User-Generated Content in Education/User-Generated Music

User-Generated Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. User-generated music is a term that is used for music that is created by an individual user or group of users and then distributed over the Internet. This music is often created for the purpose of entertainment. There has recently been a major shift the distribution of music with the advent of Web 2.0 technologies. With the current technology creators of music are able to get their music heard by millions of people simply by placing it on Youtube.

Types of licenses
Music can be protected by several different licenses. The traditional licensing of music falls under the copyrighted music. This traditional form of licensing is in place to ensure that the creator of the music gets paid for their work. When you purchase music, you are buying the right to listen to that music, not to distribute it in any other fashion.

Music without any type of license is said to be in the public domain. Music is also said to be in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired. When music is in the public domain then it may be used freely.

Creative Commons is another type of license that can be sought by a creator of music. By giving a user-created piece of music a Creative Commons license, the creator of the musical piece is defining how a piece of music may be used. This type of protection may allow for commercial use of the work or modifications of the work. No matter what type of license a piece of music has, you should always be sure to give credit to the creator of the piece.

Where to find user-generated music
User-generated music can be found all over the web.

The most popular website for user-created music is YouTube. On YouTube the author of music can post their piece for free. By doing so the author can get their work out to millions of viewers.

Jamendo is another website that is a music community for free and legal music downloads. Music on Jamendo is licensed by under Creative Commons licensing. In addition to downloading, Jamendo also allows for music to be streamed over the Internet.