[Advocacy] CreativeCommons tagging

[Conrad Parker]

Hi,

I've been following the rise and rise of music made with Linux, which
have been announced on this list and Jan Weil has been listing at:

  http://linuxaudioblog.jawebada.de/music

Many of the released files have no licensing information. In most parts
of the world, this implies "All Rights Reserved".

If you are making music, or samples, that you are happy to share with
others then you should consider tagging your files with a CreativeCommons
license.

Embedding licensing information allows people using music browsers and
search engines to _find your stuff_ (songs, samples, source materials --
it's up to you). We want Linux distributions to provide tools for people
to find and use free media, and music made with Linux should be ready for
that.

General information about embedding licensing information is at:

  http://creativecommons.org/technology/embedding

More specific information about putting licensing information in Ogg
Vorbis files is at:

  http://creativecommons.org/technology/ogg

This basically involves adding a LICENSE comment, such as:

LICENSE=Licensed to the public under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/ verify at http://example.com/cclicenses.html

Using the commandline vorbis-tools, these tags can be added easily:

 * To add licensing information to an existing Ogg Vorbis file:

  vorbiscomment -t "LICENSE=Licensed to the public ..." file.ogg

 * To add licensing information while encoding a WAV file to Ogg Vorbis:

  oggenc -c "LICENSE=Licensed to the public ..." file.wav

Please include the URL of the license you choose in the LICENSE tag.
Information on CreativeCommons license choices is at:

  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/

Looking forward to a web of free music,

Conrad.