"CopyLeft" indie music label launches royalty-free releases
Toronto-based Fading Ways Music is now selling all new CDs under a "CopyLeft/Creative Commons" licence. The licensing arrangement gives anyone the right to copy or share CDs and MP3 files so long as credit is given the artist and the user is not making the track or tracks available commercially. The company, founded in 1998, has over 30 titles released by over a dozen artists, and is distributed in 15 countries. Says Neil Leyton, label manager, in a media release: "Fading Ways will also provide an optional PayPal donations system for fans to contribute funds directly to their favourite artists should they be uploading or copying their music. Our goal here is two-fold: to counter the (Recording Industry Association of America)-induced notion that downloading is somehow wrong; and to provide the fans with a voluntary system by which they can congratulate and genuinely reward the artists’ work." The first two Fading Ways releases to be sold under the Creative Commons licence will be two new artist debuts: Red Orkestra’s After the Wars, and Jim Clements’ Kill Devil Hills.

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