[cc-community] CC+ Logo Pointing To My Own Website?

Michael David Crawford michael at geometricvisions.com
Sat Jun 28 13:35:50 EDT 2008


I am working on updated license graphics for my music, which will be 
CC+.  The CC part is BY-SA 3.0 Unported.  The graphics will go on my 
website, compact disc, CD jewel case insert, and sheet music.

In particular, I'm preparing to have a commercial printer print a bulk 
quantity of my sheet music, so mistakes or revisions would be expensive.

My plan is to offer quantities of sheet music to piano teachers just for 
the cost of printing plus postage.  I'll send them ring binders 
containing as many copies of my score as well fit, to give out to their 
students.

I'm even working on a seven-hole punch design, to accomodate US Letter 
3-hole punches along with International A4 "888" four-hole punches in 
the same document!

I want the "Plus" logo to refer to a page on my website that will give 
instructions for requesting a license exception via e-mail.  Basically, 
I will grant the exception for "not too commercial" use, if they provide 
attribution including both my name and website URL, and a link to my 
website from the recipient's website.  "Very commercial" uses would have 
to pay.

Note that the BY-SA already allows commercial use; in my case the 
exception would be that derivative works wouldn't have to Share Alike, 
that is they can be proprietary.

How should I design the "Plus" logo?

I can start with the SVG graphic that can be downloaded from the Wiki:

http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Ccplus

My stage name is Michael David Crawford - I include my middle name to 
avoid confusion with a certain British actor.  My website is:

http://www.geometricvisions.com/

... but I'm preparing to move my whole website to:

http://www.michaeldavidcrawford.com/

(I'll install a redirect at the old location, so old links will still 
work.  It should also preserve my search engine ranking.)

So I actually might need two logos, one for the old domain and one for 
the new.  Or do I?

While I'm still at the old domain, I'll make my sheet music hardcopies 
with my own inkjet printer.  Once the whole new domain is ready, then 
I'll get the commercial printer to print a bulk quantity of them.

For the new domain, the Plus logo could say "+ M.D.C." - meaning ask me 
for permission.  Should I have this at the old domain as well?  I could 
say "+ G.V.com" but then people might go looking for a subdomain of 
V.com!  Alternatively, I could spell out the domain in small type, over 
two lines:

  *   GEOMETRIC
***
  *  VISIONS.COM

I'll try designing both logos to see how they work.

As for the "Not too commercial" uses... I have already been granting 
such license exceptions, primarily to amateur filmmakers for use in 
their videos.  Here's an example:

Folklore - a Preview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cGgyo8TPZQ

Click the "More Info" link next to the date at the right - at the bottom 
of the description is my attribution and link.  I'm also credited at the 
  end of the video.

In general, I'm happy to grant a free license exception, in return for 
attribution and a link, if the recipient doesn't stand to make a lot of 
money off it.  That would include amateur filmmakers; indy filmmakers 
might or might not qualify.

Advertising would depend on what is being advertised - I gave permission 
to a garage band for use in a local TV ad.  Prime-time TV advertising 
and Hollywood movie studies would have to pay.

I've been giving away my CD for a couple years - about two thousand of 
them so far!  At first I just handed them out at Open Mics or to people 
I met; now I'm offering to send them to just about anywhere in the world 
via snail mail.  The page with my free CD offer is at:

http://www.geometricvisions.com/music/free-compact-disc/

Thanks for your advice,

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

     Tilting at Windmills for a Better Tomorrow.


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