Development of Creative Commons licenses

[Scott Johnston <johnston AT vectaport.com>]

Richard Cobbett wrote:

> <x-tad-bigger>Scott Johnston wrote:</x-tad-bigger>
> <x-tad-bigger>"An independent band might want a revenue stream from micropayments for
> songs sold over the net, and at the same time want dedicated fans to be able
> to e-mail the songs to their friends, to build up their fan base."
>
> In that instance, the only conceivable way that anybody is even going to
> KNOW about their music is by word of mouth recommendation, since programs
> like Kazaa are spectacularly useless unless you know specifically what
> you're looking for. Either you punch in a particular artist, in which case
> you have to have been given the tip-off, or you ask for something like
> 'Jazz', at which point you get a deluge.
> </x-tad-bigger>

No, all conventional forms of publicity could be used to point people toward the single public online location where they can purchase the copyrighted work.  That would be augmented by word-of-mouth publicity, unhindered by copying restrictions.

> <x-tad-bigger>
> Not to mention the incredible bad-will that would be generated from suing a
> fan who went too far with what is effectively viral marketing - the whole
> point of which is to get the word out about something. What this sounds like
> is going back to the other day's 'Fair Use' argument, which would ultimately
> come down to "Look, can you do it legally with a book or CD? There you go
> then."
> </x-tad-bigger>

Personally, I wouldn't sue anyone who responded to a warning to stop publicly distributing the work. 

Scott Johnston