DJ Rkod, Luke Tripp

A CC licensed, student made short film by hmmclunk. Featuring music by DJ Rkod, Luke Tripp and additional sounds from Freesound.

Morgantj

Poem and video by ozjthomas. Music by Morgantj

On Avoiding the Three Second Rule

Tonight prior to posting this I took a surfing tour through the legal authorities on fair use and sampling. Because I am an attorney, and because it is my observation that attorneys generally come off seeming a bit silly whenever they take the witness stand or give legal advice on the internet, I'm never very excited about the idea of holding forth on the legalities of Creative Commons licenses. Suffice it to say that touring pre-CC legal authorities is much less fun, say, than listening to the surf music of the Ventures or to Danger Mouse.

In 1934, there was talk of a 20-second rule. Later, talk of a "three second rule" came--and went. It's all a complicated story. The doctrine of "fair use" becomes an exercise in theology and in epistemology as well as an issue of copyright. The only thing remaining exquisitely alive about the music of 2 Live Crew is the live controversy about how much one can sample and what winds sail one into Pirate Bay.
I'll not bore anyone with any history or legal analysis on all this.

I also hasten to say that I am fully comfortable with the existence of a comprehensive copyright law. If I were given a choice of sharp instruments to take to the existing statutes, I'd vigorously use a scalpel rather than heedlessly use an axe. I favor a complete restructuring of how creators of media and consumers of media interact--but I don't need Congress or Parliament or even the dreaded BUMA to "save us" in order for this "velvet revolution" to occur. I see the revolution as unstoppable, and the legalities as mere way stations on the way to a sharing economy.

I therefore support the right of each of our creators to apply NC licenses to works. I apply them myself, at our netlabel and in individual things I create. I don't see CC as one more dogmatic way for well-meaning people to reduce options for artists. I see CC licenses as tools to increase the options for artists. I am all for mixters being able to reserve the right to license and sell their work. I have even sold a CD or two of my work in the past, as implausible as that may be to anyone who has heard my work. All of that is good.

Similarly, I do not want to criticize any mixter for any license applied to any work in the past. I do not want to cut into the legal and moral rights of anyone to control those property rights granted by our current laws. I want a velvet revolution, and not an armed revolt. I get bored of needless contention. I bathe in conflict, and shower it off at the end of the work day.

Yet so often I see ways that we in the future can, as a community, help one another out. As we move into a "brother can you spare a dime?" phase in our nation's history, we have an historic opportunity to spread music "free as in beer, free as in speech, free as in our hearts and minds and the beats we tap". Some of us--not me, by choice-- can even profit gently from this sharing. But we must work together.

My gentle plea is this:

If you have the killer 'pella that might be something you want to use in a work for sale someday, then by all means license that NC. Similarly, if you do what odd guitar magazines call "shredding", but what I call "being nearly half as cool as Bill Nelson", then license that NC.

But if you are posting a building block sample, like a quick hit or sound, then I ask that you license it BY when you post it. For that matter, as someone who has successfully sold DIY poetry, I suggest that if you have a spoken word track, license it BY, because it's better to be a well-known poet than to be one who obscurely sold a single sample for 100 dollars.

I also suggest that we all begin a dialogue on how, without undue labor or needless organization, we can create an entire soundpool of completely BY samples.

You see, my fellow mixters, I see us as a community of activists, who are all in this together. We are seeing our works go out into the ether as if we were the revolutionaries we intended to be.

All we need is the building blocks to sample to go to places we have never been. Some of us, like mostly me, will never transcend the day job, except as a labor of love. But some of us could take these mixes and go places.

I suggest we begin a dialogue about using the BY license, to help mixters use BY and fly into the popular culture.

We can share music, we can create new music, and we can fulfill dreams. Yet the path to do this lies through the BY license. We ought not have to write one another e-mails (charming as each of you have proven to be) to use 3 second samples of kicks and 7 second guitar lines.

Can't we get BY into a more fun sample place?

Jaspertine

「移動インターバル撮影 080705上野」のビデオ
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This may take a moment to upload but it's worth the wait.

