ButtUgly: Main_blogentry_231106

Another band joins Creative Commons

Älymystö has gotten fed up with the way copyright system works and is joining the CC movement.

We’ve taken a long look at various copyright issues in Finland and their effect on, for example, releasing our material on the net. It became very clear to us that the various copyright organizations mostly benefit artists who get heavy airplay (remember that bit about Payola, incidentally?) and/or are looking for contracts with the Big Five. For independent artists they can actually become an obstacle.

As artists we would lose the right to permit the free use of our material (for example on soundtracks, promotional samplers, art installations and so on) as well as the right to appear on projects by artists not belonging to these organizations.

In Finland, once you join the copyright management organizations, you lose control over your own creation. The system actually made a lot of sense many years ago, when it was good that there was a single point of contact for licensing all music, but now that artists can have proper, direct contact with their customers (deliberate choice of word), the old system is getting in the way. It's not evil. It's not stupid. It just does not work.

(Link via Mikko.)