Home The Spirit - Music from Ethymonics Purchase The Spirit on CD Share the Music Reasons to be cheerful... Making it happen The Ethymonics Free Music License Links		The Ethymonics Free Music License The Ethymonics Free Music License is used by the copyright owner of a musical work to identify the work as Free Music. The license specifies terms and conditions that permit anyone to copy, broadcast or perform the music as long as they pass on the right to make further copies under the same terms and conditions. When a copy of the music is distributed, the following information must also be supplied: An appropriate copyright notice The name of the artist and all credited personnel The URL of the Ethymonics Free Music License An example of this information is given here. The text of the Ethymonics Free Music License is available in several formats: HTML PDF Plaintext There are other music licenses similar in spirit to the Ethymonics Free Music License, and these vary in the degree to which freedom to copy is granted. The Ethymonics approach to Free Music is very specific: the freedom to sell the music is the incentive that induces others to distribute the music on the artist's behalf. Also, under the Free Music License, the music cannot be distributed in one medium to increase the value of its exclusive rights in another, for example in mobile ringtones. By excluding such a possibility, the audience is assured that their interest in a piece of music is not being used in a clever scam: Anybody can sell the music. They don't have to pay royalties to the artist. There are no publishing royalties when a radio or TV station plays the music on air. Anybody can use the music in a film, a ringtone or for any other purpose. The terms of the Ethymonics Free Music License are irrevocable, once applied to a piece of music. The aim of the Ethymonics Free Music License is to establish that there is no proprietary control over a piece of music, except in establishing its freedom and authorship. Creative works other than music For creative works in other media, such as photography, painting, sculpture et cetera , the Free Arts License is highly expressive of the principles of freedom shared by creators of all kinds. The Free Arts License is available (in several languages) here. A complete list of licenses intended to encourage sharing can be found here. Free Software Most of these licenses were inspired by the GNU General Public License (GPL) created by the Free Software Foundation for computer software. The GNU project, initiated in 1984, is a success - most people know the results as "GNU/Linux", although much of the Internet, from browsers to servers and programming languages including Java, is based on Free Software. The GPL is located here. A Simpler Approach The development of software is a complex process and requires a license to define and ensure freedom to copy is shared appropriately. Other works are simpler in format. For example, many people share documents on the Internet by including distribution terms with the copyright notice, such as:   "Copyright (C) 2002 AllThings Limited. You may copy and distribute this document unaltered in any medium provided this copyright notice remains intact."   Something similar could be done for a piece of music, although the absence of specific conditions of sale, broadcast and performance means that such simplicity may lead to ambiguity in some situations. To clearly establish a completely new set of conditions for music distribution, a simple copyright notice of this kind is probably insufficient.
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