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Using Creative Commons Music For Your Film? Why Not?
By Frey | June 3, 2007
First, a brief history lesson (read on, it gets good - I promise):
Originally, if you were on a film budget, you only had one of four options for acquiring music for your film:
1) Make the music yourself. Of course, if you weren’t a musician, this was not good.
2) Get a musician friend to donate his/her music to your project. Sometimes your buddy’s music just didn’t fit the bill though. Which leads you onto the next option..
3) Find music in the public domain. Of course, this music was usually pretty old stuff.
4) The last option was you to use music that you didn’t have a the copyright/contract/license to use (also referred to as “stealing”). This was ethically and morally wrong, but many people did it anyway and hoped that their project wouldn’t get big enough for people to notice.
So, several years ago, the Electronic Frontier Foundation became frustrated with the record companies, and created a cutting edge license for music that was similar to the software-oriented GNU Public License. The EFF called the new license the Open Audio License (OAL). For musicians, this license was a really cool way of getting your music out there, but, as is the Gnu Public License, it was limited in how it could be distributed. The license was viral in nature, meaning that if it were added to a music piece, the music it was added to immediately fell under the OAL as well. So, in other words, if you used a clip from the music, because you liked a beat or someone’s voice, you had to release your new song under the OAL as well.
Many people didn’t like this viral kind of license - it was way too harsh. Yes, it gave you a “fifth” option, but that wasn’t the kind of license that people wanted to mix with their footage that they’d fought so hard for (especially after they had thousands of dollars wrapped up in film and equipment costs). Soon though, many other different Audio Licenses started popping up - each had their own unique version of how their music could be used, including the Green OpenMusic License and the Creative Commons Licenses (notice the plural, since there are several).
The Creative Commons Licenses were quite different though - they were actually made to be more than just audio licenses. They were made to be used with everything from software, to pictures, to video, to music, and on and on and on. This is the kind of license that people could understand - very straight-forward in the explanations of exactly how the different Licenses would and could be used. Now, if someone wants to use a Creative Commons licensed piece of music in a film, it clearly states exactly how that affects the distribution.
From time to time, although I have some friends who are musicians, I will still use Music licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License. This license is very beneficial to musicians and filmmakers, in that it allows their music to really get out there and be seen by the world via the filmmaker. Since the musicians name will always be attached to their music with this license, people can hear their sound, get interested, and wait for the film credits to see who the musician is…
Basically, the license states that you are free to Share (copy, distribute and transmit the work) and to Remix (adapt the work). Note that adding the music to your film would be considered “remixing”. But, you have to follow this condition: You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Also note that, for any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. The best way to do this is with a link to this web page. Also, any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder. And finally, nothing in this license impairs or restricts the author’s moral rights (see the creative commons website for more info).
Again, there are several Creative Commons Licenses, but you really should go to the Creative Commons website and check it all out for yourself. Explore the Audio section and see what all the site has to offer (which is a lot). But don’t just stop there! Look around on the internet and you’ll find many musicians using the Creative Commons licenses.
Oh, one more thing - the musicians, believe it or not, would love to know that their music is being used in your film! Contact them and let them know you’re using their music. You can even send them a DVD when you’re finished. Believe it or not, these people are very much interested in you using their music - it gets their name out there and it allows others to hear of them - it’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.
btw: Feel free to comment on this - I’d love to read feedback on what you think.
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Topics: Post Production, other |
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