I’ve been wanting to write an article on the Creative Commons music scene for a while.  This is a subject that I find fascinating and quite honestly really inspirational.  As a precursor for the uninitiated let me first try to quickly explain the concept of Creative Commons.  Creative Commons is an Not for Profit Organization that released a number of licences freely to the public.  Unlike pure copyright, these licences allow the creator to indicate which rights they wish to either waive or reserve.

A common mistunderstanding is that Creative Commons is an alternative to copyright.  This is not the case; let me explain.  Copyright is a principle of Law.  If you create a video or a piece of music, your work is protected by the laws of copyright in your country.  Copyright says that by default, people cannot copy, perform, distribute, broadcast or otherwise use your creation without your explicit consent.  The exception being Fair Use, but I’m not going to go  into that here.  Creative Commons licences do not replace copyrights.  What Creative Commons does is modify some of the default principals of copyright.

So as an example, lets take the Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike Creative Commons licence.  A work carrying this licence carries all the protections that copyright grants; however you may copy, distribute, display and perform the work and make derivative works based on it so long as you give the author credit for the work in the manner specified and use it only for noncommercial purposes.  In addition, the ShareAlike part stipulates that any derivative work you your create must carry the same license as the original.  The original artist still owns the work.

I used the above example on purpose.  On the internet today is a thriving community of first rate musicians, DJ’s and artists who are creating music and releasing it using the same Creative Commons licence I just described.  The intention being that creating a piece of music is not so much the end goal but a foundation on which other artists can build upon.

We are seeing websites that are designed with the intention of facilitating musical collaboration.  Tracks, musical parts and samples are released on these sites using Creative Commons licences.  Other artists are encouraged to download these components and remix them into entirely new pieces.  It’s a brilliant idea.  The leading site in this regard is ccMixter.org .  Catering to both the artist and the music enthusiast.  I encourage you to go have a look at their About Page as they explain the concept quite succinctly.  This site is really the place to be if you’re into remixing, sampling and mash-ups.  Often the site will be hosting a “call to remix” or “secret Mixter” (similar to a Secret Santa).  Truly novel ideas when it comes to musical production.  There are also a number of artists who release a cappella tracks.  This encourages people to put together songs using these vocals.  The result is a torrent of remixes based on this originating a cappella performance.  The differences and creativity in the output is really astounding.  A number of innovative mainstream artists have released samples to the site, Beastie Boys, Chuck D and David Byrn to name a few.  I recommend you have a look the Picks page for the best of the best and what’s hot at any given time.

Another website that operates with the same principle is Indabamusic.com. Indaba Music, like ccMixter is a site designed for inter-artist collaboration and idea sharing. The site features an enormous library of clips that are Creative Commons and it allows users to work with. Collaboration is the name of the game with Indaba. The admit that they’ll never replace being in the same room with other musicians, but they if this is the alternative it’s still great! Like ccMixter, Indaba hosts remix contests. These often feature mainstream artists: The Roots, Mariah Carey, Yo-Yo Ma, John Legend, Crystal Method, Alkaline Trio to name a few.

The second site you need to visit on our tour is Jamendo.com.  Unlike ccMixter, Jamendo is more of a free music store where the content is for noncommercial use.  The site facilitates licensing should you wish to purchase commercial rights to songs.  Artists using Jamendo usually package their music in album format or as 4 or 5 song EP’s complete with cover art.  The Creative Commons licence is clearly displayed and for the most part the content is licenced as free for noncommercial use and ShareAlike.  Jamendo is very well laid out with a Billboard style chart and popularity rankings.  The music is tagged by genre so it’s really easy to find music in the genre you enjoy.  There’s also a free iPhone application that ties into the site and your account quite nicely.  I’ve grabbed some really great music off of Jamendo.  Go make an account.

