Creative Commons

Sep

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I know I haven’t made a post in a while… there’s actually a lot that’s happened since my last, but I’ll save that for next post.

I’m sitting here on the train out to Bartlett, IL to practice with a dear friend, Whitney, who will be playing with Braydon and I at our next big show opening for The Glide at Reggie’s Rock Club… It’s an hour long train-ride so I usually get some time to think. And I’m thinking about Creative Commons.

My dream, for as long as I can remember, was to become engulfed in a music career, to get signed to a label and sell records… to work with other artists in a huge, never-ending world of creativity, of newcomers and legendary masters alike. I thought that’s what the record industry held for someone like me, or for so many others. However, as time has gone on, there is a harsh, brutish reality that I have to face: that none of this is true. The record industry has and always will be one thing: an industry. Whether it’s blossoming or failing, it’s always an industry. Industries are made up of businesses whose primary goal and function is to generate profit. Suddenly this world of creativity is cruelly narrowed down to a bottom line and I can’t tell you how frustrating and horrifying this was to me and for so long…

But then I found out about Creative Commons.

It fits the perfect description of everything I hoped the record industry was: a huge, vast, and never-ending world of creativity, full of people just like me – people who invested themselves in their art for arts’ sake. I’m sure there are many artists out there who can indentify when I say we do what we do not because we feel like it’s going to get us any closer to anything… not because we want to be “famous” or on a label and become rich or end up on MTV Cribs… but we do what we do because we have to. Because we just have no other choice, because there is a completely unique peace of mind that comes with the trial and error, the tireless effort, the rigorous practice and wild, untamed lust for perfection of your art – and for no one’s satisfaction but your own.

I feel like that’s what Creative Commons is all about, and after having made an agonizing but eye-opening reappraisal of what to do with this passion, I feel irrevocably lucky to be alive in this time, even though I sometimes feel like it isn’t the right place.

Long live Creative Commons.

4 Comments

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looks like you didn’t really like the blue pill. i’m glad to see money hasn’t turned you into somebody you’re not. try not to lose yourself. good luck

Comment by rurastic — September 2, 2009 #
I agree fully. And I love how the internet lets us musicians get in touch with each other in order to build this community!

I hope the show with Whitney goes great…that jam session you guys had a while back is one of my favourite things you’ve made.

Comment by Caleb — September 3, 2009 #
Nice to read those thoughts and to perceive that you are on the way up – that’s exactly the direction your music made me go in dark times some months ago.

Whenever we met, free beer 4 U

Comment by Stefan — October 18, 2009 #
[...] But then I found out about Creative Commons. via blog.professorkliq.com [...]

Pingback by Professor Kliq about Creative Commons « …got brain? — October 26, 2009 #

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