Development of Creative Commons licenses

[Thomas Uwe Gruettmueller <sloyment AT gmx.net>]

Hi Luke,

On Thursday 19 February 2004 04:03, Luke Stodola wrote:
> IANAL, nor am I part of Creative Commons, but I think that
> this use is allowed by some CC licenses.  Music on hold would
> either be "public performance" or more likely "distribution on
> a public network" (the phone network).  So I don't see any
> reason it shouldn't be allowed.

Maybe my English is too bad, so please correct me if I am wrong, 
but I think that the word "performance" always refers to 
something that is done *personally*, i.e. you can perform a 
piece of music at a concert, or a theatre play on stage. If you 
just press the "Play" button of a tape recorder, you do not 
perform the work; you just play it back from a recording. At 
least this is what my dictionaries tell me.

Furthermore, I don't think that playing something on a phone line 
is a "distribution". According to the German copyright law, the 
term "Verbreitung" (distribution) refers to the circulation in 
*physical* form, e.g. selling or renting copies... Unless the 
music is recorded by the listener, which is very unlikely, the 
music does not get copied or circulated during the phone call; 
and even if it does occur, the primary purpose for playing music 
on hold would still not be its distribution.

> Perhaps you could contact the artist
> and see if you personally can use the music without those
> requirements in exchange for a donation.

You can also contact Michael Jackson and Britney Spears and ask 
*them*. If you start asking people, you don't need free licenses 
at all. Therefore, I don't accept this kind of argumentation.

cu,
Thomas }:o{#
-- - http://217.160.174.154/~sloyment/ - --
"Look! They have different music on the dance floor..."