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March 11, 2007 7:14 PM

What's the deal with posting songs on AskMeFi? I've contacted some users to ask if I can sample something of theirs, and while I have no problem doing this (and will continue to ask), I think it would be neat to be able to specific a creative commons (or other more restrictive) licenses. I know they could simply specify themselves, but it would be nice to make things unambiguous by default. Not hugely important, but I think it would be helpful.
posted by phrontist to MetaFilter Music at 7:14 PM (14 comments total)

What's the deal with posting songs on AskMeFi?

Do you mean posting them to Music (or MuFi or HiFi or Muffy or whathaveyou), or am I completely misunderstanding what this has to do with the green?

Assuming the former, are you asking whether songs posted to Music are or ought to be assumed to be under some less-restrictive license, or asking for an automated method to specify, via some flag tracked by the site itself, one of several non-copyright licenses?

And the functional, least-work response that you acknowledged already: a poster can simply specify CC (or whatever) in the text of a song post.
posted by cortex at 7:24 PM on March 11, 2007

I know they could simply specify themselves, but it would be nice to make things unambiguous by default.


It already is unambiguous by default. Look at the footer of the page: All posts are © their original authors.
posted by bigmusic at 8:31 PM on March 11, 2007

I've not participated in Music (which I assume phrotonist meant to refer to in his post rather than AskMe), and so have no pony in this race nor the desire for the pony I think he wants, but I suspect he's noticed threads like these and thought an interface similar to, e.g. flickr's, which allows the image poster to easily specify and show the rights they want to retain in their work, might be awesome for Music.
posted by psmith at 8:47 PM on March 11, 2007

and if i could spell phrontist it would definitely be awesome for me
posted by psmith at 8:51 PM on March 11, 2007

Agreed, psmith. I was thinking about asking about the podsafeness of Mefi music and for some clear indicator of the creators' wishes in that regard back before Matt started the official webcast and made my half-assed plans mootish.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 8:52 PM on March 11, 2007

I can add CC licenses to music. It was on the first launch featureset but we ended up putting it off because it was going to add another couple hours of work.

I literally wrote the documentation on how to integrate CC with your web apps, so I could probably pump this out when I get back (don't think I can edit the ID3 tags to reflect it though) later this week.
posted by mathowie at 9:01 PM on March 11, 2007

I am against Phrontist's suggestion. I like to keep my copyrights simple: they belong to me. Everything else proceeds from agreement.
posted by nanojath at 9:02 PM on March 11, 2007

I am against Phrontist's suggestion. I like to keep my copyrights simple: they belong to me. Everything else proceeds from agreement.

You think if I want to license my music to everyone, I should be forced to make individual agreements with six billion people? Or are you just against forced licensing? Because I don't think anyone is suggesting forced licensing.
posted by scottreynen at 9:08 PM on March 11, 2007

I'll throw in a vote for allowing the choice of CC licensing. I'm not saying that I'd license all of my songs that way, but for songs that could be remixed, it'd be nice to have the option. For me, it's not like I'm ever going to make any money on my songs anyway, I might as well offer them up to the masses to have their dirty way with.
posted by god hates math at 9:40 PM on March 11, 2007

Yeah, I don't think phrontist was suggesting compulsory licensing, because if he was me and nanojath would have to strangle him.
posted by cortex at 11:00 PM on March 11, 2007

Yeah, it'd be like flickr, the default would be all rights reserved, but with an option to pick a cc license if you really want one.
posted by mathowie at 11:44 PM on March 11, 2007

Will you be able to change it so your default setting is with the CC license of your choosing?
posted by drezdn at 6:48 AM on March 12, 2007

Well then I don't object to that. Apologies for the knee jerk reaction, I misconstrued phrontist's use of the "by default."

I would like to be able force scottreyen to have to make individual agreements with six billion people (what, the other 580+ million are chopped liver?) because the thought of it makes me feel Drunk With Power!
posted by nanojath at 12:04 PM on March 12, 2007

Yeah, it'd be like flickr, the default would be all rights reserved, but with an option to pick a cc license if you really want one.

Exactly. Sorry about the AskMeFi typo.
posted by phrontist at 4:00 PM on March 12, 2007