Copyright Law Versus Internet Culture. Throughout human history, culture has been made by people telling one another stories, building on what has come before, and making it their own.
Every generation, every storyteller puts their own spin on old tales to reflect their own values and changing times. This creative remixing happens today and it happens in spite of the legal cloud cast by copyright law. Many of our modern cultural icons are “owned” by a small number of content companies. We rework popular stories to critique them or assign new meanings to them, telling our own stories about well-known characters and settings. When copyright holders try to shut us down, fair use helps us fight back.
Here are just a few ways remixers are taking culture into their own hands: * Fan fiction – Kirk and Spock can be gay and Uhura can captain the Enterprise, or that boa constrictor from the zoo scene can become Harry’s familiar instead of taking off for Brazil. Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain Release 2016 - Visualization. Search High Quality Flickr Images. What Is Creative Commons, And Should You Use It? While writing out your next academic paper, you look online for various images which are appropriate for what you’re talking about.
Once you find something you like, you simply copy and paste it because, hey, who’s stopping you? More than likely, doing this is technically illegal. Not only that, but it applies to most content that you can find online — including posts/articles and videos. To make things easier on both content creators and consumers, Lawrence Lessig created the suite of Creative Commons licenses, a set of copyright licenses which clarify what you can do with content licensed with one of those licenses. He was even helped by Aaron Swartz who later on went on to co-found Reddit. So, how can finding Creative Commons-licensed material to use keep you legally safe? What Makes It Illegal? OpenAttribute. Public Domain. Great historical recordings, free to enjoy. Public Domain Pictures - Free Stock Photos. Vintage and Modern Free Public Domain Images Archive Download - Public Domain Images.
CC Search. Commons. Free Music Archive. What's A Music License?
Put simply, a license is an agreement between a music creator or their representative (such as a record label) and someone who wants to use their music (at an establishment, in a broadcast or other program, or in a film, for example). There is no standard licensing fee or rate; license rates are often agreed upon by the artist and the licensor on an individual basis.
Some artists, such as Kevin Macleod, offer standard licenses online for using their works beyond the scope of the Creative Commons license already on their work. Music licensing is intended to ensure that the artists are fairly compensated for certain uses of their work. Since the Free Music Archive doesn't own copyright to the songs on our site, we can't license them to you for commercial, private or other use. How Can I License Music From Your Site? In order to determine if the song you wish to use is licensed for the type of use you intend, check out this guide to Creative Commons licenses, below: CC Search. CC Search. Best practices for attribution - Creative Commons. You can use CC-licensed materials as long as you follow the license conditions. One condition of all CC licenses is attribution. Here are some good (and not so good) examples of attribution.
Note: If you want to learn how to mark your own material with a CC license go here. Examples of attribution Here is a photo. This is an ideal attribution Because: Title? Author? Source? Best practices for attribution - Creative Commons. Free content. Creative Commons.