Ubuntu community manager Jono Bacon has released Denied by Reign, his much-anticipated (at least in open source circles—and my basement) metal album, under a creative commons license. The album is part of his solo project, called Severed Fifth, which he intends to use as a springboard for testing music economics and promoting awareness of open content distribution models.
The metal album, which consists of eight tracks, is available for free in OGG and MP3 formats from the Severed Fifth web site. The tracks can be downloaded individually or together in a compressed archive and are also being distributed via BitTorrent. For his project, Bacon selected the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (CCSA) license, which will enable users to share and modify the content as long as they properly attribute it and make derivatives available under the same license.
Open sesame
Music enthusiasts are growing impatient with problematic copy-protection schemes and DRM server shenanigans. As copyright law becomes increasingly draconian and the content industry pushes for even more ludicrous constraints on fair use to the extreme detriment of honest consumers, the calls for reform are becoming louder. Open licensing and unconventional business models could create new opportunities for the music industry and open the business up to some creativity.
The CCSA license empowers users by giving them the ability to repurpose content and build new things using the material. This transforms music into an inclusive and participatory medium—a shared community space instead of a walled garden. It also facilitates unencumbered experimentation by making it possible to adapt the music for use in a variety of other practical and artistic contexts.
I discussed the new album with Bacon and asked him some questions about his vision for Severed Fifth. Bacon hopes that his music will inspire listeners and drive them to do interesting things with the music. For instance, he is encouraging fans to help transcribe the songs into a format that is compatible with Frets on Fire, an open source video game that is similar to Guitar Hero. Bacon says that a volunteer has already stepped up and converted one song.
Bacon is also hoping to get fans and enthusiasts to join the Severed Fifth Street Team. Participants will help stir up discussion about the project, promote the music in their local communities, and introduce it to their friends. The ultimate goal of this community-driven promotional effort, he says, will be to raise awareness of open content and the creative benefits that freedom can bring to music.
"I am mainly looking to build a grass-roots army of Severed Fifth fans to go out and spread the album, share it, play it, give it away, and make people stand up and take notice of a free culture album," he told me. "The broad message is very much free culture."
Business models: bringing home the Bacon
I also asked him about business models and how he plans to make the album a commercial success. This is an issue that we looked at closely back in June when the project was first announced. He says that he will eventually sell merchandise and CDs and perform live shows in order to generate some revenue, but his first priority is increasing the visibility of the project and spreading the message of freedom.
I listened to Denied by Reign yesterday while I was writing and I found it enjoyable. Metal is an acquired taste, and the rather guttural vocals won't please all listeners, but the quality of the work is quite good and I rank it higher than some of the nifty local independent bands that I've been listening to lately. The release was met with considerable enthusiasm within the open source software community, where Bacon—who was one of the principal participants in the extremely popular and now defunct LugRadio podcast—is already viewed as a sort of celebrity.
Bacon isn't the first free culture crusader to make a splash with open content distribution. Science fiction writer Cory Doctorow published a novel this year called Little Brother and distributed it under a Creative Commons license. Bacon, however, decided to go a step further than Doctorow by choosing a more permissive Creative Commons license that freely permits commercial redistribution (Doctorow uses CC-NC-SA).
Pragmatic compromises
Despite a strong commitment to free culture, Bacon still sees room for some pragmatic compromises. He has often lamented the weakness of open source audio editing tools (we have a somewhat more positive view) and instead uses the proprietary Cubase software on a Mac. He declined to comment on this in greater detail and pointed out that his "views on free software recording have been well documented already with LugRadio."
He also doesn't mind distributing music in the patent-encumbered MP3 format, which is reviled by a vocal minority of free software purists. "The simple reality is that the vast majority of media players play MP3, and it would be foolish to not provide MP3s," he told me. He says that the OGG files are provided alongside the MP3s so that users can play them without having to use proprietary or patent-encumbered software.
The release is a very exciting milestone for the free culture movement. Bacon is pleased with the results and is looking forward to seeing where the community can take his work. "I am really proud of the album, and I am happy with how it turned out—every musician can hear tiny little things they wanted to fix, but when I zone my ears in on the final songs, I am really happy with the energy that comes from them," he told us. "I am really excited about showcasing how people use the content, too."
For more details, see the official release announcement and licensing overview at the Severed Fifth web site. The music is also available for download from the web site.
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