[advocacy] Open/Free/Personal music licenses

[Daniel James]

> I read through a couple of licenses already, and I couldn't find
> one that sounded appropriate for me 

Licences are like standards - there are so many to choose from!

> - it appears that all these
> licenses are either written by programmers that try to transfer the
> open-source ideology to music or by internet users that don't care
> about much except for the legality of redistributing the music.

I think I do care about both of these things, plus the ability of 
professional musicians to make a living.

> I am sure that it is a Bad Thing To Do to change the license after
> a song has been released under it.

I'd agree. That's why reserving commercial exploitation to the artist 
is important for anyone who wants to make a living out of their own 
music.

> The
> least they want from me is a 2-years-exclusive right on the tune,
> though. What now? It's already released under this open music
> license, where I gave away rights for free. The label wants ALL
> rights.

You should never sign all rights over to a label. You need their CD 
pressing and distribution (plus maybe publicity) in return for a fair 
cut of the CD price, not a Faustian pact. If the label insists that 
your music should not be downloaded from the internet, they are 
dinosaurs and best avoided.

> That's why for an artists it's not the music
> that is valuable, but the rights he has about his works.

That depends on the artist, but in the conventional system the artist 
signs their rights away, in any case.

> Common artists
> don't have the ressources to distribute their music to enough
> end-users to make a living from it

Until peer-to-peer...

> The
> only problem I see is the conflict between free redistribution on
> the Internet and being able to make money on CDs.

CD's have many advantadges to the music lover - I still buy them, 
don't you?

> This wouldn't be
> a problem if I had an own label and kept all my rights in-house,
> but as soon as 3rd parties get involved it's an issue.

The middleman needs the artist more than the artist needs the 
middleman.

> The conclusion is that my terms and conditions of use are totally
> restricted. I reserve ALL rights, all I allow is that people
> download my tunes from my website and nowhere else, don't
> redistribute it, etc.

Redistribution is the crucial issue. 'secure' formats are designed to 
frustrate it, Ogg Vorbis encourages it via portability and good audio 
quality.

> I am sure my listeners don't care much about
> those restrictions and give my tunes to their friends or share it
> otherwise when they like it.

So why not give that activity your blessing? It's saving you 
bandwidth. 

Downloading your tracks now...

Cheers

Daniel

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