I’m currently sitting in on a talk at the O’Reilly P2P conference on the EFF’s Open Audio license, an “open source” license for music that the EFF produced to allow musicians an alternative to either giving away their art holus-bolus or locking it up with a draconian traditional license. This is a prototype of an overarching, viral, free license that I think we’ll see in the near future, something that covers film, music, prose and so on. I hereby declare that this license will be known as the “Enthusiastic License” — the license of choice for the Enthusiastic Movement.

[..T]his license is designed to serve as a tool of freedom for artists who wish to reach one another and new fans with their original works. It allows musicians to collaborate in creating a pool of “open audio” that can be freely modified, exchanged, and utilized in new ways. Artists can use this license to promote themselves and take advantage of the new possibilities for empowerment and independence that technology provides. It also allows the public to experience new music, and connect directly with artists, as well as enable “super distribution” where the public is encouraged to copy and distribute a work, adding value to the artist’s reputation while experiencing a world of new music never before available.

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