I got an email today from Claus, a fan in Germany, who also happens to be a recording artist. He wrote:

I've been reading more about Creative Commons and your thoughts, but still there remains a question on my mind which has not been answered. Apart from the fact that you - in contrast to artists like me - already earned enough money to take this approach easily from the financial POV, I worry about the following. If I decide to share my music and also release every new song as soon as I've finished recording it, how can I protect my music and style from being 'stolen'? I believe that my new material is exciting and new, hence I'm afraid that as soon as I make it available on MySpace, some established artists or producers will steal the idea and publish this style under their name. Something like that would never happen to you as an well known artist - no one would dare to take away your melodies and style - but how can I protect myself as an unknown artist?

This is a good question, but it reveals two common misperceptions about Creative Commons.

The first misperception is that if you choose a Creative Commons license, you'll be giving your music away for free and you won't make any money off of it. I don't give my music away for free (save the occasional promotional track). Lots of people have bought my music from iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby, The Sixty One, and other retailers. I invest a great deal in making the music, and I charge for it so that I can recoup my investment, and have money to spend on making new music.

What I do recognize is that people share music they love with their friends. (As do I.) They use songs for their school projects or talent shows. They remix things as a hobby. All good.

The Creative Commons license I use expressly permits these and other "Non-Commercial" uses. In even plainer English, that means that as long as you're not making money off of whatever you do with my music, it's fine. You don't need to seek or obtain my permission; I've already given it by virtue of the license.

It's a different story if you will be making money in any way by using my music, for example by selling a remix, or by including a song on a soundtrack or advertisement. I expressly reserve these and all other commercial rights. If you want to use my music in a project that will generate revenue for you, you first need to obtain a commercial license from me, and you also need to compensate me.

The second misperception is that by using a Creative Commons license, people will be able to "steal" your music and distribute it as their own. This too is untrue. First of all, every CC license stipulates that all uses, even those permitted freely, must be attributed to the creator. So if you do use my song on your school project, you don't need to ask me first, but you do need to include a credit for me.

This "Attribution" provision, in combination with the "Non-Commercial" provision, ensures that people cannot "steal" my music and republish without my permission. If they do, they'll be in violation of the license, and of my copyright, and I will seek the appropriate legal redress. It has nothing to do with whether I'm an established artist or not. If someone uses your copyrighted creative work in a manner you haven't authorized, you have the right to prosecute them for it. Whether you can prove the misappropriation, or have the money to spend on the lawyers to do so, is another thing entirely - but it's got nothing to do with whether you use a Creative Commons license.

Creative Commons offers a variety of licenses, depending on the uses of your work that you're willing to freely permit. They offer licenses for audio, video, images, text and interactive works. These licenses save time, money and confusion, while still affording copyright protection to those creating the work. I encourage you to visit the Creative Commons website and learn more about them.

One last thing: Creative Commons is a non-profit organization. Whether or not you're an artist, you can support their work by contributing to their annual fund drive, which has just started. More info is available at https://support.creativecommons.org/donate.