Opsound
Encyclopedia
Opsound is a website which aggregates links to music released under Creative Commons
licenses. Opsound aggregates links to music hosted on other servers, as well as providing discussion forums and organizing real-world events and concerts. It has published one CD by the artist Catalpa Catalpa entitled "Hardoncity."
Opsound is a social art project of Sal Randolph
, who created the site to provide a space for open, uncurated collaboration between musicians and sound artists. It is described on the site as "a gift economy
in action, an experiment in applying the model of free software to music."
Lawrence Lessig
has often mentioned Opsound when discussing Creative Commons
, citing its structure and licensing as a positive aid to enhanced collaboration and communication between artists.
Opsound does not host works, leaving that to others such as the Internet Archive
's Netlabel
collection. Metadata includes descriptions of songs and artists, track numbers, and indexed keywords associated with songs. All songs are available under the Creative Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike license (typically version 2.5, but sometimes only older versions of the license). Some songs are licensed under the more liberal Attribution license. Popularity charts were added around the end of 2003 and the beginning of 2004. A redesign of the site was implemented towards the end of 2005.Popular artists include _aa_, Binary Beats, and the Evolution Control Committee. There are plans to add software for so-called "microlabels" to allow people to create their own albums from the sound pool.
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
licenses. Opsound aggregates links to music hosted on other servers, as well as providing discussion forums and organizing real-world events and concerts. It has published one CD by the artist Catalpa Catalpa entitled "Hardoncity."
Opsound is a social art project of Sal Randolph
Sal Randolph
Sal Randolph is an American artist and theorist who works with issues of gift-giving, money, alternate economies, and social architecture. She founded the non-curated sound-exchange web project Opsound, which functions through the use of music released exclusively under a copyleft license...
, who created the site to provide a space for open, uncurated collaboration between musicians and sound artists. It is described on the site as "a gift economy
Gift economy
In the social sciences, a gift economy is a society where valuable goods and services are regularly given without any explicit agreement for immediate or future rewards . Ideally, simultaneous or recurring giving serves to circulate and redistribute valuables within the community...
in action, an experiment in applying the model of free software to music."
Lawrence Lessig
Lawrence Lessig
Lawrence "Larry" Lessig is an American academic and political activist. He is best known as a proponent of reduced legal restrictions on copyright, trademark, and radio frequency spectrum, particularly in technology applications, and he has called for state-based activism to promote substantive...
has often mentioned Opsound when discussing Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
, citing its structure and licensing as a positive aid to enhanced collaboration and communication between artists.
Opsound does not host works, leaving that to others such as the Internet Archive
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
's Netlabel
Netlabel
A netlabel is a record label that distributes its music through digital audio formats over the Internet...
collection. Metadata includes descriptions of songs and artists, track numbers, and indexed keywords associated with songs. All songs are available under the Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
Attribution-ShareAlike license (typically version 2.5, but sometimes only older versions of the license). Some songs are licensed under the more liberal Attribution license. Popularity charts were added around the end of 2003 and the beginning of 2004. A redesign of the site was implemented towards the end of 2005.Popular artists include _aa_, Binary Beats, and the Evolution Control Committee. There are plans to add software for so-called "microlabels" to allow people to create their own albums from the sound pool.