Later update (3:51 p.m.) to this post: I found this on the MarsHillChurch.org website. Oh my word! They are so dead on it is amazing. If only the rest of Christianity would wake up to why the Bible said “the love of money is the root of all evil.”
All the material found at MarsHillChurch.org has been licensed under the Electronic Frontier Foundation Open Audio License. We have chosen to bypass the traditional copyright and publishing structures because they are incompatible with the spirit of the music and other recorded material created within our community.
Traditional copyright and publishing systems focus exclusively on seeking profit from all form of duplication and usage and consider any form of trading or sharing illicit. This model is outdated and incompatible with the current technology (mp3, peer-to-peer file sharing, CD duplication).
On a basic level we must question what life songs of worship have when disconnected with the local church. More so, we must question the most prominent business models for music distribution (“Christian” or otherwise) – models where usage is entirely dependant upon an exchange of currency (CCLI, ASCAP, BMI, etc.).
The Open Audio License (OAL) basically states that you, the worldwide public, are authorized to use, copy, publicly perform, distribute and create derivative works from all materiel covered under the license — provided you always credit the original author information. That includes: the symbol (O) for the EFF Open Audio License, the identity of the original author, the title of the work and how the first listed original author can be contacted.
The OAL also states that any derivative work produced must also be released under the OAL. The license borrows language from the open source software initiative and the free software movement to create a community of sharing that benefits both the creators and the public while encouraging creativity through relational distribution.
We believe that this is a much more current business model for music. It acknowledges that there is no way to control how people use our materiel. It also acknowledges our lack of interest in seeking that control.
This is especially appropriate as it relates to songs of worship.
We have put much effort into our various studio recording projects and seek fair compensation for our CD’s. This, however, is the only way in which we seek to be compensated. Outside of that, we place no limitation on how you want to use our material except that you acknowledge that we, Mars Hill Church, are the original creators.
We strongly encourage musicians to consider these issues and release their materiel under the OAL. For a complete explanation of this license and the organization that created it go to http://www.eff.org/IP/Open_licenses/eff_oal.html.
Here’s one cool quote from the site:
10 a.m. – wake up, fix lunch drive to OKC
11 a.m. – Went by Coits for a diet Root Beer, then to grocery store to buy some low-carb study snacks
Afternoon – @ OCU trying to study with occasional email breaks
6 p.m. – Drive to Moore to pick up Crunchtime & BarBRI books for Civ Pro from friend
7-11 p.m. – Study @ Border’s bookstore in Norman until they close
11 p.m – Drove to IHOP in Norman. Ordered coffee and coffee strips. Still working on my civ pro outline.
11:30 – The girl in the next booth asked to borrow my ink pen. I normally wouldn’t loan out my lucky fountain pen but she’s cute and reminds me of the girl from Ghost World (maybe its because she’s sitting with another girl and they both seem like inseperable friends) She has blond hair dyed bright red and is wearing red cat ears and has tons of piercings and tats. She seems pretty quirky but cool in a nerdy-punk kind of way. (really to nerdy to be a real punk, but almost more cute for being that way)
12:25 a.m. – Finished outline (down to 16 pages from the 33 page outline someone else wrote that I started with), now starting abridgement of that outline… would like to get that puppy down to 4-5 pages that I can memorize easier.
12:40 a.m. – She give me back my pen. The other girl is even more interesting. Very moody. Dressed in all black. Smoking and writing. Doesn’t get cooler than that. She has a pretty smile. I am really sad writing at my laptop about the people in thext booth.
I ask them what they’re writing about. They say, oh we’re just being gay (a reference to an earlier cell phone joking conversation one had about writing poetry) I say, “that’s ok. Sounds better than what I’m doing.” One of them askes what I’m doing. I say “studying law which I HATE!”
“Well then don’t you do something about it?”
That’s the question of the night right there. Why do I do something I hate ? Good question…
12:46 – Shoot they just left. Too bad. They were rather fun to eavesdrop on. Now listening to Belle and Sebastian on my headphones. Almost out of smokes. (FYI: I only smoke during finals.)
12:50 – Waitresses just switched out.
1 a.m. – Drove home
1:30 a.m. – Uploaded by outline to the website and posted this.
The next 12 hours — sleep for awhile, then in the morning wake up and cram like crazy. Final exam then is from 2-5 p.m. Then I go to work at 6 p.m. until Midnight.
Happy, happy, joy, joy, happy, happy, joy, joy!
Fun times ahead let me tell you! Remember these words if you’re thinking of going to L-school and happened to stumble across this site: Follow Nancy Reagan’s advise: JUST SAY NO! Friends don’t let friends go to law school.