Development of Creative Commons licenses

["J.B. Nicholson-Owens" <jbn AT forestfield.org>]

Joachim Traun wrote:
> 1. Is the including of a piece of music in a movie a derivation of the
> original work even if the work is left untouched?

I'd say yes, unless a fair-use snippet of the music is used.  But the CC 
license in question might let you build on the work under certain conditions 
(the ShareAlike licenses mean your movie would be licensed under that same 
ShareAlike license, the NoDerivative licenses require understanding of what 
makes a derivative work.  This information is described in the license text).

> 2. If the music is issued under noncommercial-license, is it legal to enter
> festival-competitions with your movie? Because if you would win something
> that would be "commercial benefit", or wouldn't it?

In the past, the line delineating what is commercially beneficial has been 
debated on this mailing list.

I hold the opinion that if the work is used in a commercial context (background 
music at a typical commercial clothing store, for example), or intended to make 
one money (as opposed to prestige within the community or a high grade in 
school, for example), it's a commercial use of the work.  Getting a 
non-monetary award for one's film at a competition doesn't strike me as a 
commercial use of the work, even if the winner becomes famous and makes 
Hollywood movies for which they are paid.  I think there is a difference 
between getting an award that helps make one famous versus the clothing store 
example.  The clothing store is using the music with the intention of putting 
would-be shoppers in a buying mood.  The award ceremony intends to celebrate 
the work of the filmmaker.

> 3. Are the "royalties" for commercial use of "non-commercial"cc-music fixed
> or is that different. Do I have to ask the author directly, or is there
> anyone else I could contact? Or is that ASCAP anyway

If you want to use a non-commercial CC-licensed work in a commercial work, I 
believe you need to negotiate a different license with the copyright holder.  I 
imagine that if the people or organization you negotiate with are not members 
of ASCAP or BMI, ASCAP or BMI have nothing to do with your negotiations.