A very beautifully shot video walking through the streets of Japan submitted by yoshinaga, hiroshi. With music by Jaspertine.

CC OZ!

Just got back from a day in Brisbane and spent the better part of the evening with the good folks at CC Australia. The whole evening was put together by the activist, artistic designer, journalist and one helluva party planner Elliot Bledsoe. We started with a round table discussion led by Brian Fitzgerald. The typical international CC office is two, maybe three law grad students porting US CC licenses to make them relevant to the local domain, but it was clear from the jump these people are on a whole different level. The first thing they did was hand me a 200+ page book of local case studies that was two years in the making called "Building an Australian Commons." These are really smart, on it, people. Glad they are on our side, that's for sure. We peppered each other with questions and I learned a lot about some serious differences from the US environment ("Really? No 'fair use'???) It was a blast to see the excitement about ccMixter and it was a joy to spread the message. You guys should be proud - you're world famous and appreciated ;)

One thing I've noticed when talking to CC people anywhere in the world: We all know how to talk about the benefits of CC licensing to culture, to an artists' career (we can all quote/paraphrase Tim O'Reilly's "You should be worried about obscurity, not piracy") and other angles, but what ccMixter has taught me in a way the polemics by Lessig and Boyle could only tell me theoretically was that open licenses enable innovation in the creative process. If you don't believe me just check out what colab said the other day. He knew these guys from the Peter Gabriel (All Rights Reserved) site. The only difference between the remixers he mentions from a few years ago at that site and the same ones at ccM today is access to the Pool enabled by CC. This is a powerful message to tell artists: by embracing the "sharing economy" they have a shot at improving their music. Anyway...

After the official meeting a bunch of us went out for dinner/drinks. I got to talk with Rami from CC Jordan (!) and he owes me six killer 'pells from back home. Overall it was cultural exchange, full throttle.

Thanks to Elliot, Brian, Rachel Cobcroft, Jessica Coates, Emma Carroll, Nic Suzor and a few I'm sure I'm spacing (sorry!) for a great, educational time and for being such gracious hosts.

The Sounds of Space

I'm very partial to the The Jodcast, the podcast of the Jodrell Bank Observatory in England. It's got a cool astronomy subject matter, as one might expect of a radio telescope institute's podcast.

One of the many admirable things about the Jodcast is that it makes its programs available under a Creative Commons license. This is the best kind of "science popularizing commons". They hear a sound with a mega-pound-expensive instrument, and they share it with everyone.

I'll see if I can't get a sample pack created, with proper attribution, but I thought in the meantime I'd share the playlist:

The Sounds of Space:
1. The sound of supernova remnant Cassiopeia A recorded by the Lovell Telescope
2. Whistler waves
3. Proton Whistlers
4. Leonid meteor echoes
5. Jovian Chorus
6. Jovian S-Burst
7. Jovian S-Burst speeded up by a factor 128
8. ESA Huygens lander radar signal
9. Solar sounds generated from 40 days of Michelson Doppler Imager data and processed by A. Kosovichev.
10. Solar Energetic Particles data from the HELIOS mission
11. X-ray observations of Cygnus X-1 from the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer
12. PSR B0329+54 observations from the Lovell Telescope
13. Vela pulsar observations
14. Crab pulsar observations
15. PSR B1937+21 observations
16. Pulsars in globular cluster 47 Tuc
17. Double pulsar eclipse
18. The first million years of the Universe
19. The Cosmic Microwave Background

This is what I call deep space ambient.

I can hardly wait to do 3 minutes of the first million years of the universe.
Kudos to the Jodcast, and to outer space in general. The only natural limitation upon sampling is the limitation of small, legalistic minds.

Chronic Dreams 2

Top 10 reasons why you should buy the new Four Stones release - Chronic Dreams 2.

10. No DRM.
9. Pay what you like, get what you want.
8. It's not evil, it's Magnatune.
7. You have Chronic Dreams 1 and want to see how it ends.
6. Help prove a Creative Commons licensed work can make money.
5. So he can pay someone to design cover art.
4. Payback. Not only Vic but all the artists featured on the album.
3. Own a piece of internet history. An album from the man behind ccMixter.
2. Victor will be nice to you.
1. It's really good.

