Indie Bible - zankMusic.com

has, if applicable, allow for the work’s free use (typical broadcast use in
its original form, if in no other form, depending on the specific license)
in a podcast or web broadcast. This gives specific favor to podcasts only,
allowing the artist to impose more traditional constraints on everyone
else. Podsafe licensing can, for example, continue to require non-podcast
consumers to pay for the work, require royalties on derivative works, and
profit significantly from the work’s use in traditional radio, television, or
f i l m .
The licensor of any podsafe work must be legally capable of making
it so. An artist cannot distribute his or her own work through a podsafe
license if doing so would break any laws or breach any standing
agreements (e.g. with the RIAA). The creator of a derivative work may
also not claim this work podsafe without express permission from the
original copyright holders. (PMN has more specific and stringent terms
to this effect in its agreement.)
Another point of contention is that not all podcasts are noncommercial
works; in fact, an increasing number of podcasts are taking
on sponsors and looking to make a profit. In general, no significant
distinction is yet made between podsafe for non-commercial use and
podsafe for commercial use, but it could easily arise at any moment.
Motives for the podcaster to use podsafe music ( f r o m
Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org )
As podcasting grows more and more popular, illegal use of heavily
licensed music (as through the RIAA) becomes increasingly difficult to
hide. This is in general of greater concern to podcasters than to the
typical sharer of music, because podcasters usually produce their shows
for and promote them to the public—a far more overt and traceable
a c t i o n .
Including such licensed music legally has its own set of caveats.
Indeed, under many jurisdictions it’s currently impossible, but the
message from those in the know is that many licensing agencies, if they
do intend to allow the use of their music on podcasts, will require not
only the payment of royalties but also the use of DRM on the shows.
(DRM, because of its proprietary, system-specific nature, would be
destructive to the general openness and system independence of
p o d c a s t s . )
Use of podsafe music instead of more stringently licensed material
allows a podcaster to continue to produce an inexpensive, legal program
with little hassle. Not least important for an independent podcaster is the
promise of being able to avoid the confusing maze of licensing
o rg a n i s a t i o n s .
Motives for the artist to use podsafe music (from Wi k i p e d i a
e n . w i k i p e d i a . o rg )
Conventional radio (and television) can present a difficult, and not
always logical, barrier of entry for a musician or other media artist
involving large sums of money and often a great deal of surrender in both
ownership and creative freedom.
In contrast, podcasting, an increasingly popular medium for audio
programs, is as a whole very receptive, indeed thirsty for artists and
input. This is due in part to the creative and economic nature of the
l a rgely independent podcasting community and further fueled by its need
to avoid repetition. While a conventional radio show may be able to risk
replaying a large part of its music selection from day to day, there would
be little point in downloading a music podcast whose selection did not
vary significantly from a previous show. Podcasting is thus a voracious
medium. With a growing and international audience podcasting is now
becoming an effective means for inexpensive artist promotion often
aimed squarely at the people most like to be interested in that type of
m u s i c .
What is The Podsafe Music Network?
The Podsafe Music Network (music.podshow.com) is a comprehensive
source for podsafe music. It was founded in 2005 by ex MTV VJ and
current podcaster Adam Curry (Daily Source Code
w w w.dailysourcecode.com). PMN brings a large group of podcasters
together with a wide variety of all-podsafe music and the artists who
produce it.
According to PMN, podsafe music is music that meets all of the
following conditions:
1. Works submitted to the Podsafe Music Network are the property of
the artist, and all rights to these works, including lyrics and music,
are the property of the artist.
2. All works contain no recordings, lyrics, copyrights, or other
elements that are the copyright of any other artist, except under the
limited provisions of the Creative Commons License A g r e e m e n t
w w w. c r e a t i v e c o m m o n s . o rg
3. Despite any recording contracts with RIAA, ASCA, BMI or other
recording industry entity, the artist retains ownership of the works
and is free to distribute, broadcast, license or sell these works at the
a r t i s t ’s discretion.
The licensing agreement between the artist and PMN:
m u s i c . p o d s h o w. c o m / m u s i c / a r t i s t Te r m s . h t m
What are Creative Commons Licenses?
(from www. c r e a t i v e c o m m o n s . o rg )
Creative Commons Licenses help you publish your work online while
letting others know exactly what they can and can’t do with your work.
When you choose a licence, we provide you with tools and tutorials that
let you add licence information to our own site or to one of several free
hosting services that have incorporated Creative Commons.
1. Standard License
License your song under your terms. Our set of standard licenses will let
you share music with fans while protecting your song from limits you put
in place.
O r, choose a prepared license for audio works.
2. Sampling License
People can take and transform pieces of your work for any purpose other
than advertising, which is prohibited. Copying and distribution of the
entire work is also prohibited.
3. S h a re Music License
This license is aimed at the musician that wants to spread their music on
web and filesharing networks legally for fans to download and share,
while protecting the music from commercial use or remixing of any kind.
How does a Creative Commons license operate?
Creative Commons license are based on copyright. So it applies to all
works that are protected by copyright law. The kinds of works that are
protected by copyright law are books, websites, blogs, photographs,
films, videos, songs and other audio & visual recordings, for example.
Software programs are also protected by copyright but, as explained
b e l o w, we do not recommend that you apply a Creative Commons
license to software code or documentation.
Creative Commons licenses give you the ability to dictate how
others may exercise your copyright rights—such as the right of others to
copy your work, make derivative works or adaptations of your work, to
distribute your work and/or make money from your work. They do not
give you the ability to restrict
anything that is otherwise permitted by exceptions or limitations to
copyright—including, importantly, fair use or fair dealing—nor do they
give you the ability to control anything that is not protected by copyright
l a w, such as facts and ideas.
Creative Commons licenses attach to the work and authorize
everyone who comes in contact with the work to use it consistent with the
license. This means that if Bob has a copy of your Creative Commonslicensed
work, Bob can give a copy to Carol and Carol will be authorized
to use the work consistent with the Creative Commons license. You then
have a license agreement separately with both Bob and Carol.
Where are the forms that I have to fill out?
Creative Commons licenses are expressed in three different formats: the
Commons Deed (human-readable code), the Legal Code (lawyerreadable
code) and the metadata (machine readable code). You don’t
need to sign anything to get a CCL. Just select your license here:
w w w. c r e a t i v e c o m m o n s . o rg / l i c e n s e