[ Thanks to Aurelien
Marchand for the tip. ]
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) introduced a new tool
designed to empower both artists and audiences at the New York
Music & Internet Expo on April 21, 2001. As part of its
Campaign for Audiovisual Free Expression (CAFE), EFF’s Open Audio
License allows anyone to freely copy, share, perform, and adapt
music in exchange for providing credit to the artist for her gift
to humanity.
EFF’s Open Audio License enables musicians and society to build
upon and share creative expression creating a rich public commons.
Artists who chose to release a song under the public license can
build their reputation by offering unfettered access to their
orginal works in exchange for recognition. Open Audio works are
designated as “(O)” by the author and may be lawfully traded on
file-sharing systems such as Napster or played by traditional and
Web DJs royalty-free. Numerous musicians have traditionally taken
advantage of super-distribution of their music, such as the
Grateful Dead, a band that attributes much of its success to its
encouragement of fans to freely copy and share their music.
“EFF’s Open Audience License hopes to use the power of copyright
to protect copyright’s ultimate objectives a vibrant and accessible
public domain, incentivising creativity, and promoting the free
exchange of ideas,” said EFF Staff Attorney for Intellectual
Property Robin Gross. “EFF’s public music license strikes a new
deal between creators and the public, granting more freedoms to the
public to experience music while ensuring the artist is
compensated.”
The online civil liberties group launched CAFE in June 1999 to
address complex social and legal issues raised by new technological
measures for protecting intellectual property. EFF believes that
new intellectual property laws and technologies harm – nearly
eliminate – the public’s fair use rights, and make criminals of
people doing perfectly legitimate things.
To read EFF’s Open Audio License & supporting documents,
see: http://www.eff.org/IP/Open_licenses
For more information on EFF’s CAFE campaign, see: http://www.eff.org/cafe
About EFF:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties
organization working to protect rights in the digital world.
Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry
and government to support free expression, privacy, and openness in
the information society. EFF is a member-supported organization and
maintains one of the most linked-to Web sites in the world:
http://www.eff.org