Another site that’s certainly worth mentioning which I see as an up and coming Creative Commons superstar is Soundcloud.com.  Soundcloud is designed for artists and labels to upload and showcase music and easily allow tracks to be shared and listened to by other Soundcloud artists and certainly the public.  The way the site facilitates these activities is really spectacular.  They offer a lot of great tools including dropboxes, an API for 3rd party developers and of course the Soundcloud Player which is central to the sites functionality.  Apart from simply allowing playback, the player allows for comments to be added to the tracks chronologically during playback which is a great idea as you’ll see.  Many of the comments that listeners leave are specific to that moment in time during playback.  Check it out below and you’ll see what I mean in this great track, a Lisa Mitchell remix by Nilow (Licenced as CC-BY).

Lisa Mitchell – Neopolitan Dreams (Nilow Rmx) by bf-recordings

Now Soundcloud isn’t a pure Creative Commons site like Jamendo and ccMixter.  In fact, most of the music on Soundcloud is not available for download and carries standard copyright.  I felt the need to include it here however because they do have full support for Creative Commons licenses.  An artist who uploads a track can specifiy at that time what the licencing is, all rights reserved, no rights reserved (public domain) or one of the many Creative Commons licenses.   Soundcloud have also gone to great lengths to put Soundcloud out there into social network scene.  There’s great integration with Wordpress, Blogger,  Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc.  The problem is that Soundcloud, for whatever reason, will not let you search by licence type.  Until this feature is implemented it’s really not in the same class in so far as facilitating the use of Creative Commons material as Jamendo or ccMixter.  Get with it Soundcloud; your site rocks, make it rock^2.

There are a few other sites worth checking out too.

Magnatune.com with the motto “We are not evil” is primarily a music licensing site however offers all it’s music free for “Non-comercial use” as defined by the Creative Commons Licence.

Dogmazic.net based in France is predominantly Creative Commons site much like Jamendo and offers a lot of great artists.

Electrobel.be is another European offering.  Based in Belgium it features mostly electronic music. I find this site fairly inactive recently and the server seems to have issues more often than not.  There are however some great tracks hosted on it.

I don’t have a whole lot more to say about the subject.  My goal with this article was to introduce Creative Commons music to my readers and shed some light on this great concept and where to start exploring.  You might be asking yourself just what does the artist gain from Creative Commons.  There is some criticism towards Creative Commons in the sense that it conceivably destroys the means by which an artist would get paid.  Remember that Creative Commons was not designed with artist compensation in mind.  What Creative Commons does is introduce a flexible means for artists to distribute and share their works while retaining control over their rights.

The money question is less about Creative Commons and more about business models.  The business model that an artist or label uses is what really defines how profit and compensation are arrived at.  Exclusively selling CD’s for $24 in music stores while fighting in the courts against every person or entity that violates your copyrights is one business model.  Releasing your music free for download as Creative Commons and relying on file sharing between fans to create hype, then making profits from the sales of tickets to live shows is another business model.  Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails is perhaps the one truly mainstream, “superstar rock god” who has embraced Creative Commons.  His last two albums, Ghosts I – IV and The Slip were released as free downloads with a Creative Commons Noncommercial licence.  Here’s a direct quote from Trent contained in the readme in the torrent file he released:

“Undoubtedly you’ll be able to find the complete collection on the same torrent network you found this file, but if you’re interested in the release, we encourage you to check it out at ghosts.nin.com, where the complete Ghosts I-IV is available directly from us in a variety of DRM-free digital formats, including FLAC lossless, for only $5. You can also order it on CD, or as a deluxe package with multitrack audio files, high definition audio on Blu-ray disc, and a large hard-bound book.”

The deluxe package was $75 and sold very quickly.  Sure, we are taking about Nine Inch Nails here and he has the kind of fan base to almost guarantee success with this sort of venture; however my point is that his was a different business model and even though the music was released for free, it was still a profitable venture.

