I sent this a while back but it bounced because I'd subbed from the
wrong address.. I hope my mailer doesn't break the formatting on the
return journey..
Kevin wrote:
>
> OK, so let's assume we drop the Open Content license and use GPL. Can you
> give a good summary of what one is agreeing to when you make your songs,
> MIDI files, lyrics and photographs available under the GPL?
>
> Is it... "I own this material; anybody can use it for anything they want,
> but their modifications have to be available under the same terms."
I don't think people can sell it, beyond charging for distribution
costs. People can change the music, but cannot re-distribute it without
source code (in this case I guess that would be samples and MIDI and so
on).
> Could
> just the original composer, say, sell a CD of his/her version at a cost
> chosen for a good profit (more than distribution costs), and everybody
> else's modified versions have to be "freely" available, like Red Hat Linux
> CDs (if that's indeed the deal for them)?
Anyone can (as many 3rd party people do) sell Red Hat CDs. I think what
you are buying from rehdat is the printed documentation and installation
support. Although I have heard both are excellent, I don't need either
so just download it at work for free.
> I'm trying to configure an open community of artistic collaborators, with
> some way for the community to bring in income from its creative efforts.
> One could look out for income possibilities supporting the community, and
> providing services to the "user" community (performances, etc.). And I
> think it would be very helpful to at least have a FAQ exploring the
> implications of the licensing for people who come by to check out the
> community.
Richard Stallman, the founder of GNU, thinks in the future musicians
will be able to make money by having their music downloadable for free,
with voluntary micropayments if you like it (just a few pence/cents).
He doesn't seem to think that the GPL is all that applicable to music,
although personally I like the idea. I love hearing other peoples
remixes of my music.
As for the Reply-to: munging thing -- I prefer it to be set to the list
for discussion forums such as this as well (but not more technical
lists).
Alex
--
http://www.slab.org/
Every time I say this I know this time I mean it but this feeling deep
inside
says that it's ok one more time.
