[advocacy] Open/Free/Personal music licenses

[Daniel James]

> > > 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.
>
> Hm, how does it depend?

On the motivation of the artist. Some prefer artistic freedom to 
making a job out of their art. Even if that means keeping the day job.

> There's no demand to finance and promote
> artists, whose music you may not use in any way you want, while
> there are artists kissing your ass that would sell you everything
> from their rights to their souls and grandmothers.

Perhaps the content industry only signs up spineless and compliant 
musicans, no matter how good their music is? The test would come if a 
new artist emerges that all the labels want to sign, but who wants to 
keep their rights, having listened to advice from previous 
generations of musicans.

> That's why I think that a free music license must address both the
> liberal, self-aware artists, as well as those who would do anything
> to earn just a little bit with their music. 

We can appeal to the latter groups self-interest...

> So who's gonna pay a single cent to get my music from a
> commercial peer-to-peer network while dozens of free networks share
> my song,

Probably no-one - I didn't claim that commercial peer-to-peer works. 
I think it can work for word-of-mouth style promotion with free 
networks.

Don't get hung up on the idea that a download is something that 
should be paid for in the way that a CD is. So far, there is little 
evidence that people are prepared to pay for them.

> > The middleman needs the artist more than the artist needs the
> > middleman.
>
> Are artists (making entertainment music, for example) really that
> rare and wanted?

Not rare - it's just that the middleman doesn't really create 
anything. Recorded music is only 100 years old, while music itself is 
probably thousands of years old. 

> For me, OGG Vorbis is neutral concerning redistribution

The content industry has turned it into a with-us-or-against-us 
battle. If you don't restrict the use of your player/encoder/format 
on their terms, you are their enemy.

> My music is
> important to ME in the first place, and it must not be exploited by
> anyone besides me or someone I choose.

Absolutely.

> > Downloading your tracks now...
>
> Let me know what you think :)

Cool - thanks for sharing them with us!

Daniel 

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