This month our label, Broken Window Records , released its first single, Time Bomb. A track I produced at Euphonic Sound, of Toronto hip hop artist Frankie. Go to the podcast to hear Time Bomb!. Also, we have decided to release the footage in wav format, under a CC license, so anyone wishing to remix it is free to do so.

Download Time Bomb wav files

Bill C-61 is a big disappointment for Canadians. Every artist and content creator should be aware of the implications of the U.S. inspired Bill C-61. Read more on the fallout at the Michael Geist Blog. Fair Copyright for Canada is protesting Bill C-61 on Face Book. And Appropriation Art has a message I support. And check out 51st State, an online comic that illustrates the events leading to the governments release of Bill C-61.

The sources above provide comprehensive material on the issues surrounding Bill C-61. I encourage you to become a part of that discussion. However, the topic of this post is The New Copyright, and my goal is to show the other side. The side most relevant to independent artists and content creators.

The New Copyright

A movement from "All Rights Reserved" to "Some Rights Reserved"

By James Pew

If you followed some of the links from my last post - specifically the ones leading to Bob Baker and New Music Strategies - you may agree that, as an independent artist, it is in your best interest to produce much creative content. And not just music alone. Blogs, Photos, Videos, Songs, Ring Tones, Podcasts, etc., are some of the things that make up the full compliment of your creative offerings.

Putting a Creative Commons license on your work allows you to define its state of copyright, specifically, if some, all, or no rights are reserved. The choice is up to you...the creator. Studio Manifesto blog posts have a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License, allowing anyone to copy the work, alter it, add to it, and redistribute it - as long as the author is attributed for the work, it is republished/distributed with the original Creative Commons license, and that money is not part of the equation. If I later decide to assemble my writings into another form, and publish them for profit, I am free to do so. And the people who obtained these writings from our blog are free to continue their use of the material in compliance with the CC license. Once you give a creative work a CC license, it sticks.

Creative Commons offers a variety of licenses, and it costs you nothing to acquire one.

A Creative Commons license may increase viral circulation, if many people copy and redistribute your work. More so if people are permitted to remix or make their own derivative works. In co-ordination with an effective PR campaign, consider which CC license works best for you when the goal is generating attention and awareness of your brand/band, through viral social media channels.

Intended to plant seeds of expanded use and distribution, CC licenses, if used intelligently, could become an integral component of the promotion of your creative offerings.

Remember, you do not need to give away your entire catalog of music, or other creative works. But offering a few key pieces of your repertoire under a Creative Commons License, provides an incentive, or at least removes some barriers, for potential fans, or other relevant content creators, to check you out.

CC Is Not A Replacement For Traditional Copyright.

The internationally accepted standard of the WIPO states that copyright protection is automatic once a creative work is completed in tangible form. Creative Commons is designed to work alongside Copyright. As the holder of a CC license you give up some of the exclusive rights (you decide which ones) of traditional copyright, to encourage greater use and/or distribution of your creative works.

Here are a few examples of websites offering musical works published under CC and CC+ licenses.

magnatune

beatpick

rifflet

ccmixter

The New Copyright by James Pew is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

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