[FC-discuss] Educating upcoming artists on pro-sharing licenses

[Denver Gingerich]

It is evident that recording and publishing companies search for
talent on YouTube and similar video sharing services so that they can
sign contracts with these people [1].  My impression is that these
contracts are often quite exclusive and don't allow the artists to put
pro-sharing licenses on their content because the recording or
publishing company decides on the licenses (and they generally don't
choose pro-sharing licenses).  (Comments on the validity of these
statements would be appreciated.)

I think it would be good for free culture advocates to also search for
talent on content sharing sites like YouTube so that we can educate
upcoming artists on pro-sharing licenses.  It seems that the only
education they're getting right now is from the recording and
publishing companies that stick a huge legal document in front of them
and say "sign here".  Do you know if there are any free culture
advocates actively trying to contact artists in this way?  Are there
resources available (ie. e-mail templates) that one can use for
discussing pro-sharing licenses with artists that have little
knowledge of free culture?

Denver


1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube#Internet_celebrities_and_breaking_boundaries