CcMixter

Infobox Online music service
opened = 2004
pricing = n/a|free
service_name = ccMixter.org
service_
platforms = Platform independent
format = MPEG Layer 3 (.mp3), Au file format (.au), OGG Vorbis (.ogg), FLAC (.flac), MIDI (.mid), Windows Media Audio (.wma), ZIP (.zip)
restrictions = Creative Commons License
availability = Worldwide
homepage = [http://ccmixter.org/ ccmixter.org]

ccMixter.org is a community music site that promotes remix culture and makes samples, remixes, and a cappella tracks licensed under Creative Commons available for download and re-use in creative works. Visitors are able to listen to, sample, mash-up, or interact with music in a variety of ways including the download and use of tracks and samples in their own remixes. Most sampling or mash-up web sites on the Internet stipulate that users forgo their rights to the new song once it is created. By contrast, the material on ccMixter.org is generally licensed to be used in any arena, not just the ccMixter site or a specific contest. The ccMixter site contains over 10,000 samples from a wide range of recording artists, including high profile artists such as Beastie Boys and David Byrne.

As a cultural phenomenon, ccMixter represents a direct response to what some say is the increasingly litigious attitude of organizations like the RIAA—one which prevents artists from appropriating elements of others' work for creative reuse in their own.

ccMixter is a project of Creative Commons and maintains close organizational ties to independent, open music minded labels such as Magnatune and BBE. The site runs on [http://wiki.creativecommons.org/CcHost ccHost] , an open source multimedia content management system that is able to keep track of how content is being remixed.

Calls For Remixes

ccMixter began in 2004 as the host of the . That was followed by several other remix contests where prizes included recording contracts.

In 2007 ccMixter eschewed remixed contests, in part, due to concerns in the member community that the site was losing its focus on open music. Instead major artists such as DJ Vadim, Bucky Jonson (the band behind the Black Eyed Peas) and Trifonic have contributed the solo studio tracks (stems) to entire albums making them available under Creative Commons licenses that allowed remixes. In addition there have been "call for remixes" by members that post a cappellas, looking to create albums from remixes such as Colin Mutchler, [http://www.colinmutchler.com/2008/01/language_of_my_reality.php "Language of My Reality" by Colin Mutchler] ] , Brad Sucks [http://www.magnatune.com/artists/brad_sucks "Mixter Two" by Brad Sucks] ] , Tamara Barnett-Herrin (aka Calendar Girl) and Shannon Hurley [http://ccmixter.org/shannon-hurley Call for Remixes: Shannon Hurley] ] .

Request for Proposals

In May 2008 Creative Commons posted a [http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/8323 Request for Proposals] [http://mirrors.creativecommons.org/pdfs/ccmixter-rfp-20080529.pdf Request for Proposals (PDF)] ] to take over the ownership and operations of ccMixter. The RFP received broad coverage including [http://www.boingboing.net/2008/05/30/ccmixter-seeking-pro.html Boing Boing] [http://adage.com/songsforsoap/post?article_id=127520 AdAge] and [http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/06/creative-common.html WIRED] . The deadline for proposals was July 29 with the winning bid expected to be announced in October.

The previous month of that year (April 1, 2008), the Creative Commons blog linked to [http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/8174 "Google acquires ccMixter.org"] ] an April's fool entry in the unofficial, member run ccMixterBlog claiming that Google had acquired it, posting a comical logo of the renamed site "ggmixter". [http://ccmixterblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/google-acquires-ccmixterorg.html "ggMixter" announcement] ]

Articles

* [http://remixmag.com/music_business/remix_share_wealth/ "Share The Wealth"] -(article from Remix Magazine by Eric Steuer about the ideals behind ccMixter)
* [http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6043247.html "'Copyright criminals' look to remix the noise—legally"] -(article from ZDNet by Daniel Terdiman about The Copyright Criminals Remix Contest)
* [http://www.therestisnoise.com/2007/04/by_justin_david.html The Rest Is Noise: Mashup Nation] Interview with project lead Victor Stone by Justin Davidson, music critic for Newsday

Notable artists

*Tamara Barnett-Herrin (CalendarGirl)
*Brad Sucks
*DJ Vadim
*Bucky Jonson (of Black Eyed Peas)
*Fort Minor
*Kristin Hersh
*Shannon Hurley

References