Buy, download, license, listen at Magnatune.

Andrew_MAze

Short but neat video. Animation by scapino7. Music by Andrew_MAze.

Pop!Casts

Pop!Casts are videos by the Pop!Tech Conference. A new segments is posted every few weeks and all videos are published under a Non-Commercial Creative Commons license. There many, many great videos on a wide range of topics to choose from.

Thanks to Lanzerote for finding the Brian Eno video. Which is super excellent.

OLPC donates 8.5+ Gigs of Samples

From the press release:

Several prestigious groups of musicians have donated their sound libraries to One Laptop per Child (OLPC), a non-profit organization focused on providing educational tools to help children in developing countries “learn learning.” The XO laptop’s unique user interface and applications enable children to create and share music, drawings, video, personal diaries and other things they make online with family and friends worldwide.

Leading musicians, colleges and companies making their sound libraries freely available on the XO laptop are: The Berklee College of Music in Boston, Berklee Music Synthesis alumni – including electronic music superstar BT, the international Csound Developer community, M-Audio and Digidesign (parts of Avid Technology, Inc.), and the Open Path Music group.

All the samples are free to share under a Creative Commons license. Additional info and links to the samples at Create Digital Music. Thanks to Mike Linksvayer for forwarding this info to us. : )

3/28 - Victor has added them to the ccM sample pools. Awesome. : )

Cezary Ostrowski

A slide show of Burning Man (photos all creative commons licensed) from Flickr by sparkzy. With music by Cezary Ostrowski.

Cathayist ccMixtape vol. 1 (House)

An unofficial playlist of the mix of the most carefully handpicked house tracks ever to grace ccMixter!

playlist(MP3)

1. Calendargirl - January (AltControlDelete Mix)
2. Cibelle - Noite de carnaval (Andre Sebastian Remix)
3. Christian S - Que Pena (Christian S Radio Mix)
4. Iggmatic Productions feat. SilviaO - Trampa Animal (Iggmatized Mix)
5. Tomas PhUsIoN feat. Marc Deon - I Like It
6. Callmeyang feat. Lisa Debenedictis - Love Bird
7. S.C.Mixer feat. BOCrew - Message dans le répondeur
8. Loveshadow feat. calendargirl - Always
9. Christian S - Ana (Scandinavian Winter Mix)
10. Lisa DeBenedictis - Below (Nero’s Deep Below the Belt Mix)
11. Tomas PhUsIoN feat. JeremyCarr - Love of My Life
12. Konan feat. spinningmerkaba - Fly On
13. Dan S. feat Fireproof Babies - Robot Girlfriend (Tech Trance Remix)

Mix is available at Archive.org.

Bitcrusher

A short overview of the GreenerBusiness Podcast by rccosmos. Music by Bitcrusher.

bonus - check out episode 10: Paper Turntable. : )

The unofficial danceMixterVol4-TechnoAndTranceSet

A dance mix featuring techno and trance remixes from ccMixter exclusively. All tracks are CC-licensed. DJ-mixed by s.c.mixer.

playlist (MP3 VBR)

1. looke feat. kokoro mayikibo - 80k (kokoro mayikibo remix)
2. Vidian feat. nathanielstern - The Old Proverb Says
3. Unconscious Inc. - Someone recorded that sound (Copyright Criminals Contest)
4. ROSSI feat. kenmunro - When The Earth Is Gone (computer says so mix)
5. EdShift feat. P.Mac - Move Faster
6. Rev. Ken Cabal feat. HC-7 - Like Ani (LBP remix)
7. Dan S. from Cathayist feat. calendargirl - September (Minimal Faldoris Massive)
8. Mickey Jello feat. Snowflake - Pool of Love
9. DJ Rkod feat. a minor theory - Trance In Blue
10. Dutch Dance Connection feat. Lisa DeBenedictis - Girl and Supergirl (Trance mix 2006)
11. IceSun feat. KatazTrophee - Out of time (part 1-2-3)

Mix is available at Archive.org.
Track info and individual downloads available here.

