PETALING JAYA: The Creative Commons approach to intellectual property licensing can help the local arts scene to flourish. But to do this it needs to become common knowledge among copyright holders in the country, said its supporters.

Musician Pete Teo said Creative Commons can also be used by musicians as a promotional tool for their work. "Creative Commons does not mean you give everything away for free, but if people like the free stuff, they are more likely to buy the whole thing," he said.

The Creative Commons approach to intellectual property licensing allows copyright holders to choose exactly which rights to reserve for themselves and which to allow the general public, through a variety of contract and licensing schemes.

It is intended to address the restrictions on information sharing that encumbers traditional copyright laws.

Lawyer Linda Wang of Tay & Partners, an advocate for Creative Commons licensing, said artistes, especially the lesser known ones, have nothing to lose under Creative Commons licensing.

It may even help their reputations when they decide to share their works, she said. "They’ve got nothing to lose.” Wong Yu Ri, lead guitarist of the band Frequency Cannon, said Creative Commons licensing can help the local music scene develop as it provides an alternative form of licensing and is a good solution for the current music sharing problem.

"Creative Commons is one of the tools that local musicians can use to protect their works. But it’s just a form of licensing; how you create your music, how you market yourself, how you help create a better, more diverse scene, and how you help others will be the things that make a difference to the local music scene," Yu Ri said.

He said fighting music piracy should take a more flexible approach than merely combating copyright violations. "I feel it’s not quite about 'fighting piracy,' it's about working with it. People share music. You can't help that. It’s like fighting a forest fire that keeps on coming and no one really wins," he said.

Another way
Yu Ri proposed a different approach. "I say, we should work with music sharing, and Creative Commons is one of the ways to do that. It builds on the principle that the sharing of creative content can be a good thing, that value can be derived outside of just selling the content.

"I like this kind of innovative ideas. They don’t fight what's out there, they work with it. That empowers people to take charge of their own interests," he said.

Some indie bands, Yu Ri said, have benefitted better from music sharing because their music is shared among the fans. "Fans go to indie performances not necessarily because they have bought the album but because they have been sharing the music among themselves," he said.

But frustratingly, few Malaysian artistes and musicians know much about what Creative Commons can do for them and their audiences.

According to Yu Ri, part of the problem is a general lack of knowledge among musicians about the law relating to their work. "A better understanding of the music industry and how it works needs to be there. “I feel that Malaysian music has been stagnating, and now, a lot of effort to bring things forward are by individuals and small collectives who have a do-it-yourself mentality," he said.

"I think it (Creative Commons licensing) is a great option for bands and musicians to get their music out and still protect themselves (from unauthorised music copying)," he said.

Yu Ri and a friend are working on their projectbazooka.com website, which they hope will help educate musicians about the business side of the industry.

Focusing elsewhere
Wang said some artistes are unaware of Creative Commons because they are more focused on commercialising their work. "Musicians want to be signed up by major record labels while artistes want to make money out of their work," she said.

Wang said Creative Commons licences allow them to share their work and get a wider audience, which could lead to bigger commercial gains.

Seamus Tan, head of the digital animation department at The One Academy, said the public does not have a clear understanding of what they can and cannot do when it comes to protecting their works.

"This is because seminars about copyright are generally held by lawyers and are very technical," he said.

On March 29, last year, the Multimedia Development Corp (MDC) signed an agreement with the San Francisco-based Creative Commons organisation to adapt Creative Commons licences, which were written with US law in mind, to work with Malaysian law.

The agreement is part of the iCommons initiative embracing more than 45 countries.

The Malaysian launch of Creative Commons licences is scheduled for March 6.

MDC senior executive Dr Ng Alina said the Multimedia Development Corporation will be launching awareness programmes to get the public interested in Creative Commons.

"As the Creative Commons Malaysia (initiative) was only launched in December, it hasn’t reached critical mass yet," she said.