IMSLP Forums

I was wondering...

If I were to put (some of) my pieces on imslp under CC license, what benefit for me (if any) would I (someone aspiring to becoming a professional composer) get?
Just hoping for some thoughts.

AW7

I think it depends on the license you choose. I think the most simplistic view of CC liceses is that you can choose commercial vs non-commercial use and allow modifications, allow modifications if shared, and no modification.

The main advantage of IMSLP regardless of the license is a huge audience (or it will be when it's back online). If you allow commercial use then the most you can hope for is the recognition which can lead to other work. I believe a non-commercial only license would probably result in the same thing with a very slight chance of some money. (It would also prevent people from taking your piece and selling it on ebay without your permission.)

The modification clause feels similar to the neverending BSD vs. GPL vs. Proprietary debate. I tend to feel that "allow modifications if shared" provides the most back to the original creator. However I doubt this will every be invoked.

Would this model of publishing be preferable to going through a normal publisher? What does a normal publisher add besides a layer between the composer and performer? I'm not a composer, but I don't see what a publisher adds today. It seems that in these days a person can effectively market themself.

In terms of modification, if allowed I would want it so that they are required to say that at least they modified it (and preferably where).

but interesting.

Well... 3.b of CC-BY says,

[...]Licensor hereby grants You a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, perpetual (for the duration of the applicable copyright) license to exercise the rights in the Work as stated below:[...] to create and Reproduce Adaptations provided that any such Adaptation, including any translation in any medium, takes reasonable steps to clearly label, demarcate or otherwise identify that changes were made to the original Work. For example, a translation could be marked "The original work was translated from English to Spanish," or a modification could indicate "The original work has been modified.";

I imagine (but have not checked) that the other licenses have similar language.

I'd urge you to go for CC-BY-SA (or one of the SAs) as well, because it helps ensure participation (generally).