Maybe You Can Just Let Go


Ignoring the whole rights issue has a certain elegant simplicity, and for podcasts to which no financial value is assigned, this simplicity makes a world of sense. You're not going to sue anyone over your podcast anyway, and there are no symbols or phrases attached to the podcast that might frighten people from reproducing and sharing your podcast, or from using your podcast in some sort of mashup that takes on its own life. The best part of this approach is that you have to do absolutely nothing to take advantage of its non-existent protections. Create your podcast, send it out into the world, and enjoy the fact that you've contributed to the intellectual life of the planet.

If you want to formalize the "letting go," you can place your podcast in the public domain. When you place something in the public domain, you're making a statement renouncing all private rights to it. That means others can copy or use it, because it belongs to everyoneand no one. The nice thing is that you can place something in the public domain through a simple declaration, with no special forms, complicated licenses, or government agencies involved. It's important to remember, though, that it's a one-way street; once you place something in the public domain, you can't go back and re-assert your rights later. If you want to keep some control over the podcast (even if it's just making sure that you're acknowledged as the author), then there are other possibilities you should explore.

tip

To see the open-source license and how it might apply to you and your podcast, go to www.opensource.org. You'll find a copy of several licenses and boilerplate text you can include on your website to accompany your podcast. The most common free software license, the GNU Public License (GPL), can be found, along with a great deal of documentation on the philosophy behind the free software movement, at www.gnu.org.


If you don't want to sell your podcast (or anything attached to it), but you would like to be recognized for your creation, there are a couple of options available to you. The first is to license listeners based on the open-source software model. This means, in essence, creating a license that says people may listen to your podcast and share it as long as they give you credit. Most open-source licenses would also let people make mashups or mixes of your podcast as long as their product was distributed with the same sort of open-source license. Now, you should understand that the open-source model was designed for software, not content, and may not be a perfect fit. For a license that owes much to the open-source model but may be a better fit for your podcast, you should look to Creative Commons for a variety of options that might well work for you.



Absolute Beginner's Guide to Podcasting
Absolute Beginners Guide to Podcasting.
ISBN: B001U8C03Q
EAN: N/A
Year: 2004
Pages: 167

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