Fort Minor Remix Contest starts today at ccMixter

Eric Steuer, March 8th, 2006

Creative Commons, Warner Bros. Records, and Machine Shop Recordings, are proud to present the Fort Minor Remix Contest, starting today at ccMixter. Fort Minor — the hip-hop project led by Linkin Park vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda — is offering the separated audio elements of its hit single “Remember the Name” online under a Creative Commons BY-NC license, so that people all over the world can easily and legally create remixes of the song.

The producer of the winning remix (as chosen by Mike Shinoda) will be awarded a new Technics SL-1200MK5 turntable, courtesy of Warner Bros. Records and Machine Shop Recordings.

Visit ccMixter for more details about the contest.

Beatpick flatters Magnatune business model

Mike Linksvayer, March 6th, 2006

If imitation is the best form of flattery, London-based record label BeatPick is handing it to Berkeley and London-based label Magnatune in spades. Similarities include CC license used (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike), a 50/50 artist/label revenue split, a menu of commercial licensing options and availability of wav, mp3 and ogg downloads.

Of course it’s about the music and Betpick has its own set of artists. Check them out. If you’re a musician you can submit your music.

Congratulations to Beatpick for copying a great business model. If you’re interested in commons-based business models and happen to be attending SXSW, do not miss our panel moderated by CC board member Joi Ito and featuring Ian Clarke of Freenet and Revvr, Teresa Malango of Magnatune, and Jimmy Wales of Wikimedia:

Open source software business models have gone from theoretical to profitable over the past half decade-companies like Red Hat, MySQL, JBOSS, and IBM. How will peer production business models prove out in the content space? Learn how pioneering commons-based businesses are creating what Business 2.0 calls the next multi-billion dollar industry.

Update: David d’Atri of Beatpick responds below. For the record, I intended the above as a compliment to both Magnatune and Beatpick. Many (not just two!) commons based business models are great. As hinted in the above panel description, the field is ripe for exploration and innovation (which includes copying and improving, even though that isn’t what Beatpick is doing). David d’Atri:

We admire Magnatune but think we are not a copycat.  

Some
thoughts:

BeatPick is a project that started in 2003 during my Master in
Business Economics. The title of my -first class- final dissertation:
"A paper on economic efficiency and the infringement of
copyright in the music industry: An Insight into the Future of the
Music Industry." I showed that a decrease of copyright
rigidities in the music industry could lead to an increase in total
welfare. Just ask for a copy if you can bother to read a “heavy”
and very theoretical paper.

In 2003
I had no idea about Magnatune and I did not find out about it until 4
months ago when our project was already being developed.

Some
basic differences with Magnatune:

1. We do not use a flexible price schema. We do not find it fair.
   Although it is really smart from a business point of view, we find no
   fair to use a clever type of price discrimination which aims to
   extract
   the total surplus from each customer by asking them to
   self-discriminate. We admit that it takes a lot of good marketing to
   ask people to self-discriminate and we think Magnatune does a great
   job.
   However we prefer to sell more at a cheaper price as we are for more
   people having more music. If we were to implement a flexible price
   schema then we would find fair to give artists 100% of the
   earnings
   over a certain amount.
2. We let artists go anytime. Agreement can be terminated in 30 days
   while Magnatune ask artists to commit for 5 years. We think
   Magnatune’s request is reasonable from a business point of view but
   it is not very fair as Magnatune does not commit to market each
   artist.
3. We have
   a completely different graphic and style. We target younger people.
   Our message is simpler and we think more direct. The graphic is not
   as serious as Magnatune. Graphic is very important and says a lot
   about who you are.
4. We try to create a network of artists collaborating for commercial
   and non commercial projects. (”commission work from our artists”).
   We get a commission on commercial projects but we get nothing for non
   commercial projects. Latest example is Tobor Experiment (experimental
   section) collaborating with HRF-LAB
   for the Lovebytes.
   Magnatune does nothing like this.
5. We try
   to deal with hip hop and video art music (experimental section).
   Magnatune does not.
6. We are
   going to make a section dedicated to VJ and use a similar business
   model. Magnatune does not.

Some
consideration:

1. Most
   internet website split earnings 50/50. Nothing new. Certainly it was
   not invented by Magnatune.
2. Categories for music licensing were not invented by Magnatune’s .
   Most music licensing websites have similar.
3. We have been operating for 30 days only and we have had an holding
   page for the last 2 months. Our results: 1. More than 800 music submissions including many record labels.
   2. More than 4500 emails.
   3. 53 artists signed.
   4. About 75 links to BeatPick on google.
4. Nobody
   has ever mentioned us to be similar to Magnatune, most of the people
   did not know about the Creative Commons. Are you sure we are operating in the same market Magnatune is operating? Are
   you sure is not good to have other similar business models? If not
   just to create hype around the Creative Commons. Are
   you sure there is no space for 2 similar business models in the
   market?
5. Net labels must be judged not only by the business but by their
   music, their graphic, their style, their marketing.
6. WAV and
   OGG…where is the innovation? I think is just normal to offer
   them now that broadband is getting truly “broad”.
7. The main innovation is to offer music released under the Creative
   Commons and this is why we claim to support and believe in fair
   trade. Does Magnatune feature the CC logo in its homepage?

