Why I Copyright My Work
Alice Scarlet Death
Over the last few years I’ve received emails asking to share my songs or if they could post my articles on their webpage. I have and will always say yes in the spirit of creativity.
At the bottom of my site, you will notice a gray icon from Creative Commons. Under this icon is a short blurb about what kind of copyright I use for my work. This is a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0).
So what does this mean for you?
This means you may:
Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material
for any purpose, even commercially.
Under the following terms:
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
In short, anyone and everyone is allowed to copy my work however and wherever they wish. You can edit it for mistakes, remix it, mash it up, and do what thou wilt with it.
All I ask is that you give me credit and use the same copyright.
I am a big proponent of creative freedom. I grew up studying classical music, an age where they didn’t have copyrights. Many composers did arrangements without permission and it was perfectly fine. DJs can’t use samples without paying a huge fortune, and I think that is prohibitive to creativity. Everyone should be able to express themselves.
Ultimately, I don’t want to be asked. All I want is credit and maybe a heads up that you’ve done something with it so I can help share it too. I chose the copyright specifically so that you would not have to ask me. I understand that it is a polite thing to do, but it is not necessary under my copyright.
So, next time you want to completely lift one of my works, remix a song, or take an entire album and mix it and pretend we’re doing a collab. I do not care. Just do it. Go be free. Don’t let your dreams be dreams.