This is part 4 of 4 of a series. Vol. 1, Vol.2, Vol.3

Thank you scmixter for putting these together for us to enjoy.

ASCAP on CC

I saw this on Boing Boing and thought I should post it here;

Last week, ASCAP (a rights society that collects and disburses money to composers for live performance and radio play) published a document intending to scare artists away from using Creative Commons. The document was riddled with factual errors, and Larry Lessig (founder and head of Creative Commons) has posted a point-by-point correction on his blog:

10 Things Every Music Creator Should Know About Creative Commons Licensing - ASCAP

Commons Misunderstandings: ASCAP on Creative Commons - Lessig.org

The unofficial danceMixter compilation - vol. 3 - Chill house

A dance mix featuring chill/mellow/deep house remixes from ccMixter exclusively. All tracks are CC-licensed. DJ-mixed by s.c.mixer.

playlist (MP3 VBR)

1. callmeyang - Soul of a man (original)
2. teru feat. Calendar Girl - October - mellow house
3. shagrugge feat. MTGakaCaraMelG & stefsax - Burn it up (mellow G vibe)
4. KCentric feat. The Hexyl Circle - I Disagree (UK Dance Mix)
5. inki feat. The Hexyl Circle - Some Day Soon (when remix)
6. novaforma feat. KCentric - guilty (jerry remix)
7. Etherdust feat. Colin Mutchler - The time is now
8. ArseAssassin feat. Tamy - Que Pena / Tanto Faz (Microtheft remix)
9. MatrixAndDappa feat. Zone - Madrugada - Matrix&Dappa's Chilled Remix
10. mabhiza feat. Frank H. Carter III - Guessin Games (Deep House Mix)
11. Loveshadow feat. Marc Deon - No Gud 4 Me. The LS Weekend Cut
12. Tomas PhUsIoN feat. Jeremy Carr - The love of my life

Mix is available at Archive.org.
Track info and individual downloads available here.
Vol. 1, Vol.2

Mahalo Daily with Eric Steuer

Creative Commons Creative Director, Eric Steuer on Mahalo Daily explaining CC licenses.

Magnatune - Christmas Music

An early Xmas present courtesy of Magnatune.

"For the next two weeks or so we'll be giving away free downloads of our brand new Magnatune Christmas Compilation featuring over 60 minutes of seasonal favorites as played by ten different Magnatune artists. It's a predominantly instrumental compilation, but there are a few select vocal pieces as well including the absolutely angelic sounding Con Brio children's choir and the renowned women's vocal ensemble, Kitka. "

Preview the album here.
Get the album download here.

The unofficial danceMixter compilation - vol. 1 - Electro set

A dance mix featuring electro remixes from ccMixter exclusively. All tracks are CC-licensed. DJ-mixed by s.c.mixer.

playlist (MP3 VBR)

1. William Berry - Octopus Trees (bill berry mix) [feat. c.layne]
2. Freelancer - Black Is All I See [feat. DJ Vadim]
3. 414 Elektric - Noite de Carnaval (A Secret Version) [feat. Cibelle]
4. Loveshadow - Tonight Tonight [feat. calendargirl]
5. teru - Sound of the Future
6. zikweb - The Leader [feat. Colin Mutchler]
7. Trifonic - Bored on Your Backside
8. [mashup] kulimu - Marionette Man [feat. Suzi Q.] / Betch - Dominick_chainsaw
9. sigh9 - ThisBeatIsVunky [feat. Zion]
10. Dafcok - Calvin Cole feat. Konan - Cornflake [feat. Snowflake]
11. Killbotz - Drop My Raga Flow [feat. MTGakaCaraMelG]
12. D_E_R - look and feel (don't eat Robots remix) [feat. brad sucks]

Mix is available at Archive.org.
Track info and individual downloads available here.

Sawtooth

Another awesome diving video by rogerbly. Music by Sawtooth.

Visit rogerbly.com for higher resolution and more CC licensed diving videos.