Another Giant Leap for Creative Commons
With the buzz about Ghosts I-IV still going strong, Trent Reznor has dropped another bomb. Nine Inch Nails have just released another album - this one a full length with vocals titled The Slip - under Creative Commons license.
What’s different this time is that the entire album is available for free, even the ultra quality versions. There will be a physical release around July, we’re told, but unlike Ghosts you don’t have to buy something to get the CD-quality audio. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if there wasn’t something special in store for those who buy the physical media, much as they did for Ghosts.
The CC license - and its implications - are spelled out much more directly this time:
the slip is licensed under a creative commons attribution non-commercial share alike license.
we encourage you to
remix it
share it with your friends,
post it on your blog,
play it on your podcast,
give it to strangers,
etc.©2008 NIN
One thing he didn’t list, which is allowable under the license, is: use it as your soundtrack for your (noncommercial) film. How often has an established major artist made that offer to the public? And not just for a song or two, but for close to three hours of music in the past two months!!!
About a week or two ago, they’d released the first single, Discipline, directly to radio stations just hours after it had been mastered. That’s a turnaround time which has proven to be totally impossible under the old music model.
I should also mention that just prior to the release of Ghosts, they launched their own remix site dedicated explicitly to user remixes of their songs. (Since With Teeth in 2005, Nine Inch Nails have been releasing the multi-track files for their songs and encouraging listeners to remix them, a phenomenon which precipitated the creation of my Only remix and music video.) And shortly after Ghosts, they launched a YouTube festival of sorts, encouraging people to create videos for their music from that double album.
Oh, and don’t forget the whole ARG phenomenon surrounding the album Year Zero.
The whole thing is almost unbelievable. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen such a massive surge of productivity by a single musical artist in my lifetime, certainly not one where that artist is so hands-on with the details, nor one which is so cross-media in nature. And, for a fan like me, it’s all good good good.
Get The Slip for free at: http://theslip.nin.com/
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This will probably be stupid questions, but I never fully understand this “noncommercial” part.
OK, this probably mean that if some television wants to buy my movie with that kind of music, I must say no? But, if, for example, I won money prize on some festival, this is not commercial.
Or all this mean just that I can’t sell DVD’s with movies with these music?
Many film festivals deals only with movies with copyrights free or licensed music, are they then all right with Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0?
All this is still misty territory for me and I am dying for some sort of tutorial on subject, easy to follow and clear “Yes, you can” or “Don’t you dare” examples.
Comment by Tom — May 5, 2008 @ 2:28 pm
If we take a literal understanding of the word “commercial,” then commercial means having something to do with commerce, i.e. buying and selling of goods and commodities. I’m not a lawyer, just a reasonable guy; this seems a reasonable place to draw the line.
Therefore, selling the rights to your work to a television company is a commercial use. Selling it on DVD or CD is a commercial use, as is selling it across the internet. Requiring someone to purchase a subscription (a good/service) in order to view your film is a commercial use.
By this definition, however, festival / contest prizes are not a commercial use. Advertising is a hazy area; technically, most advertising has to do with commerce, but as long as the work is not involved in any way with the advertising itself one would think that the use is not considered commercial. If, for example, a piece of music was used IN an advertisement, then of course that’s a commercial use. While I know of no legal precedent to establish this line with regard to advertising, it is encouraging that both Microsoft and Blizzard have made some allowance for advertising (in an adjunct manner) and contest prizes, even though they both make a general prohibition of “commercial use.”
By the way… just because someone is licensed to the public for noncommercial use does NOT mean that its author is unwilling to consider other options on a case-by-case basis, nor does it prohibit the author from having dual or multi licensing for a particular work. The key is, arrange these things AHEAD OF TIME with the artist if you anticipate they will come up; or have a backup plan (i.e. other substitute material).
Comment by Overman — May 5, 2008 @ 2:48 pm
Although technically the latest NiN stuff is ‘free’ in terms of dollars/cents, it’s not free in terms of information, ie. you must give them your email in order to get the download link.
Comment by bllius — May 5, 2008 @ 6:33 pm
I am jamming as we speak! Very cool news!
“you must give them your email in order to get the download link.”
For the Discipline single (discipline.nin.com) you had to enter your email address as well. While I’m not positive of it, I’m pretty sure there was a disclaimer as well stating that they would not sell your e-mail address. That site is gone now (if you type it in it will take you to theslip.nin.com)
The site sends you an email with a code once you’ve entered your address and the code is automatically entered into the site upon clicking a link in the email. I think it’s for statistical purposes (who downloaded it, who didn’t, demographics, etc.) although I’m not sure how much information could be gathered from an email address. Something tells me I’d be surprised though. But it’s Trent Reznor… if you can’t trust him, who can you trust?
Comment by kradproductions — May 5, 2008 @ 7:29 pm
From theslip.nin.com:
“this will be kept confidential and never used for spam.”
Bam. Nevermind.
Comment by kradproductions — May 5, 2008 @ 7:31 pm
And if you don’t believe them, there’s always http://www.spamgourmet.com/ or any number of other disposable email services. You don’t HAVE to give ANYONE your email address.
Comment by Overman — May 5, 2008 @ 7:37 pm
Great news, Overman. What a progressive thinking band. Great gift to the community.
Comment by Ricky Grove — May 5, 2008 @ 10:22 pm
Thanks, Phil. Let me tell you, after all this helpful information I really don’t care if you a alien or not. Vive la différence!
Comment by Tom — May 6, 2008 @ 2:40 am