[Infowarrior] - Lessig refutes ASCAP FUD over Creative Commons

[Richard Forno]

ASCAP's essay, "Common Understanding: 10 Things Every Music Creator Should
Know About Creative Commons Licensing" nicely highlights some important
considerations that any musician should review before using a CC license.
Unfortunately, however, it also continues some common misunderstandings
about Creative Commons. I've reprinted, and responded, to these in the
extended entry below. But before the details, there is one important fact of
agreement to keep in view, and one important disagreement:

We certainly agree with ASCAP that "music creators should fully understand
the terms to which they are agreeing and the implications down the line."
That applies to CC licenses as much as to a recording contract. And we're as
keen as anyone to make sure that understanding is there.

But it is not the case that CC asserts that "artists should give up all or
some of their rights" -- if by that ASCAP means either that we believe
giving up "all or some of their rights" always benefits an author or
artists, or that, benefit notwithstanding, an artist should sacrifice his or
her rights for the common good. Neither is correct. We know that sometimes,
freer access helps. We provide tools to make it easier for artists to enable
freer access. We also believe that when making creative work freely
available doesn't hurt, and sometimes helps, the culture is benefited by
choosing freedom rather than licensing lawyers. And finally, we believe that
some forms of creative work -- e.g., the work of scientists, or governments
-- should be freely available. But that normative claim is far from the work
we do with the authors or artists that ASCAP deals with. Our business with
respect to them is not to exhort them to charity. Artists and authors have
it bad enough without a bunch of nerdy lawyer-types trying to pile on more
guilt.

< - BIG SNIP - >

http://lessig.org/blog/2007/12/commons_misunderstandings_asca.html