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[Jon Phillips <jon AT creativecommons.org>]

CREATIVE COMMONS AND MAGNATUNE ANNOUNCE WINNERS OF THE LISA DEBENEDICTIS
REMIX CONTEST - WINNERS RECEIVE MAGNATUNE RECORDING CONTRACT

San Francisco, USA - October 18, 2005 - Today the non-profit
organization Creative Commons, which offers free licenses and tools to
enable creators to publish their works on more flexible terms, and
Magnatune, an innovative online record label, announced the winners of
the Lisa DeBenedictis Remix Contest hosted on ccMixter
(www.ccmixter.org) from June 15, 2005 to July 31, 2005. Due to the
high-quality remixes received, Magnatune increased the number of winning
entries from 10, as originally planned, to 15. There were thirteen
winners.

All winners are signed to a Magnatune standard "non-evil" recording
contract and will be included on a forthcoming Lisa DeBenedictis remix
album to be sold commercially. The artists' share (50% from the first
sale) will be split between the winners and (of course) the artists they
sample.

The 15 winning entries, and winning artists, are (in no particular
order):

1. Sergio Gomez (Love Bird)
2. Rudiger Lippert (Cuckoo Remix)
3. Thomas Walter (Below Acappella)
4. Richard Ashcroft (BELLOW)
5. Tim Holt (Cuckoo passive-aggressive)
6. Marc Kowalski (below-DU-first-mix)
7. Richard Ashcroft (BELOW Linda Barker Mix)
8. James Margetts (Structured Emotions)
9. Brian Trifon (Stranger from Below)
10. Gabor Valasek (The Cuckoo, bittersweet)
11. Marc Kowalski (below-DU-mix)
12. David Sims (Below and Beyond)
13. Eric Ohara (Below Lambourgino)
14. Thom O'Connor (Unaffected)
15. Sharp Hall (Cuckoo- Liquid Ambient)

“Remixed music is an exciting new kind of musical art form emerging in
the open environment of internet file sharing,” said Magnatune founder
and CEO, John Buckman. “With flexible licensing, anyone with a creative
urge can take existing music tracks and change them into something
completely new and different. This kind of event helps artists to
stretch their limits and gain access to a wider variety of great music”
explained Magnatune founder and CEO, John Buckman.

Contest winners used Magnatune music, including DeBenedictis' music, to
create their own remix compositions and posted their winning tracks up
on ccMixter. ccMixter is a site made avaialble by Creative Commons to
encourage legal media collaboration and remixing. The site shows the
genealogy of creativity by displaying both the tracks that a particular
remix has sampled and the subsequent tracks that remix that remix. The
software that runs the site has been released to the public to enable
anyone to create a similar site for music or any other format.

Lisa DeBenedictis is one of Magnatune’s more than 175 artists who enjoys
50-50 profit splitting and full rights to her music. A "one-woman
operation," she plays a variety of instruments including piano, guitar,
keyboard, violin, oboe and mandolin. DeBenedictis is the sole writer,
performer and producer of all her music. Her songs have been described
as ethereal, fresh and original, earning her the comparisons of other
well-known female soloists including Tori Amos and Sarah McLachlan.
Prior to going solo, DeBenedictis performed in a rock duo called “Ring
of Nine” and California Avant Rock duo “DirtyDirtyRockStar.” In addition
to writing songs, Lisa composes instrumental music for film.

The concept of "open source" file-sharing originated in the computer
software world, and has moved into music. Individual tracks, a drum or
bass line within a recording, can be taken and remixed with other tracks
to create a completely new composition. Other musicians can then modify,
improve or add to the “source” without worrying about obtaining
permission from the original artists. Unlike other illegal music remix
contests where an artist’s work has been taken and sold without the
artist’s permission, Magnatune and Creative Commons partnered with Lisa
DeBenedictis for this effort. Contest participants were invited to
freely copy selected Magnatune music to produce their winning works.

Fellow Magnatune recording artist and ccMixter contest manager Victor
Stone, of the group “Four Stones,” has been remixing music for several
years. “It is incredibly fun and inspiring to be able to use the best
music and make it your own,” said Stone. "It makes remixing a natural
extension of what composers have been doing for thousands of years.”

Producers often work for months to build their multi-layered remix 
compositions. Remix tracks can be highly sophisticated with limitless
musical sound samples and layers.

Magnatune music is available for download and streaming under Creative
Commons licensing. The Creative Commons license gives artists the
ability to signal that others may freely share and build upon their
existing works, be it musical, written, or images. “We have been using
the Creative Commons copyright licensing very successfully,” reports
Magnatune’s founder and CEO,said John Buckman. “Through open-source
licensing we are able to offer a fair deal to our customers and
musicians.” Unusual in the music industry, Magnatune splits profits from
album sales with the artists and allows them to keep ownership of 
the rights to their music.


For More Information

CC Mixter, http://www.ccmixter.org
Contest Web page, http://www.ccmixter.org/magnatune/


About Creative Commons

A nonprofit founded in early 2002, Creative Commons promotes the
creative re-use of intellectual and artistic works—whether owned or in
the public domain—by empowering authors and audiences. It is sustained
by the generous support of the Center for the Public Domain, the John D.
and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Omidyar Network, and the
Hewlett Foundation. For more information, visit Creative Commons'
website or contact Mia Garlick at mia AT creativecommons.org.


About Magnatune

Founded in 2003, Magnatune is an independent, online record label that
hand selects its own artists, sells its catalog of music through online
downloads and print-on-demand CDs and licenses music for commercial and
non-commercial use. Based on the principle that “we are not evil,” the
company offers fair-trade music to consumers by equally sharing all
revenue from the sale of albums with artists and allowing artists to
retain full rights to their music. All music can be previewed free of
charge with a “try before you buy” philosophy. Customers can also choose
how much they want to pay for the music with pricing ranging from $5-18
for a downloadable album or print-on-demand CD. Magnatune is a music
business where everybody wins. For further information, please visit the
Magnatune website or contact Teresa Malango at tmalango AT magnatune.com or
510.289.3781.

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