dragoncontv.com

Dear friends at ccmixter:

I like to keep up with various uses of my Creative Commons material by others. Part of the fun is knowing that the material circulates a bit virally, popping up all sorts of places. I know others of you do, as well. I notice that http://dragoncontv.com features a lot of little quick-time bits of vidcast satire, suitable for portable media players, often accompanied by a ccmixter artist Creative Commons soundtrack. Even one of my own things, "Freedom (Techno Plano mix)" has been featured, in a brief ditty about the TV show "Charmed", here:

http://dragoncontv.com/index.php?s=gurdonark

I notice that a lot more work by other people at the mixter are also featured in other videos, and can be accessed from the site. It's worth taking a look at, as the little vids are amusing and the ccmixter use is substantial.

Some of the songs I saw attached to short films are:

Music By: shagrugge
Song Title: New Earth Atomic (aftermath mix)
Song Title: Sax, Flute, n Glass”

Music By: PorchCat
Song Title: Winter Thoughts

Music By: zikweb
Song Title: Where birds are gone?

Music By: His Boy Elroy
Song Title: Revolve

Music By: cdk
Song Title: HC-7 (cdk mix)

Music By: Dj Lenin
Song Title: The Great Pumpkin (remix) Instrumental

To me, this kind of small-scale media circulation is why I release Creative Commons--to allow others to mix it up, cut it up, mash it up, and remix it all, for the fun of everyone.

I contrast the experience with my own experiencea few years back trying to get a mandatory recording license for the old mariachi classic "Guadalaraja", which I had "sampled" for use in a Christmas kazoo CD for friends (which actually spread, too, in another, and fun, story, but for another day).

I'm familiar with mechanical licensing, and I was able to track down the rights even when the major services did not handle them. Finally, I got my answer on a rights license from a mildly obscure rights holder outside the main services (at no discount from statutory rate), weeks after I had gone to press. For various reasons, I don't like to use copyrighted material without license, so I
had to go without my cover of "Guadalajara". No kazoos suffered, thankfully.

The work we do at mixter changes all that. If someone needs a song, a drone, an a capella section, a bass line, then we in effect oblige. It's fun for us, and it's fun for the consumer. It's all quite creative--and an uncommon bit of fun in the commons.