YouTube now disabling audio rather than removing entire video

Interesting… YouTube is now disabling the audio rather than removing the entire video (where the audio copyright is in dispute or there are infringements).

The notice says: “The video contains an audio track that has not been authorized by [name of music publisher]. The audio has been disabled. More about copyright.”

Here’s a screenshot of the notice (click on the image for larger size):

(I took the screenshot from this video I stumbled upon.)

Apparently it was quietly introduced since Jan 2009, as I discovered from posts like this and this.

I’d suggest YouTube could go one step further: suggest or direct the YouTube user to sites like ccMixter for suitable CC licensed materials.

Or include a para or link to Creative Commons at their YouTube “More about Copyright” page :)

~ Ivan

Free Music Archive

Learned about freemusicarchive.org recently (thanks for the tip, Lingfeng).

From their About page:

The Free Music Archive is an interactive library of high-quality, legal audio downloads. The Free Music Archive is being directed by WFMU, the most renowned freeform radio station in America. Radio has always offered the public free access to new music. The Free Music Archive is a continuation of that purpose, designed for the age of the internet.

Every mp3 you discover on The Free Music Archive is pre-cleared for certain types of uses that would otherwise be prohibited by outdated copyright law…

…The Free Music Archive is a platform for collaboration between WFMU and a group of fellow curators, including KEXP, dublab, KBOO, ISSUE Project Room, and CASH Music. The site combines the curatorial approach that these organizations have played for the last few decades, with the community generated approach of many current online music sites.

Inspired by Creative Commons and the open source software movement, the FMA provides a legal and technological framework for curators, artists, and listeners to harness the potential of music sharing. Every artist page will have a bio and links to the artists’ home page for users to learn more about the music they discover via the Free Music Archive. We also seek to compensate artists directly…

p.s. other Creative Commons music sites include ccMixter and Jamendo. I’ll blog more about them when I find the time.

Creative Commons cited on IPOS website

The CC-SG team (specifically Chung Nian and Giorgos) have had cordial discussions with IPOS previously. Recently the nice folks at IPOS informed us that they’ve provided information about CC at this IPOS webpage, on Ownership & Rights:

http://www.ipos.gov.sg/leftNav/cop/Ownership+and+Rights.htm
[Last accessed: 10 Jun 09]

[Scroll to the bottom of the page]

The text says:

Creative Commons

Some copyright owners across jurisdictions have adopted licences provided by Creative Commons (CC).

CC is a non-profit organisation that provides licences and tools to allow owners of copyright material to designate the conditions (or “attributes”) under which their material may be used worldwide.

CC licences are not an alternative to copyright. In fact, they apply existing copyright law.

Users of CC licensed material are permitted to use the material without the need to further seek explicit permission from the owner, so long as the use conforms to the licence attributes.

Material released under a CC licence is not necessarily in the “public domain”, as the licensor using a CC licence does not have to give up all rights to his/her material.

CC licences are offered to the public at no charge and no registration is required to use a CC licence.

More information on CC licences can be found here.

LINK

[UPDATE 17 Jun 09: Thanks to Michelle Thorne for plugging this, here and here]

The Official Unofficial Creative Commons Facebook Application

From CreativeCommons.org (18 May 09) – Fred Benenson writes:

Last weekend I spent Saturday morning writing the Creative Commons License Application for Facebook. The premise is simple: installing the application allows Facebook users choose and place a CC license badge on their profile page indicating which license they want their content to be available under. Alongside the badge is text that explains what content (Photos, Videos and Status & Profile text are currently available as options) is licensed…

… There are some limitations to this application and you should consider it in beta, so apologies in advance if things break or don’t work properly.

I’ve added the Facebook application:

Thanks, Fred Benenson!

CC-Adopter: QQ*Librarian

Received an email from QQ*Librarian, who said she recently adopted the Creative Commons license.

She’s adopted the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Singapore license for her entire blog.

Check out her blog at qqlibrarian.blogspot.com, where she blogs about Singapore Library Stories, Commentaries on Librarianship, Travel Stories, Singapore Food and Places, and Book Reviews of Asian Writers.

Thanks for adopting CC!

Where can I find Creative Commons licensed media> (or “30+ Places To Find Creative Commons Media”)

Received this tweet from Kevin Lim:

Kevin’s link brought me to this post (www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2009/04/30/30-creative-commons-sources) by Sean P Aune. His article annotates “30 of the best resources online for audio, video, images and more for finding just the perfect Creative Commons licensed item for use in your next project”, covering Audio, General Searches, Images, Text, and Videos.

Lots of useful stuff from that article (thanks again, Kevin).

CC-Adopter: Bernard Leong

Here’s another CC adopter, Bernard Leong.

His CC license is displayed like this (left side-bar):

Bernard is no stranger to Creative Commons. He’s written on the subject (we’ve featured one of his commentary).

Check out Bernard’s blog at bleongcw.typepad.com.

CC-Adoptor: Yesterday.SG

As far as I know, the Yesterday.sg website, managed by the National Heritage Board, is the only government agency-related site that has adopted the Creative Commons license.

The license is displayed at the bottom of the site page:

LINK

~ Ivan Chew

Presentation at HIP Parent Seminar

Fyi, dear readers of the CC Singapore blog, I will present on “youth and user-generated content (UGC)” at an event for parents and educators this Saturday, organized by IPOS and the HIP (the Honour Intellectual Property alliance).

I will be speaking as an NUS lecturer, and not as CC Singapore, though I will talk about CC as well and how it provides a solution for legal sharing and reuse.

But the focus of my presentation will be on the opportunities and dangers of UGC, in an effort to educate parents on the associated risks (which extend well beyond copyright), but also to suggest that they should encourage their children to post/remix content and through that improve their media literacy skills. 

I’m curious how this will be received by the audience, but in any case it sets a nice precedent for working together with IPOS on IP-related matters. 

More info on the event: 

http://www.ipos.gov.sg/topNav/prg/gen/World%20IP%20Day%202009%20-%20Public%20Seminar.htm

~ Giorgos Cheliotis

CC-Adopter: Preetam Rai

Preetam is no stranger to Creative Commons. He was one of the early adopters, displaying a CC license on his blog even before the porting over of the Singapore version.

He’s changed his blog templates several times. This is the current incarnation :)

Preetam displays his CC license on a specific page on his blog:

He also wrote to me that he’s done the following:

• Online Tutorials (CC Public Domain) – Since May 2003
• Flickr and Blog – (CC Attribution) – Since August 2004
• Running CC Workshops at Ngee Ann since 2003

Preetam blogs at preetamrai.com/weblog