The free culture movement is growing, from its inception in the free software movement to the relatively recent establishment of Creative Commons. Across the world, localised teams are adapting CC licenses to their particular legal systems. Record labels, indie film studios and well over 10 million web pages are using CC licenses. Are we on an inexorable ascendency? Well, not quite. In this article I will show that we still have a lot of issues to iron out.

But first, I want to illustrate my personal experience with Creative Commons. Remix Reading is an artistic project that I lead, based in Reading, UK. Our aim is to get artists (working with music, video, images and text) to come together and share their work, be inspired by each other’s work, and ultimately to create “remixes”. All material on the web site is released under a Creative Commons license, as is all work performed or exhibited at events we organise locally. Our main focus is bringing Creative Commons to local, non-geeky people.

“Remix Broad St”, by Tom Chance. Released under the Creative Commons Attribution license

What free software has shown is that the ability to remix is important to everyone, not just professionals

Remix Reading was borne of a frustration with the mainstream approach to art. In a research seminar at a think tank that I recently attended, culture was discussed as though it were an industry rather than a vast and intangible collection of artifacts in which humans express themselves. Laws and practices that govern the creation and distribution of culture are framed for the benefit of “good”, professional artists, often excluding the rest of society. When I suggested to one industry figure that thousands of people in Reading were already remixing copyrighted work illegally, he immediately shouted me down. When anyone suggests that new technology and licensing schemes can be harnessed to promote creativity for all society, industry and government ignore the call and instead make technology and laws more restrictive.

Defending the right to remix

What free software has shown is that the ability to remix is important to everyone, not just professionals. To understand this we first have to look at what it means to “remix”, and go beyond the stereotype of a bedroom DJ adding a tacky drum loop to an existing creation. First, imagine a line, stretching from a full-blown reverse engineered cover version of a song at one end, to a discussion with a friend about a movie at the other (see figure 1). If we count the cover version as a remix, how do we treat one text that quotes another, or even a discussion about a movie? What if I write an article, drawing on that discussion, quoting some film critics and analysing the film. Each example is deriving some of its content from one or more previous works, so each is in a sense a remix. If we accept this, then we can see that people remix all the time. Indeed, without the ability to remix we simply cannot be human because culture becomes a passive rather than participatory interaction with the external world.

Defining a remix is no easy task

Copyright puts an artificial barrier down and says what we can and cannot do without special permission. So I am allowed to quote that film critic, provided I don’t quote too much. However, I’m not allowed to write and perform a cover version of a copyrighted song without first gaining permission and potentially paying fees. Creative Commons licenses simply move that barrier slightly farther to the left (in my diagram), giving you slightly more freedom than Copyright. It is a reformist attempt to break down the user/producer distinction that dominates the culture industry, helping artists promote creativity rather than consumption.

There is, of course, the noxious “no derivative works” clause, which prevents remixing. Though it was no doubt offered to encourage wider use, I am totally opposed to it. Using the clause, you are only promoting wider distribution, maintaining the user/producer class distinction and privileging your freedoms over everyone else’s.

So let’s Remix Reading!

In May of 2004, when some friends and I first started thinking seriously about launching a Creative Commons project, the movement was mostly the domain of copyright nerds, computer geeks and well-connected artists. If it is to profoundly alter society’s approach to culture then it must be an inclusive, democratic and participatory movement bringing in the whole of society. What is the use of talking about giving people freedom while simultaneously failing to make them aware of the opportunity to take it? And what use is promoting Creative Commons if people can’t understand it, or are unwilling to spend time trying?

The first thing we did was to create the Remix Reading web site. Running off free software, and kindly hosted for free by Positive Internet and ibiblio, it is designed to make finding, sharing and licensing artwork easy. The software links remixes together, making attribution a matter of selecting your sources from a list of works on the web site, and giving visitors a clear representation of the lineage of the remix. To promote remixing, we force artists to allow derivative works.

Ungeeky people get their culture in shops, clubs, bars, galleries and amongst friends, not on the internet

Here in Reading, as in most towns, ungeeky people get most of their culture in shops, clubs, bars, galleries and amongst friends, not on the internet. So after setting up the web site, we started to leaflet local venues, hold small warm-up events and spread the word about free culture. This culminated in a hugely successful launch event in March 2005, bringing all four kinds of art (audio, image, text, video) together in an orgy of creation. These events will continue for as long as people volunteer to organise them.

Creative barriers and stumbling blocks

If I have so far painted a wholly rosy picture of the Creative Commons movement then I have, perhaps, misled you. While we all move forward, each day brings both new converts and new problems. So in this second half of the article, I’d like to describe and discuss some of the most pressing issues we have faced through Remix Reading.

“notquite” by danleyboy, a remix of the painting “not quite right” by miss p. Released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike and reused with permission

The first is an obvious one: that explaining Creative Commons isn’t as easy as it might seem. To begin with, most people we speak to don’t realise that sharing and remixing non-commercially is illegal, and they don’t believe that the culture industry cares much if they do it on a small scale (i.e. locally). Many don’t know that all information is copyrighted at the time of creation in the UK (and in many other countries), and that copyright lasts for the life of the creator plus 70 years. Who would imagine that you still cannot remix or perform a lot of jazz from the 1920s because 70 years hasn’t passed since the composers’ deaths?

Copyright gets even more complicated with performance rights (50 years to each performer in a recording), moral rights (in the UK, at least, any creator can object to derogatory use of their work) and other endless complications. Given the ambiguity of the term “remix” and when they become unlawful, comprehending copyright law is beyond the reach of most individuals. Tracking down the facts on a copyrighted work is also a nightmare. For example, we had a hilarious drum and bass remix of Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” uploaded to the web site. Did this violate Joplin’s copyright, and the copyright of the musicians who performed in the recording? We had to track down the date on which Joplin died, and check the date of the recording, to be sure it was in the public domain.

Learning about the basics of Creative Commons is easy, and there are a variety of wonderful web pages and videos that explain it to newcomers. But the learning curve required to responsibly license your work, understanding all of the consequences, is immense. If understanding copyright is so difficult, how can we communicate the Creative Commons mantra effectively?