FSCONS Blog

SOTD: Squeezing the Evil out of the Music Industry John Buckman is coming over to FSCONS to give a talk, Squeezing the Evil out of the Music Industry (how we should rethink record labels by using CC licensing) John will talk about new models for music & the music business, which hinge on open licensing, transparency, and the new ways that music is actually consumed & shared John Buckman is founder of Magnatune, a Berkeley, California-based record label he founded in 2003 and which is known for its commercial application of Creative Commons licensing and overtly artist-friendly business practices. Buckman's methods include forming non-exclusive agreements with musicians, sharing profits equally with them, and allowing them to retain full rights to their own music. This approach is sometimes referred to as "fair trade music." An accomplished software programmer, Buckman is also thought to be the first to use the term open music, a term derived from the open source software community, in which he has been active. It refers to music that is shareable, available in "source code" form (individual tracks), permits certain forms of derivative works (i.e. remixes), and is made available at no cost for non-commercial use. Since founding Magnatune, Buckman has signed more than 250 recording artists across multiple genres. In August 2006, he launched the non-profit BookMooch, an online community for the exchange of used books, which—in combination with his work with Magnatune—has established Buckman as a prominent figure in the Free Culture movement. Original post: http://fscons.org/2008/node/67