Check out this press release regarding the first release of a new music album under a CC license backed by a collecting society.

Read more at Henrik Moltke’s blog.

PRESS RELEASE for immediate release
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16 2008

DANISH LABEL: PLEASE COPY OUR RECORDS FOR ALL YOUR FRIENDS!

Danish label Urlyd announces the release of the world’s first Creative Commons-licensed physical music album, backed by Danish copyright collecting agency KODA.

Consumers are free to copy and redistribute the album legally – and are encouraged to do so by the record label. “In the past allowing your fans to share your music meant waving goodbye to an important revenue stream for the artist. URLYD is the first label to offer the artist and fan the best of both worlds” say the founders.

We’re all familiar with the classic “All Rights Reserved” notice in books, music and film recordings stating that copying is prohibited. Yet today, sharing a musical work is easier than making a phone call. Illegal filesharing of copyrighted works has been a major concern for record labels and publishers since the advent of Napster. “Music wants to be free”, computer-savvy teenagers argue.

Now an alternative path that is both legal and free is emerging – from the music industry itself – in the shape of a small Danish independent record label, Urlyd which uses the Creative Commons licensing system.

On Monday, January 21, 2008, the labels’ first release, Small Arm of Sea by female indietronica singer, songwriter and producer Tone, will be available for purchase in Danish record stores. With her abstracts beats, unique voice and hypnotizing lyrics, Tone makes her debut after little more than a year spent lurking in Denmark’s musical underground and on MySpace.

Printed on the CDs and vinyls are the words “Copy this album for your friends, please!”. We really mean this. On the same day the album will be available for download – freely, at no charge and without Digital Rights Management (DRM) – at the record label’s website, urlyd.com . Anyone can download it for free or pick up the album in-store.

“Music connects directly with feelings, things you experience. We believe music in best when shared and this perfectly natural behavior should be encouraged, not criminalized”, say the founders of Urlyd, Christian Villum and Sune Petersen. “We cannot tell music lovers how or whether to support the artist, so we give them the choice between donating online, going to a live performance or purchasing the album in-store where it is sold as a limited edition. We believe this positive approach will benefit both artists and consumers”.

Innovative audiovisual album format
Urlyd launches a new audiovisual format combining traditional CD/LP with the DVD format – at regular CD price. In collaboration with Danish VJ and video artist Kristian Ravn-Ellestad, Tone (Sofie Nielsen) unites music and video intro a mesmerizing audiovisual experience – an important element of Tone’s live performances.

Creative Commons and KODA
Until recently the use of Creative Commons licenses was incompatible with services provided by collecting societies such as KODA (KODA administers Danish and international copyrights for composers, songwriters and music publishers when their musical works are performed in public).

If a singer, musician, publisher, or producer wanted to distribute her work for free online under a Creative Commons license, she was forced to give up the right to receive compensation through royalties collected by the collecting agency. As a consequence, mostly bands without a recording contract and outside of the collective rights management have used the Creative Commons model.

“The novelty here is that our artists can collect commercial royalties through the traditional model while fully using the potential of the internet – giving fans the freedom to do what they ultimately do best.”

For more information, contact URLYD
Christian Villum – villum@urlyd.com – (+45) 2087 7153 or Skype: christianvillum

(Christian Villum is currently in New York City, available for interviews)

urlyd.com – press photos in high resolution available on urlyd.com/press

For more information about Creative Commons, see http://creativecommons.org