CREATIVE COMMONS, XLR8R MAGAZINE, AND GHOSTLY INTERNATIONAL ANNOUNCE THE CHRISTOPHER WILLITS / “COLORS SHIFTING” REMIX CONTEST ON CCMIXTER.ORG

Winning Remix to Be Featured on Upcoming Compilation CD Released by XLR8R Magazine

San Francisco, CA, USA — November 15, 2006

Creative Commons, XLR8R Magazine, and Ghostly International are pleased to announce that the Christopher Willits / “Colors Shifting” Remix Contest is now taking place now at ccMixter. Visit http://ccmixter.org/ghostly for contest information, rules, and audio sources.

Ghostly International artist Christopher Willits — a Bay Area-based musician and multimedia artist — is offering the audio source files from the song “Colors Shifting” online under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license, so that producers worldwide can use the sounds in remixes and new compositions. The general public is invited to download these tracks and create their own versions, appropriate elements in new compositions, and generally use the elements for any noncommercial creative expression.

Christopher Willits will select the best remix. The winning remix will be included on an XLR8R Incite CD compilation, which will be included in copies of a future issue of XLR8R Magazine.

To enter, download the separated audio elements of Christopher Willits’ “Colors Shifting” and upload a remix to ccMixter between November 29, 2006 and December 27, 2006. All entries must be licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 license. Under this license, the public may legally make copies of, distribute, and create derivative works from the remixes – as long as the original authors are credited and the uses are not for commercial purposes.

Quotes about the Christopher Willits / “Colors Shifting” Remix Contest:

Christopher Willits:
“Creative Commons is helping artists forge new paths through the grey areas of digital ownership, allowing us to find appropriate boundaries of sharing our work that does not exclude creative interpretation and replication. I’m honored to be wortking with ccMixter and super excited to hear what everyone comes up with.”

Jeff Owens, label manager of Ghostly International:
“Ghostly is excited to be a part of the remix contest. Creative Commons brings fans even closer to the artist and the musical process.”

Ken Taylor, managing editor of XLR8R Magazine:
“XLR8R is totally stoked to be a part of ccMixter’s remix contest, as we share with Creative Commons the philosophy that artists – not companies – should maintain the greatest amount of control in how music is used and what it might become.”

About Christopher Willits

Christopher Willits is a musician and multimedia artist located in San Francisco, California. Striking a delicate balance between acoustic and electronic sounds and systems, Willits manages to defy genre distinctions while still defining a sound unto his own. His numerous solo releases cover a broad spectrum of musical styles, and include one main commonality: Willits’ unique use of the guitar with custom-made signal processing. This home-brewed software, along with Willits’ 6-string prowess, generates a unique real-time mixture of improvised melody and rhythm. On his breakthrough LP, Surf Boundaries, Willits merges the patterns of his signature guitar sound with treated strings, brass and five-part vocal harmonies for a sonic vision that draws upon elements of shoegaze, jazz, ambient and noise. The San Francisco Weekly named Willits “the center cell of a rather complex indie rock-avant-garde electronic art Venn diagram.”

About Creative Commons

Creative Commons is a not-for-profit organization, founded in 2001, that promotes the creative re-use of intellectual and artistic works—whether owned or in the public domain. Creative Commons licences provide a flexible range of protections and freedoms for authors, artists, and educators that build upon the “all rights reserved” concept of traditional copyright to offer a voluntary “some rights reserved” approach. It is sustained by the generous support of various organizations including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Omidyar Network, the Hewlett Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation as well as members of the public. For general information, visit https://creativecommons.org.

Contact

Eric Steuer
Creative Director, Creative Commons
Email

Press Kit