating your copyright. I think. I remember the GPL is intended to work that way. Haven't checked that aspect of the cc licenses lately. (If ever.)
Post Reply