[cc-community] Critique a short essay on Free music?

Michael David Crawford michael at geometricvisions.com
Tue Nov 6 15:51:19 EST 2007


I ask your help in perfecting a *very* short essay on Free Music. 
Everyone who helps may receive a free copy of my CD.  To claim your CD, 
email me - OFF LIST! -- your postal address.

I'm preparing a new CD jewel case insert for my album Geometric Visions: 
The Rough Draft (http://www.geometricvisions.com/music/).  The insert 
will be printed on both sides of a sheet of paper, cut to size then 
folded in half.  The following essay will appear on the left-hand page 
when the insert is removed from the case and unfolded.

I give free CDs to everyone I meet; in two years I have given away about 
a thousand, and recently began to accellerate this, so that in the 
coming year I expect to give away several thousand.

I decided to add to the insert an essay on why I have placed my music 
under a Creative Commons license, and why I give the CDs away for free 
because very few of those who I have given my CD to have had any 
knowledge of Creative Commons, copyleft, Free Software, Open Source or 
anything related to them.

Thus I feel that this essay will be important far out of proportion to 
its short word count, being the first introduction to Free-as-in-Freedom 
music many people will ever experience.

I have already asked for comments on some other forums.  The following 
two drafts are based on my original, the first written by Mike 
O'Donnell, the second by a Kuro5hin member named mumble.

I like both versions, and would like to create a sort of fusion of the two.

The first version here is as long as will fit on the case insert page, 
so if new text is added, some old text has to be removed.

Thanks for your help!

Michael David Crawford
michael at geometricvisions.com
http://www.geometricvisions.com/

****** Mike O'Donnell's draft ********

Setting My Music Free

I love my music so, that I know I must set it Free.

I free my music---scores and recordings---under the
"Free-as-in-Freedom" Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license
so more people can get to know my music than would be possible if I
sold it, or restricted copying.

I free my music in hopes that lots of fans will attend my concerts when 
the time comes. I have been studying piano intensively for several 
years, preparing to enroll in music school and study musical 
composition. I want to write symphonies!

Furthermore, I feel that setting my music Free is The Right Thing To
Do.  I am inspired by Richard Stallman and his Free Software movement;
my music is "Free" as in "Free Speech", not as in "free beer." It's a
matter of liberty and not price.

The sharing of music over the Internet has been controversial for a
decade now. The Recording Industry Association of America has
threatened thousands with lawsuits for sharing music. But it's
important to understand that, in America anyway, our Founding Fathers
created copyright to benefit all of society, not merely copyright
holders.

The framers of the US Constitution intended "to promote the progress
of science and useful arts" by granting creative people temporary
monopolies. But I feel that the power of computers and the Internet to
send work, created in love, completely and faithfully anywhere on
Earth, at near-zero cost, outweighs by far the benefit of work created
in order to gain copyright's monopoly.

But how are we musicians to feed ourselves? I plan to do so by making
music, which music lovers will pay to hear in live concerts. I will
also sell T-shirts, posters, and other tokens of our mutual love of
music.

I love my music, so I set it Free. If music loves me it will return,
all the greater for its freedom.

****** mumble's version ******

The Internet Revolution and Free Music

The advent of the Internet and the Web sparked a revolution - the 
Information Revolution. No longer is information difficult and expensive 
to copy - virtually unlimited amounts of information can now be copied 
and distributed at near zero cost. This is the revolution inspired by 
Gutenberg's Press magnified a thousand fold!

In this new age, copyright seems quaint and redundant. There are 
stall-warts, many of them big and powerful! They are the ones that made 
their money the old way. But their time has come, and gone. It is our 
turn now. Music is culture, our culture, that should be shared freely by 
all, not locked behind high walls, leased out to only those that can pay 
the ransom.

But I am only one, and the most I can do is humbly share my music. 
Please listen to my music, and share it with everyone you wish.

Who knows, maybe one day I will become famous and write great 
symphonies. And you will already know my name.

- Michael Crawford.

**********************


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