Development of Creative Commons licenses

[Evan Prodromou <evan AT bad.dynu.ca>]

On Wed, 2005-07-13 at 17:37 -0700, Kitty HotShank wrote:
> Hi.  This subject may have been addressed to death,
> but the archives are kind of hard to search - In
> reproducing a 'non-commercial' song, where on the
> spectrum would hold music fall?  My university is
> looking for music that we can play on the telephone
> systems during hold that doesn't, you know, suck like
> hold music usually does.  This is not for profit, and
> a website attributing all played artists and linking
> to their home or material is being established.  Have
> we covered our bases to use the music, or should I go
> out of the way to ask the artists' permission?  All
> input gratefully invited.
Rather than worry too much about it, why not just avoid NonCommercial-licensed music?

That said, here's the deal with hold music: let's posit for a minute that it's a business that's using the hold music. The use is obviously for "commercial advantage", since a) it will please customers waiting on hold, thus helping the company gain sales and b) it will save the company money if it doesn't have to pay for hold music -- money it can use for other things. And, of course, hold music is public performance: it's being played from the phone system out through those wires to the customer.

Now, the question becomes: should your university be treated in the same way? I think the consensus is pretty thin on this, but what has been bandied about on CC mailing lists is that private universities should and public ones shouldn't. Or something like that. I can't tell you for sure, and I don't have a horse in the race.

Finally: I don't speak for Creative Commons and my legal knowledge is that of an informed amateur. Your university should consult a lawyer if they're really concerned. Your best bet is to use music that's Free for everyone and that doesn't discriminate against people or fields of pursuit.

Good luck,

~Evan

-- 
Evan Prodromou
evan AT bad.dynu.ca

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