Development of Creative Commons licenses

[Mike Linksvayer <ml AT creativecommons.org>]

On Thu, 2006-08-10 at 11:32 +0100, Lars Porsena wrote:
> BTW, I like the Magnatune model a lot though, great idea:
> non-exclusive use, 50% split followed by CC-BY-SA-NC
> opens the party up a lot more to individual creators.
> 
> Even better in this case, where use is non-exclusive it effectively
> forces (always good) the Org to be all the things it should/could:
> eg a solid citizen, effective brand, promoter of talent.
> 
> I'm strongly tempted by this.
> 
> It's a pity Magnatune is obviously wildly unsuccessful: do we draw
> any conclusions here?

What makes you think Magnatune is "wildly unsuccessful"?  It is still a
small business (four full time employees I think) but they're doing lots
of commercial licensing.  John Buckman (Magnatune founder) spoke at last
night's CC Salon in San Francisco gave lots of examples of indie films,
advertising, background music, video games, etc., buying private
licenses from Magnatune.

Buckman claimed that industrywide revenue from music licensing is 2x
revenue from consumer retail.

For those of you who hate NC, SA alone would force many potential users
to seek a private license, so that business model is open to you, too.

For those who hate everything non-PD, many users still want guarantees,
so that business model is open to you, too -- see Rick Prelinger.

> Or: is anybody else using CC licenses at the heart of a business model
> and actually making a go of it? A flip round the CC website suggests not.

I'm not sure what counts as having CC licenses "at the heart" of a
business model.  Probably the wrong thing to look for.  Just like
relicensing code under an OSI-approved license is not a business model
on its own, nor is using CC licenses.  Open licensing is a business
strategy, not a business model.

That said a goal is to encourage and collect case studies of businesses
that have incorporated CC licensing as part of their strategy.  

-- 
  http://wiki.creativecommons.org/User:Mike_Linksvayer