If you’re wondering whether a Creative Commons license is the right path for your song, read about the benefits and drawbacks in part one of this article.
As with any decision impacting your financial interests and the long-term path for your music, don’t make a permanent decision about licensing (such as licensing a song under Creative Commons) until you’ve weighed all of your options. Make sure to speak with a lawyer specializing in entertainment law if you have specific questions about your own music-licensing situation. Once you free a song using a permanent Creative Commons (CC) license, there's no going back, so look before you leap and continue reading for tips on how to obtain a CC license.
You must own the content that you are releasing under a CC license. It is vital to remember that there are two separate copyrights to a recorded song:
(For a refresher on copyright basics, read my Copyright and Your Band series.)
If you’re a recording artist and own only one of the above copyrights, then obtaining a CC license for your portion of the copyright only gives people half of what they need in order to freely use your recording.
For this reason, CC licenses work best if you’re a songwriter who's licensing your own song for which you retain full ownership, or if you’re a singer-songwriter who writes and records your own songs and retains full ownership of all copyrights. Keep in mind that ownership is sometimes messy and that you might be a co-owner (such as a composer who works with lyricists). Because CC licensing will have long-term repercussions for all owners, it's best to discuss licensing decisions with your co-owners before making decisions. If necessary, consult a lawyer who specializes in copyright law with specific questions about your songs and copyright ownership.
There are several decisions you need to make about how you would like your music to be used in order for you to choose the best fit from among the six Creative Commons licenses. Note that unlike public domain music, for which the copyright has expired or has been intentionally forfeited, the music you're releasing under a CC license may still have some rights reserved. In order to determine the type of CC license that's best for you, you need to answer these four major questions:
Now that you’ve had a chance to weigh your options and to imagine the future for your songs, try the Creative Commons License Chooser to see which license best fits your needs. You can also check out these examples of how real people and companies have used different types of Creative Commons licenses.
Once you have made your song available under a Creative Commons license, it’s time to let the world know. CC has developed several ways of marking your work with the CC licensing information to alert people to the licensing status, and to make your song discoverable using various internet websites and search engines. You can make it easier for others to discover your CC licensed songs by inserting some HTML code onto your website, or selecting the license you’ve chosen on a CC-enabled platform such as Flickr, YouTube, and SoundCloud. For other ways to mark your music with the CC licensing information, view the complete guide to marking your work with a CC license.
Jamie Davis-Ponce is a professional musician and graduate of Northeastern University's Master of Music Industry Leadership program with a concentration in entrepreneurship. She has been a music lecturer at Ithaca College, and is deeply involved in Boston-area arts and music organizations, having worked with ArtsBoston and held internships at Handel & Haydn Society and Boston Symphony Orchestra. Jamie is currently an administrator in the Professional Performance Division at Berklee College of Music. You can view more of her writing on her blog on Music, Business, and Creativity.