(cc)
July 13th, 2005
Pegritz.com is now officially “copylefted” with a Creative Commons license. In particular, an Attributions-NoDerivs license, which basically means folks can quote, reprint, and otherwise utilize any and all text presented on this site provided that 1) they properly attribute the work to its creator (that is, me) and that 2) they don’t alter the text in any way. Unless, of course, arrangements are made with me otherwise, or basic fair use guidelines cover it.
For quite some time now, I’ve been severely disenchanted with US copyright law in general. There’s nothing wrong with the fundamental concept of copyright: a content-creator, be he/she a musician or a writer or artist of any stripe, naturally deserves ownership of his/her creations, and likewise deserves legal protection for that ownership. But traditional copyright law has become more of a hindrance than a shield these days…mainly due to the fact that digital distribution and interactive media have rendered it almost obsolete, and by definition traditional copyright does not address contemporary media concerns such as sampling, remixing, and so forth. In fact, traditional copyright has become more of a tool used by corporate conglomerates (Music Industry, I’m looking right at you) to protect their interests in - or outright ownership of - an artist’s work, rather than to protect the artist.
I patently refuse to burden any of my intellectual property with an antiquated system that has, over the years, become little more than a weapon of conservative, outdated business models. I’d done some research into alternative rights-management schemes such as ““, however copylefting is prettymuch identical to offering up your work on a public-domain “open source” platform - and I wanted to retain at least my right to authorship. Hence, the reason I was immediately thrilled upon discovering Creative Commons licensing via Charles Stross’ free CC-licensed release of his amazing new novel Accelerando (massive review soon to come). In a nutshell, Creative Commons licenses operate around a much more flexible, but still legally sound, concept of “some rights reserved” rather than the overly-binding “all rights reserved” straightjacket of traditional copyright. CC licenses can be completely tailored to an individual’s own needs, and be as restrictive or as lenient as you, the content-creator, like!
For example, the license I’ve applied to the content of this blog is fairly restrictive, in that I do not authorize other parties to alter one word of which I’ve written–these are my words, and I don’t want anyone else mucking about with them!–but at the same time, I’ve authorized anyone to reproduce this material, be it in a private or commercial environment, as much as they’d like provided only that I be clearly indicated as the author of the text. If folks’ want to give me money to reproduce some of this stuff, great - I certainly won’t turn down cash! - but it’s not necessary, as long as I’m always given proper credit, which is the only thing that really matters to me.
On the other hand, all of the music that I will be releasing under Creative Commons will be licensed under much freer guidelines: I will give anyone and everyone permission to sample, remix, and otherwise dick around with my music provided only that, once again, they give me proper credit as the originator of the material. That’s it. As long as I am identified as the creator of the material - so that someone else can’t pass off a Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos or Retar-D2 track as some original invention of their own - I’m good to go. Creative Commons provides me with full legal protection to demand attribution, but also permit others a MUCH greater freedom to interact with my creations via remixing and sampling, for instance, without fear of legal reprisal.
Best of all, even if I specify a very restrictive CC license for some form of work (this blog, for example), I can nonetheless circumvent my own license’s restrictions via any standard binding agreement - written, most likely - between myself and anyone who wishes to use my work above and beyond the license itself. I am fully permitted to draw up exceptions as I see fit without endangering the basic application of my licenses.
As you can see, Creative Commons licensing allows me complete control over the legal protections deeded to my own works: I can both reserve and release rights to my content as I see fit. In the Digital Age, this makes a LOT more sense than traditional copyright by protecting my fundamental right to owning intellectual property while still allowing me total freedom to distribute it and license it as I alone see fit.
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