Case Studies/Snoblind
Cover art to Snoblind's "Imaginary Soundtrack". Used with permission.
For us bedroom musicians the last thing we are interested in is to navigate through the minefield that is publishing law. — Snoblind
Overview
Snoblind is a two-person group formed in 2002 by Regina Chang and Vincent Wong out of boredom with cubicle life. The group boasts a variety of influences and delivers music in a variety of styles, accompanied by stage visuals.
License Usage
Since the launch of Creative Commons Hong Kong, all of Snoblind's digital EPs have been released under the Non-Commercial Share-Alike 3.0 (HK) license.
Motivations
Snoblind first learnt about Creative Commons at the Formoz Festival 2005, where Creative Commons Taiwan maintained a booth. Subsequently a Taiwanese Net Label (Sociopath Recordings) released a Snoblind digital EP under a CC license. Snoblind also performed at the official launch of Creative Commons Hong Kong and began licensing their work using Creative Commons Hong Kong licenses afterwards.
The group adopted Creative Commons licensing for its user-friendliness. Rather than navigating the minefield that is publishing law, CC licensing provided Snoblind with a clear-cut frame of reference in protecting their work while retaining ownership of their own music, rather than losing all control by putting music in the public domain.
While Snoblind has no immediate intention of releasing their music commercially, they did not wish others to profit from their music without acknowledgment - yet at the same time they wanted to share their music as far as possible. In order to achieve these seemingly conflicting objectives, Snoblind chose to adopt the Non-Commercial Share-Alike license in order to protect their music, while allowing it to be shared and distributed more effectively.
In Snoblind's experience, the Creative Commons website has made it easy to license their works, and the use of Creative Commons licensing allows them to put out more releases regularly knowing that there is a legitimate and easy-to-use licensing mechanism to protect their work.
Media
(Album art by Snoblind and reproduced by permission)
