Dear Mr. Williams: ccMixter Responds to ASCAP with ‘Freedom to Share’
International Music Community Rejects Copyright Claims with Earnest Copyleft Compositions
August 10, 2010 (San Diego, CA) – The artist community at ccMixter.org has announced they will respond to ASCAP’s new fund-raising campaign against Creative Commons with collaborative musical compositions and recordings. The site’s musicians are writing original pieces specifically for the ‘Freedom To Share’ Write-Record-Remix Event – compositions to share under Creative Commons’ licenses – the very licenses ASCAP is fighting against.
ccMixter, the most prominent experiment in free music culture, began in 2004 with a series of remix contests hosted by Creative Commons in conjunction with Wired Magazine featuring The Beastie Boys, David Byrne and other innovative musicians. Lawrence Lessig, founding board member of Creative Commons, says of ccMixter: “The first important thing about Creative Commons is that it’s artist based. It’s artists who choose what freedoms they’re going to give people when it comes to access to their work.”
In a ccMixter.org forum post last week, announcing FREEDOM TO SHARE, it read, “As artists, we believe WE should have the freedom to choose how we share our work…” For the past five years, ccMixter.org has internationally demonstrated the power of its 20,000-strong music community, made possible by Creative Commons licensing, and through the motto “Download, Sample, Cut-up, Share.”
“It has been heartening to see so many people rebut ASCAP's deceptive and foolish claims about Creative Commons, “said Mike Linksvayer, Vice President of Creative Commons. “Now, it's exciting to see the ccMixter community--itself direct evidence that ASCAP's characterizations are false--take the response to another level. I can't wait to hear the results!”
Creative Commons transferred control and operations of ccMixter.org to start-up ArtisTech Media (ATM), based in San Diego, California, in October of 2009.
“Through collaboration with my peers at ccMixter, I’ve become a much broader, and hopefully better, artist,” says Emily Richards, or Snowflake on ccMixter.org. “Because we personally know better, we can’t remain silent--just like Paul Williams says he can’t. We as artists must have the freedom to share our creations in the ways WE choose.” Emily is also a co-founder and CEO of ATM.
Unlike most music websites, ATM’s sites, TuneTrack.net and ccMixter.org, facilitate actual artist creation via community collaboration. ATM uses, as well as contributes to, Open Source Technology and music under Creative Commons licenses. ATM is working to pair art with technology in the best quality ways--in order to create a richer musical experience for both creator and receiver.
FREEDOM TO SHARE has two phases. Until August 14, stage one is for musicians to write, record and upload an original piece relevant to the project theme. ccMixter.org artists will then have until August 28, or Upload Day, to “Download. Sample. Cut-up. Share.”
For more information, visit: http://ccmixter.org/thread/2282. To hear the songs and spoken word submitted thus far, visit: http://ccmixter.org/playlist/browse/8166.
