Happy Birthday CC

We talk a lot about social media here and it's worth noting that much of this remix culture and grassroots creativity bubble-up is predicated by Creative Commons licensing.

We had hoped to throw a proper birthday bash for CC this year but, there's a lot going on in our world so, in lieu of that, here's a Creative Commons primer and best wishes for turning 6 years old on Dec. 16th, 2008.

IP Laws Primer

Intellectual property laws are a wee bit confusing to say the least. For content creators, you gut feeling might tell you it is somehow important to protect your stuff to the point that no one can use/listen/share/enjoy without express permissions and/or wrapped in advertising. However, to paraphrase Tim O'Reilly (IIRC) "more artists struggle with obscurity more than piracy."

The advent of CC licensing allows you to grant an alternative to traditional copyright laws. By liberalizing the controls on how you want others to use your "stuff" allows artists to expose their work with a vast (dareisay) market for truly independent creations.

For artists willing to take the step, the theory suggests that by applying a less-restrictive license, you can grow a larger, more enthusiastic audience, quicker, and more cost-efficiently without the financial shackles and machinations of a major record label, book publishing house, or other usual gatekeepers who have (temporarily) solved the distribution puzzle. 

Gre/ay Areas

Creative Commons does not mean "public domain" (though you can apply no copyright), and does not mean you are giving your stuff away, nor are you giving away commercial rights - to sort out the big picture conundrums, here's a list of things to think about.

Creative Commons isn't without gray areas - in some ways this is an evolving social experiment in which we are all defining answers to: What  is commercial use? What constitutes attribution? What about model releases? These questions are bandied about, with real world examples, at Darren Barefoot's The Practicalities of Flickr and Creative Commons and Duane Storey's Creative Commons, Flickr and You.

How about some examples?

In practical terms, more liberal licensing allows podcasters to find theme music, collage artists to find source materials, bands to use photos, fans to share audio recordings, writers to find readers for enjoyment and feedback. From my vantage point this movement proclaims "It's *our* culture, and if it doesn't cost to share the stuff, then share it."

Our pal KK is a great example of blowing up a fashion and editorial photo reputation hyper-fast by 'giving it away' - he makes bread doing the shoots, not selling the prints and all sorts of bands and geeks use his shots for avatars and album covers. The Grateful Dead are spiritual godfathers of the "we're done with it, do whatever you want with it" movement by allowing fans to trade tapes of shows. (disclaimer, Dead.net/Rhino Records is a Raincity Studios client).

New Way vs. Old Way

Growing by Sharing is the New Way. The Old Way is best explained by paraphrasing rock band Boston, (ergo: word hard and wait for the man to arrive with the cheque and your life will be awesome).

Playin' for week in Rhode Island
A man came to the stage one night
He smoked a big cigar,
Drove a Cadillac car and said,
"Boys, I think this band's outtasight;
Sign a record company contract!
You know I've got great expectations!
When I hear you on the car radio
You're gonna be a sensation!

License Tool Box

So, how do you actually use Creative Commons licensing? Here's what they/you/we say (after the break):

One year ago I decided to offer myself a very special birthday gift: I accepted a full-time position with Raincity Studios. The wrapper looked cool, the card was inviting and it sounded good when I shook the box.

Little did I know what was to come when I accepted the offer... We were a crew of six at that time, occupying the cosy 525 Seymour office and working on small and engaging projects. Then talented new team members and soon-to-be-friends joined our gang. Next there was the fruitful Bryght acquisition and, more recently, the opening of the Shanghai office. We are now a family of 27 hard-working, dedicated and fun-loving people, collaborating together on larger exciting projects. It feels like I'm still unwrapping the gift...

The PC Turns 25... Oh, I Remember When You Were Just This BIG!

IBM launched its' first personal computer 25 years ago this month in 1981. According to an article in this week's The Economist, we are meant to mark this IBM anniversary as THE benchmark that saw the first PC "that ended up defining the standards around which a vast new industry then coalesced".

The article goes on to say that we should also be celebrating what this PC brought to all of humankind: cheaper computers, more readily and widely available, more useful, and of course, the ever-advancing and evolving new technologies, from voice-over-internet to online commerce, to the overall communications Mecca that we all could now never live without (!).