Saturday, February 16, 2008

CC musicians in Los Angeles wanted

Hey folks,

I want to set up a night of live Creative Commons music here in Los Angeles, California.

Musicians thrive on local community, and we can help Creative Commons music come into being by developing community in the physical world. In the same way that mixter helped to create more CC music online by providing a digital community, we can have more CC music in the physical world by providing physical community.

LA culture is very retro about copyright, and it's also a place where a disproportionate amount of creative work is made. This is a place that needs more advocacy.

As far as the event goes, any permissively licensed sources are fine, including public domain, but you have to be strict about the license status of your sources -- no fudging it. If you play original compositions, the composition itself (and not just a particular recording of it) has to be under a permissive license. There can't be anything which could conceivably bring BMI's or ASCAP's wrath down on the club.

"Live" is open to interpretation, too, given how much CC music is electronic, but I'll give preference to sounds made in real time.

I have a loose commitment on a venue in Silverlake for April or May, and if that falls through I know of another fine place that will probably give me a night.

Will it work? Who knows. I'm not making any promises, because this is really an experiment. But if you're around and you're interested send an email to my first name @ my last name.com. And feel free to pass along ideas, even if you're not local or not a musician.

If nothing comes of it this will be the last you hear of it. But if it happens I'll post again to say how things worked out.

7 comments:

Gurdonark said...

What a great idea. Los Angeles can use a strong dose of Creative Commons. It's almost enough to make me wish I still lived there--but not quite.

My only upcoming trip there is March 7, so I'll not be able to participate. Lately, though, I find myself coming into possession of a fair bit of public domain sheet music. If any of the interested artists wish to get some copies of PD sheet music to remix, rewrite, cover and remodel, then let me know, as I know of a cool store in Sherman which has scads of it on sale very cheaply, and I'd be happy to pick more up, and photocopy it for the cause, to give people fun things to play.

Gurdonark said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Larree Hollywood said...

I would love to participate. I sent a message through your myspace page. Peace! Larree

Lucas Gonze said...

Cool! Hey, these are great reactions.

gurdonark, March 7 is ahead of schedule, but let's go have a drink while you're here. somebody else mentioned the Sherman store to me once. Sounds like I need to make a trip.

I'm very passionate about public domain sheet music -- that's my main musical project -- and I think that using this as a basis for new music is a great usecase for live CC jams.

larree, I'm really happy to hear that you're interested, and I'll try to find my myspace password so I can see what's in your message. :) Also, if you know other local musicians in this bag, feel free to get them involved.

Lucas Gonze said...

Anybody have Eric Steur's email? I can't find it, and it makes no sense to not contact him about this.

fourstones said...

eric at cc.com

when you nail down the date let me know, you never know when I'll wander through LA... ;)

fourstones said...

doh eric at creativecommons.org