Some
inspirations from Magnatune:

1. The licensing. I had in mind to sell music licenses. My original
   project was a sort of instant msn communication in order to provide
   clients with a an instant quote and a contract delivered over email.
   I was not sure how to build a music licensing control panel as we were
   short of money to hire a developer (no good myself) and a lawyer. 4
   months ago I saw Magnatune and I thought I could give it a go as I
   understand Magnatune is pro Open Source therefore I do not understand
   why it should be unhappy about its business model being taken as an
   inspiration to build upon.
2. “The share 4 songs with friends” comes from a detailed analysis
   of network externalities in the music industry during my
   dissertation; I have a draft proposal of this idea written while
   working at a London record label more than 1 year ago.

Magnatune
does a great job in marketing its idea and I do admire it. I do also
admire John Buckman. I do also admit that is possible to find
similarities but I think that you were way too harsh. You did not
consider how good is for the Creative Commons, Fair Trade and the music
business to have other record labels operating according to a fair
business model. I do wish people to get inspired by this business
model.

I thank you for the time you spent in reading this post and I do
appreciate the opportunity we have had to say what we think. It’s
great to be on the Creative Commons blog.

David d’Atri

BeatPick — FairPlay Music Label

Canadian Public Domain Registry Announced

Mia Garlick, March 3rd, 2006

For those of you who followed the weekly Lessig Letters last year, you may recall that Larry outlined one of our planned projects for 2006 - a public domain registry or public domain wiki. Work on the registry has commenced in earnest.

Today, Access Copyright, Creative Commons Canada and Creative Commons announced the project - confirming that it is Canada that will have the benefit of being able to readily identify and access it’s public domain cultural heritage. As Maureen Cavan, Executive Director of Access Copyright, Canada’s leading copyright licensing agency, said:

“We’re excited about this partnership that will enhance and preserve Canadian culture by making Canadian works in the public domain more widely accessible both here and abroad. Creators looking for source material and educators looking for classroom content will have this free database at their fingertips.”

At Creative Commons we are also very excited about this project and thankful for the foresight and initiative taken by Access Copyright in working with us to realize such a great idea. We certainly hope that organizations in other countries will take note and take steps to open up their national cultural heritage similar to the Canadians.

CC Fight!

Mike Linksvayer, March 3rd, 2006

Former Creative Commons Executive Director Glenn Otis Brown has added gloves to all that time he must have on his hands after leaving this crazy startup nonprofit organization. His boxing adventures as MEFISTO (very clever Glenn) are chronicled at Haymaker-SF. All videos are licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 and hosted at blip.tv, a cool new video hosting site that facilitates CC licensing and permanent archiving at the Internet Archive.

MEFISTO sporting a black (cc) t-shirt before and after sparring with Golden Gloves champ Paul Wade, one of his and Dr. Faust’s boxing coaches:

Stills from BY-NC-SA video by Haymaker-SF. Watch here.

Calling all Architects

Francesca Rodriquez, March 3rd, 2006

This call for architects may not be a prestigious as The Pritzker Prize, but it’s not far from it. Creative Commons seeks a Second Life enthusiast and builder … see below.

Calling Designers, Builders and Scripters — help Creative Commons set up its meeting place and multimedia gallery

Creativecommons.org now has a home base in Second Life, and the Commoners need your help building an inviting space for people to gather and share ideas and resources. If you are a designer, builder, or scripter willing to use your talents, then read on!

What We Need:

-The Commons: Gathering place for people interested in discussing Creative Commons and the Free Culture movement

-The Gallery: Multimedia gallery for displaying and distributing Creative Commons licensed art, video, and audio content

-Info “kiosk” to distribute info about Creative Commons

-Donation “jar” for making donations to creativecommons.org

What We’d Like:

We’re looking for designs that are friendly and fun. What does ‘The Commons’ mean to you? For aesthetic ideas, take a look at Creativecommons.org to get a feel for Creative Commons style, taste and color palette.

-The Commons: A meeting/hanging out place that invites conversation and inspires creativity. This is your space! A coffee house? Tree house? Hanging garden? Floating yurt?

-The Gallery: Incorporated into the Commons, or alongside it, should be a multimedia gallery that shows off the work of artists, musicians,writers, and film makers who use CC licenses.

What to Do:

-Visit the CC HQ land in Second Life at Mocis (18, 180, 41) and get a feel for the landscape.

-Send in samples of your previous builds and mock-ups of your ideas for the Creative Commons site. To do this, go into Second Life, take a snapshot and send a postcard to Francesca Babeli (francesca@creativecommons.org). Subject line should read: CCHQ Entry

-All entries must be received by 13 March 2006.

A Creativecommons.org panel will review proposals and contact designers. In appreciation of these services, the chosen builders will be given a selection of Creative Commons schwag and a Linden dollar stipend.

Creative Commons presents: CC Salon, San Francisco

Eric Steuer, March 2nd, 2006

We’re very excited to announce the first CC Salon, taking place in San Francisco on Wednesday, March 8 from 6pm-9pm at Shine (1337 Mission Street). In the spirit of gatherings organized by groups like Remix Reading, Dorkbot, and Copynight, CC Salon will be a casual affair focused on conversation and community-building open to anyone interested in art, technology, education, and copyright.

We’ve scheduled three terrific presenters for March 8: Wagner James Au (Second Life), Josh Kinberg (FireAnt), and Eddie Codel (Geek Entertainment TV). There will also be music provided by the awesome Minus Kelvin (read about him here).

Shine is a bar (so, it’s 21+). Please invite your friends, colleagues, and anyone you know who might be interested in drinks and discussion.

We’ve set up a wiki where you can find the latest information about CC Salon. This will also serve as a place where the community can contribute ideas, make suggestions, and submit proposals for future events.

We look forward to seeing you there!