Sharing is Caring

Sharing is Caring

We are all aware that two heads are better than one. Teams exist for a reason. We can push back on each other, gain new knowledge and build upon each other. When we share our ideas and allow others to bring new viewpoints and concepts, those ideas only become stronger and better.

This is not knew idea. Most individuals are aware that this is true. However, I feel our ability to enter into this, especially with music, is very limited. I desire to see a world where we are able to work with each other beyond just the present tense. A culture that encourages remixing as a way of putting our heads together and building off of each other.

Copyright law exists for a good reason. It was created with the intent of protecting creatives in a way that encourages them to continually create. It started very limited with only ensuring copyright for written works. It grew to include other types of creative works. Copyrights protection lasted only 23 years for each work produced and then was revised in the 70’s to include the life of the creator plus 70 years. This is a major change. And although it may have seen logical then, I believe it has truly hindered our ability to collaborate.

Copyright was developed long before the world wide web was even conceived. It now struggles to operate in a way that allows for the internet’s natural progression. Our generation moves at an exponentially quick pace. One natural disaster and in minutes the whole world knows about it if they have an internet connection. This doesn’t just effect the news, but the way we interact and receive culture. When Taylor Swift drops a new music video, you know that there will already be parody and covers for that video in the next 24 hours. We have shifted from a read only culture to a read write culture. The best way we know how to show our fandom, is to emulate, parody, remix and share.

The internet allows for us to do all of the above in less then an hour. I can download a song, change it and republish faster then anytime in our history. If I wanted to obtain the correct legal license to do this kind of work, it would take months completely slowing down my creative process to the point where it is no longer relevant.

Copyright has not adapted to meet the needs of our time. However, this a non-profit organization working to make copyright law work for the people. This organization, creative commons, is the future for sharing and building off of each others work. It is a new development that has made me excited about the future of creativity.

Creative commons allows makers to publish their works with pre-established licenses. They have 6 license with 3 layers of explanation. First layer is for the legal law, the second is for computer search engines and the last layer is for the average joe to understand. The six licenses include Attribution which allows anyone to remix, distribute, and build upon the work, even commercially as long as they give credit where it is due. Attribution Share-A-Like license which does the same thing but requires that the new work is published under the same license. Attribution-NoDerivs license allows for the work to be redistributed commercially or not as long as it goes untouched. Attribution Non-Commerical allows for anyone to remix, build upon or distribute the work non-commerically. Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license allows for the same thing as long as it is re-distributed under the same license. Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license allows for the work to be redistributed as long as it is unchanged and for non-commercial use.

The brilliance behind creative commons is the that it acts in real time. The license has already been given to anyone. The internect can operate freely alongside copyright law and creates a infrastructure for remixing to happen. We can share and build new ideas together with creative commons.