I really enjoy listening to and discovering great artists on these sites.  So much so in fact that I have a Shoutcast station playing the content I like.  Check out Citizen Bane Radio for more information.  Visit the sites I mentioned in this article and most importantly, support the artists you find and enjoy.

Citizen Bane

I don’t know how many of you are following the plight of Canadian copyright reform.  I am.  I’m not sure why; I have no stake per se.  I do not produce content on which I rely on copyright enforcement for remuneration.  As far as I’m concerned the material I produce at least with respect to my writing on this blog is Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives,  meaning pass it around as much as you want for free, but mention my name, don’t charge money for it and don’t alter it or add to it.  It is what it is.  I suppose my interest in copyright and copyright laws stem from the implications it has on us in everyday life, especially the implication to those of us who contribute content to the internet.

I am deeply concerned about the direction the powers that be in Canada are taking our copyright policy.  For a long time Canada has been in need of new copyright legislation.  Our current laws are archaic and in need of an overhaul.  As a result, the last few governments have had on their collective agendas the idea of overhauling copyright in Canada.  Unfortunately and unsurprisingly this was the catalyst for just about every anti-piracy pro-copyright lobbyist and organization in North America to start sinking their hooks in the Canadian law makers and asserting their influence.  In the end, what should have become an opportunity for Canada to present the world with a model for copyright reform that faces forward and revolutionizes the concept, instead has become a farce.

As I reflect on the last few years that Canadian copyright reform has been in the media, I am very discouraged.  What started as an opportunity for something good has gradually begun to become more and more disturbing and deeply concerning.  Most recently in the news has been coverage of the secret closed door negotiations on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).  With these negotiations of which Canada is a participant, our country is moving closer to a heavily American influenced quasi-DMCA type of copyright law.

What would this mean for Canadians?  To be honest, I don’t know.  But concepts are being thrown around similar to the three strikes policy already in place in countries such as France (and soon the United Kingdom).  This concept being when internet users are assumed to be infringing on copyrights or conducting internet piracy, offenders will be given two warnings, then after their third get disconnected from the Internet for one year, three strikes and you’re out.

The ACTA treaty would dissolve the “Safe Harbour” principal currently enjoyed by internet service providers.  Meaning ISP’s are not responsible for the actions of their subscribers.  ACTA will remove this “Safe Harbour” and ultimately force ISP’s to police their subscribers for illegal activity. If you life in a household that gets disconnected, it’s not just the perpetrator that suffers, it’s everyone in the family. We live in a society that is so “connected” to have our internet access cut for one year would be “massively scary shit”.

Outright internet piracy aside, the current path copyright is going down with do nothing but restrict creativity and free thought for fear of inadvertently infringing on someone’s copyright.  The ultimate effect will be the dissolution of the internet as we know it.  With the penalty being so severe, so much open communication will come grinding to a halt.  It’s very sad.  The internet will turn into one big commercial machine with the giant media enterprises pumping paid content out to the sheep, er… subscribers.  Instead of moving to a progressive model for copyright, we’re moving back to a 1970’s fear mongering approach that clamps down on any freedoms and punishes customers.

An excellent resource for all things Canadian copyright is Dr. Michael Geist’s blog.  Michael is a law professor at the University of Ottawa where he holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law. He has obtained a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree from Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, Master of Laws (LL.M.) degrees from Cambridge University in the UK and Columbia Law School in New York, and a Doctorate in Law (J.S.D.) from Columbia Law School.  Michael Geist is in my opinion without equal the foremost expert on copyright law in Canada.

Go to his site www.MichaelGeist.ca and read it! I urge everyone to start educating yourself as to how this is unfolding.  If you value your freedom of expression and you feel that the Internet is as sacred as I do, make your voice heard.  Ask your Member of Parliment about copyright reform.  Voice your disapproval to the ACTA.  Voice your disapproval of a DMCA look-a-like in Canada.  Support Creative Commons, it works.  Make yourself heard.