[linux-audio-dev] License for sounds

[David Olofson]

On Wednesday 14 January 2004 10.31, will at malefactor.org wrote:
[...]
> 4) "Derived sounds?" Holy crap, what a can of worms /that/ is.

Indeed - but I don't really care, actually. I just want to make the 
stuff as useful as possible to as many as possible. Just putting them 
in the public domain is probably the best way.


> 5) Preset patches and sequences are used all the time in commercial
> tunes, and a lot of people will choose to use a synth just because
> they heard that so-and-so used this-and-that to get a certain sound
> (808 clap/cowbell? Motif strings?). So, if your demos are any good
> (they must be if you want to license them ;), it might be
> worthwhile to let people use them as they wish.

Right. Which is why I'm asking what the right license terms for that 
would be. Copyright law isn't it, so I have to say *something* - even 
if it's just "This file is in the Public Domain."


> I don't know if
> this even applies to free software, though, so who knows, you might
> actually need to clamp down on those damned preset-using IP
> thieves.

I don't think the software has anything to do with it, though. For 
example, while the Doom "2.5D" engine is Free/Open Source, the Doom 
and Doom II data files are not. Data and code, or even parts of each, 
can have completely independent licenses, as long as the combination 
doesn't result in violating any of the liceneses.


> 6) Profit?!

Profit? Well, a synth is useless without sounds, so I want a huge 
library of good sounds, and I want them to be available to anyone for 
any kind of use, in order to attract more users (that is, potential 
contributors) to the project.

I prefer releasing my software as Free/Open Source for the same 
reason, although in that case, I'm not very interested in people just 
stealing lots of my code without even reporting bugs or contributing 
in any other way to me or anyone else using the code.

Dunno why my view differs slightly there, but at least I have one 
excuse: The licenses I use guarantee that *I* can't steal "my" code 
back and start selling binaries after people tested it, fixed my bugs 
and added loads of features. I *think* that slightly improves my 
chances of receiving contributions, but I can't prove it. :-)


//David Olofson - Programmer, Composer, Open Source Advocate

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