Nine Inch Nails
photo: Phillip Graybill and Rob Sheridan
In March of 2008 Nine Inch Nails released Ghosts I-IV, an album of instrumental tracks that would go on to receive a Grammy nomination, under a CC BY-NC-SA license. They gave the first disc away for free digitally while charging different amounts for tiered offerings, ranging from a $5 digital download for the full album to a $300 ‘Ultra-Deluxe Edition’ box set that included CDs, data DVDs, a Blu Ray disc, 180-gram vinyl, and a hardcover book amognst other items. This version had a limited run of 2,500 which sold out almost immediately, netting $750,000 in profit for the band. Ghosts would go on to become the #1 paid MP3 download on Amazon.com for 2008, and garner a Grammy nomination for Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package. As a result of this success, Trent Reznor released the next NIN album, The Slip, for free under the same CC license, fueling a sold-out tour and garnering many album-of-the-year mentions along the way.
visit: The Slip album site >
visit: Ghosts I-IV album site >
Radiohead
image: Aaron Koblin and Radiohead
Rather than shoot video for their “House of Cards” single using traditional cameras, Radiohead and Aaron Koblin used lasers to capture data, later rendering stunning visuals. The data was released under a CC BY-NC-SA license that allowed people to create their own works, resulting in diverse variations — turning raw data into a fresh, creative, and interactive viral campaign.
visit: ‘House of Cards’ visualization data >
Jonathan Coulton
photo: Alex Erde
Jonathan Coulton is an independent musician who releases music under a CC BY-NC license. As a result he has built an impressive following. Self-released music has become a career-driver for Coulton, with 45% of his income in 2007 stemming from paid digital downloads. A title track in the wildly successful video game Portal and an appearance in Rock Band ultimately show a musician leveraging CC licensing to grow his artistic profile.
visit: Jonathan Coulton‘s website >
ccMixter
photo: Jon Nelson
ccMixter is the online destination for those looking to collaborate on music in an open and free manner. Full songs, samples, demos, found sounds, and rough ideas are posted by a community of artists under CC licenses that at the very least allow for noncommercial remixing. With a user base that varies in mainstream appeal ccMixter has grown into an amazing resource for those looking for royalty-free music, while at its core the site remains a place for musicians to collaborate and be creative.
visit: ccMixter.org >
Deerhoof
image: Greg Saunier, Deerhoof
Deerhoof issued the sheet music for their single “Fresh Born” under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license as the first preview of their record, Offend Maggie. An interesting experiment in interactivity, over 75 versions of “Fresh Born” — all recorded by other people — were avaialable before the album was released. All the activity lead to increased exposure and highlights the vlaue of CC licensing in pre-release campaigns.
visit: ‘Offend Maggie’ sheet music site >
Kristin Hersh
photo: L. Fletcher
For latest solo album, Speedbath, Kristin Hersh released one track a monthly under a CC BY-NC-SA license. She also offered a pre-order subscription similar to community supported agriculture, with varying quarterly payment and benefit levels. The model proved to be such a success that Kristin will continue the subscription and release one song a month indefinitely, creating a listener supported stream of CC licensed music.
visit: Kristin‘s Speedbath site >
Brian Eno & David Byrne
image: Seb Payne
Constant innovators, Brian Eno and David Byrne embraced remix culture in 2006 when they remastered their My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts album. All 24 mix tracks for two songs were released publicly under a BY-NC-SA license on a website facilitating uploads, user rankings, and music discovery. 262 new tracks were created with over 260,000 listens from around the world.
visit: My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts remix site >
