As one of the guys that lobbied/counseled Creative Commons during the creation of the Music Sharing License (which is a more musician-centric version of the Attribution-Noncommercial Share Alike License, save for the derivative works provisions), I can say that the intention of its use was to legalize reality for all musicians who accepted it. It had nothing to do with a “free as in beer” mentality. You can bet that Mr. Reznor will exploit all available options for his copyrights, and haul in princely sums for all his efforts.
But the notion that musicians require “mainstream media” to break virally isn’t really the right way to look at the problem. First off – and most important – musicians require a growing catalog of outstanding product that has legs and can be performed in an entertaining manner in a live environment before they even have a chance of breaking virally. There are plenty of bands giving away music on the internet that have a good song or two, but very few who meet the above criteria.
After that… viral growth requires a mix of well-coordinated activities amongst key actors in markets where activity has been observed. And these key actors can be mainstream or not. Period. There are plenty of acts that have become successful with less-than-mainstream exposure.
Plus, it’s 2008. How come no one is calling the internet “mainstream” yet? Shall I be the first…?
Nine Inch Nails released a new record today. It is free (as in beer and speech) and is licensed under a Creative Commons license, according to the liner notes.
Trent is answering all those questions we’ve had for years with his actions. What if artists released their work directly and retained their rights? What if their releases were free and remixable? Would it matter? We will find out shortly, thank you Trent.
I still think the more important question is: “What if an artist that hasn’t already built a career on the label system released their work directly, gave it away for free, retained their rights, etc. Would it matter?”
The answer, sadly, to that one is “no, it doesn’t matter.” Myriad small unheard-of bands are out there posting their albums for free every day, but there’s still no good way for them to get heard.
For all the chatter about how new technology/Music 2.0/viral marketing etc. has the power to “break” new artists, there are precious few examples of this actually occurring.
This is true, there are precious few examples. Kind of sad — yet I’m optimistic, because I cannot believe that art relies on mainstream media.
I am working on this problem. If nothing else, I will give you a valiant attempt in the coming months as I begin releasing great music from (mostly) unknown artists.
