Tuesday, April 8, 2014

BLOOD MUSIC: SECRET RELEASE VIA CREATIVE COMMONS PROJECT?

Finnish record label BLOOD MUSIC are set to unleash a "mystery release" via CREATIVE COMMONS.




ITP V.014 EDITORS NOTE: Don't ask ITP's author whom the "mystery release" is. ITP fully supports CREATIVE COMMONS as that can be used in consolidation of copy right. Sad but true,  Record labels whom own artists masters can release compilations without artists consent, as artists often disapprove or plead with the label to add "extras" to compilations, merch, unreleased, could this be any different?

http://us.creativecommons.org/





FROM BLOOD MUSIC:
[THERE ARE NO SPOILERS IN THIS THREAD - ONLY INFORMATION]
Insofar as we can tell, the mystery release is the first "professional" open source music release in history.
Our efforts to track down another project of a similar kind have turned up empty. We will explain this all below.
MYSTERY:
First, the reason we chose to keep this release a secret was two-fold:
1) We have been interested in doing a mystery release for some time - to see the reaction from music fans and to also try something different. It is true that the mystery of discovering new music through browsing store shelves and the trading of mix tapes has quickly become something of a dead artform. Additionally, the cycle of preparing releases for us has become a bit of a well-oiled machine and thus needs shaking up a bit to keep from sliding into too much of a rhythm.
2) The mystery band has no idea (to our knowledge) about the nature of these releases and that was somewhat integral to the spirit of this project. We felt we needed to release these records without any information leaking on what they were in order to fulfill the entire scope of working and selling an open source release. This is an uncommon method of releasing music, and we didn't want to attract any potential controversy before the records already made it into peoples' hands. This could be done by quietly leaking copies into distribution - but since we sell about 90% of our records directly - we had no other choice. The only way to avoid any larger potential controversy was to do it in "secret."
ABOUT THE RELEASE ITSELF:
There was one particular artist whose material we wanted to purchase and/or release on vinyl but was never available. We wrote back-and-forth with the artist several times in 2011 and 2012, asking if we could press it - but they declined. More than one year had passed since the previous writing, so we contacted again, asking if the artist would press the material themselves. They told us they did not plan to repress their earlier material, due to losing access to the original files, and the fact that they only wanted to continue forward with the project and not go backwards.
We told the artist that we have experience in restoring materials for high-quality pressing and would be happy to help but received no response.
A week or two later, we stumbled upon the artist's blog by pure accident (only our second time reading the blog) and noticed a post that started:
"I'm not sure how much this really matters or if anyone has ever even paid attention to it, but I just changed all the Creative Commons licenses onBandcamp to the least restrictive possible, or "Attribution." Basically this means that you can do *whatever you want* with my music so long as you attribute it to me in some way. If you want to use every song I've ever made in your YouTubevideos go ahead. Even if you want to use them in a way that makes you money, feel free. Shame on me for not thinking of it first."
For those not familiar with Creative Commons, it's a non-profit organization dedicated to the subject of applying blanket licenses to works that re-assign traditional copyrights in nontraditional manners.
This has become the crux for information, illustration, and photos used in many open source projects, such as Wikipedia.
HOW IT WORKS:
When a work is completed - its copyright stays with the creator. The creator can then re-assign any parts of the copyright it so wishes to another party, and Creative Commons (one of the most notable organizations in favor of copyright reform) has written standard licenses that allow creators to set the copyright of their works to various configurations of "© Some Rights Reserved." instead of "© All Rights Reserved."
This can be for others to use commercially or non-commercially, usually to either spread the work itself as widely as possible for the purpose of disseminating the information or experiment and build upon the original work.
There have been several notable and non-notable cases of Creative Commons non-commercial licenses being used in music releases - usually for the point of non-profit remixing (Nine Inch Nails, Moby) - but this is the first time (to our knowledge) of a label discovering a serious project whose rights were set for 'open sourcing' and made use of them in their intended manner.
BACK TO THE STORY:
This was all a bit too exhilarating for us. A band we've been wanting to work with. A new format of project - one that challenges the traditional band-label relationship and brings it into the 21st century. It was all a bit scary and a bit too exciting, so we jumped on it and raced it to the head of our schedule, to ensure that we'd finally see this music pressed.
WHAT WE DID:
We first checked through all the music we were interested in pressing to ensure the licenses had been set to full open source commercial usage. The artist had set the rights to the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Agreement, which can be found here:
The basic tents:
You are free to:
Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material
for any purpose, even commercially.
After combing the necessary legal documents, we set out to assess the materials. We had no contact with the artist in creating these works, and we had to dig up the highest resolution materials possible.
Any original artwork that could be salvaged for printing was assessed, and one front cover (MYSTERY 2) had to be totally re-drawn from scratch. Though, we believe we re-drew it so closely that without tipping anyone off to this - they may never have known the difference.
There were not enough original art panels to complete the records, so we had to supplement parts of the artwork, using the artist's other publications as references. We purchased one of the artist's other LPs and scoured Wikipedia for other open source artwork available using Creative Commons licenses and used several of these on the MYSTERY 1 release.
Next, we ripped the highest quality audio available and worked together with one of our mastering engineers to carefully prepare it for vinyl. This took a few passes, but we got something that sounded good.
We submitted the project in secret to the plant and got test pressings back that were some of the best cuts we've ever received.
Full of excitement, we pressed the whole thing and put it for sale as the Mystery releases.
NOW WHAT:
The LPs themselves have almost sold out in pre-order and have now been shipped to everyone. Those of you who pre-ordered will soon discover what you've supported.
And the most incredible part of all this: once you receive your copies - you are also entitled to participate in the fruits of this work. If you somehow see a particular usage for the CD or LP that you receive, you are entitled to use it - free of any claims - and to build upon it for your own, so long as you use the proper methods of attribution in the legal code linked above.
Now that we've broken even on the LPs - we will collect on the profits and donate a percentage of all earnings to the artist themselves, paying them through Bandcamp (so that Bandcamp gets a cut), and making a donation to both Creative Commons and Wikipedia (who made this possible). We will also be donating a good chunk of the CDs and a handful of LPs to the artist for their own enjoyment and/or sale.
FINAL WORDS:
We just want to state for the record that this is not a ringing endorsement for or against copyright reform of any kind. It was an exciting chance for us to work with an artist we've wanted to work with in a very unconventional way. It was a chance to try out a new form for the digital age and to keep expanding our horizons.
We're a bit nervous to hear the artist's thoughts on the subject, due to the new method of usage we've put into practice. We half-suspect this is what they wanted and half-suspect they're going to want to kill us. The whole release is legal and sanctioned by the artist - only done from afar, rather than direct contact. It's not a bootleg, it's something else.
It may or may not be an artist you've heard of before - but we think it's something many of you will enjoy.
And let us know if you re-adapt the work in any serious way.

UPDATE: 4/9/2014: MYSTERY BAND IS..CLOUD KICKER: 

Since the first people received their records yesterday, the information has leaked on which Mystery record is which. You can find out what were the mysteries by clicking here.
http://www.blood-music.com/


Response from Creative Commons, regarding the mystery releases:
"You guys may well be the first commercial label to distribute an artist's entire CC-licensed album without their knowledge."
Thanks-Stay Metal, Stay Brutal-\m/ -l- 
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