The first time I started to research the whole Creative Commons licensing system was when I started this blog. I am planning to publish music on this blog so I want to be sure about the copyright issues. For starters let’s take a closer look at UK copyright law.

To get copyright protection to your song you don’t need to register it anywhere. A song is legally protected when it is created in tangible form. After you’ve managed to record your song or write it in the form of musical notation you get some exclusive rights to your work. These rights are as follows:

• To produce copies or reproductions of the work and to sell those copies (including, typically, electronic copies)

• To import or export the work

• To create derivative works (works that adapt the original work)

• To perform or display the work publicly

• To sell or assign these rights to others

• To transmit or display by means of digital audio transmission

Now remember that a song and a sound recording are different legal entities with different kind of protections. Sound recording is the actual physical product while the song is the composition and lyrics. When you sign a record deal with a record company you are usually required to sign over the rights to your recording (phonographic copyrights). However, when you sign a music publishing deal you give the publisher right to exploit your songs copyrights. A song remains protected by law 70 years after the death of the songwriter. Phonographic copyright, however, expires in 50 years after the year when the recording was first broadcasted or on sale. Like the holder of songs copyrights the holder of records copyrights has also some exclusive rights.

• The right to object to various forms of use of the sound recording

• Broadcasting and public performance rights

• The reproduction right

• The distribution right

• The hiring and lending right

Now the thing Creative Commons licenses do is give away some of your exclusive rights, it’s up to you which ones and how many. But why would you want to give away (waive) some of your precious rights, with which you possibly make your living? The big idea behind Creative Commons is to give more freedom to content creators and users. Depending on the type of Creative Commons license the users of Creative Commons licensed content don’t necessarily have to ask permission from the author. This kind of system encourages a free culture where people share, receive and build upon each others’ work.

Creative Commons licenses have a big fundamental problem though: you actually don’t need to license your work under Creative Commons license if you want to waive your rights. You can waive any of your exclusive rights without involving Creative Commons in any way. You really don’t need another middleman in the mix to confuse you more about the copyright issues. However, the actual good aspect that Creative Commons offers is community. They have a large and growing catalog of “some rights reserved” content and to get in that catalog you have to license your work under Creative Commons license. The catalog might have some promotional value and also for creators, who use the “noncommercial” creative commons license, there might be some potential revenue in the form of licensing your work for commercial use.

Personally I think that musicians, who want to make money, should not license their songs with any Creative Commons license, because the revenue potential is low and there are much more efficient promotional platforms that don’t require you to give away your exclusive rights. For starters go to Myspace.com, create your artist/band space and get much more visibility than Creative Commons can ever dream of providing.

Sources:
Mustard - Music Business Resources For Students
Bemuso - Music Copyright
Wikipedia - Copyright
Creative Commons