[PD] a little ot: creative commons

[Hans-Christoph Steiner]

On Jun 16, 2006, at 5:42 AM, derek holzer wrote:

> Hi HC,
>
> Hans-Christoph Steiner wrote:
>
>> With the GNU GPL, its dead simple: do whatever you want with it as  
>> long as you distribute any changes or additions also.  That's why  
>> I have been thinking about releasing everything I do, music, sound  
>> installations, whatever, under the GNU GPL.
>
> What becomes problematic here is the use of a license designed for  
> software applied to non-software things, like pieces of music,  
> installations, videos, etc. There is plenty of precedent for the  
> GNU GPL to protect software. But it is based around the idea of a  
> "source code", which is an easily definable thing in software and a  
> nebulous gray zone in art. What is the "source code" of your music?  
> Is it a score? Is it the PD patch? Is it the MIDI tracker file? Is  
> it all the samples you used? None of this is defined precisely by  
> the GNU GPL, so it would make applying it to your art quite  
> difficult. Not to mention the other code-specific terminology in  
> the license that would be difficult to fix legally to non-software  
> products. I saw the Design Science License as an attempt to deal  
> with this problem, but it still wasn't too specific about what  
> "source code" should be. And, AFAIK, the FSF has distanced  
> themselves from the DSL anyway, which means they won't fight to  
> protect your work under it. I'd also like to see something from the  
> FSF that says they will act legally to protect non-software work  
> under the GNU GPL. It seems like it would be outside their  
> jurisdiction.

An application is a binary, and the source code is all the files  
needed to produce that binary given a set of tools.  A media file is  
a binary, and the source code is all the files needed to produce that  
binary given a set of tools.

So you can download my Solitude piece as an mp3.  But you can also  
download all of the files necessary to compile Solitude yourself.   
Conceptually, its not difficult.  The hard part is the law.  For  
example, if I use a sample in a GPL'ed piece, do I have to provide  
the sources to that sample too?  That's a bit grey, but definitely  
not insurmountable.

.hc

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