It is feared by some in the music business that some musicians and songwriters will unwittingly turn to CC when it is launched here: a web-based record label, Magnatune, has already been set up based on CC principles and David Byrne and The Beastie Boys have already been featured on a CC compilation album.
It seems that this article is in response to a seminar at MIDEM, a music industry trade show in Cannes, France that Magnatune exhibited at last year (we didn't exhibit there this year). The article seems to confuse a Creative Commons license with "public domain", which are very different things, but is interesting to read as a knee-jerk reaction.
Needless to say, I received a very different reaction during a panel discussion I participated in today at Stanford University, with Lessig, two lawyers and the CC's Glenn Otis Brown. http://www.stanford.edu/group/SESLA/
Below is the complete article text:
CC creates industry concern
The Music business is casting a wary eye over over the imminent arrival in
the UK of a new license scheme for creators.
The Creative Commons (CC) license, which has roots in the US philanthropic
and academic community, is designed to enable artists, film makers,
writers,programmers and others gain maximum exposure for their work
without users having to obtain the time-consuming permissions that normal
copyright requires.
CC, which was the subject of a seminar at Midem, eminates from the US's
prestigious Stanford Law School, which issued it first licenses in the US
in 2002; a draft license has been drawn up by the University of Oxford's
media and law department ready for it to be launched in the UK.
It is feared by some in the music business that some musicians and
songwriters will unwittingly turn to CC when it is launched here: a
web-based record label, Magnatune, has already been set up based on CC
principles and David Byrne and The Beastie Boys have already been featured
on a CC compilation album.
MPA chief executive Sarah Faulder voices concern that young acts could
'give up everything for no money and irrevocably' in their keenness to be
heard. Patrick Rackow, barrister at Steeles Law, believes that the CC
license is totally unnecessary . 'This is not an alternative to
copyright,' he says. 'If people want to give their work away they have
always been able to do that.'
Once a work has been passed into CC it an never be retrieved, which
Faulder and others believe would be disastrous if a new group signed its
first single away to the public domain with a CC license and then
discovered it had the potential to become a worldwide hit.
British Academy of Composers and Songwriters chairman David Ferguson says
that the CC model may work in the US, but European copyright law operates
for the creators as much as big business.
'In certain areas like academia I think it is fine,but not in music or the
audio visual world,' he says.
It seems no one there actually read a CC license!
This line is the shining example: "MPA chief executive Sarah Faulder voices concern that young acts could 'give up everything for no money and irrevocably' in their keenness to be heard.".
Wait a minute - isn't that what they do when they sign a deal with a record label?
Posted by: Keith Crusher | February 17, 2005 at 08:02 AM
I think magnatune is great, and I only hope that other record labels adopt a similar strategy.
The big music industry boys are terrified of the fairly direct way in which tunes can be sold online, with artists getting a large share of the royalties. It means that all the music biz middle men and hangers-on become obsolete.
Posted by: Bob Mottram | February 17, 2005 at 12:14 PM
What a disgustingly uninformed article! And plenty of FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt). (Is it designed to generate FUD, or is it simply an expression of their own FUD?)
>"which has roots in the US..."
Make it feel like a foreign invasion.
>"give up everything for no money and irrevocably"
Ignore the tru nature of CC licences.
>"If people want to give their work away they have always been able to do that."
Yes, but not in an easy and consistent way that reduces burden on creator and consumer.
The reference to Magnatune et al is unfairly linked to the "feared by some" sentence by a colon, as if to say, "Look! This new evil is already gaining ground! Obviously they chose CC unwittingly."
>"...the CC model may work in the US, but European copyright law operates for the creators as much as big business."
Two unrelated clauses in that sentence. It doesn't explain why CC is not appropriate in Europe. It also ignores the fact that US copyright law is also designed to help creators, even if European companies have not yet caught up to US companies in taking advantage of copyright for their own benefit.
The article neglects to mention that (or the author is unaware that):
- Licensing with CC is not placing work in the public domain.
- Many artists are not sitting on the verge of releasing a major hit. A good band could create interest with easy-to-distribute songs, then apply full copyright restrictions to their next "worldwide hit" if they have success.
Oh, to be able to beat some sense into the author(s) and MPA chief...
Posted by: Nathan Jones | February 17, 2005 at 04:14 PM
Hi John,
There's an interesting article on AlwaysOn about copyright and music that is related to your post, it is called :
"Whistling in the Dark : The Internet and Napster have shaken up the music industry, and its old business model is dysfunctional and broken. More changes are coming."
02.17.05 @00:41
"Martin Pichinson, a former music manager who now restructures and liquidates companies (including many Silicon Valley startups), asks entertainment attorney Ken Hertz, music industry journalist Bob Lefsetz, and president of the Recording Academy Neil Portnow for an overview of the state of copyright in the music industry at a Churchill Club session called Copyright vs. Right to Copy: Intellectual Property and Artists' Rights in the World of Technology."
http://www.alwayson-network.com/comments.php?id=7953_0_1_0_C
Thought it might be interesting to read.
Keep up the excellent work done with MagnaTune!!!
Posted by: Nicolás Amado | February 18, 2005 at 03:51 AM