In the digital age sharing and using content legally and ethically is key for small business owners and content creators. Creative Commons licenses offer a range of protections and freedoms for authors, artists and educators. This guide will explain the different types of Creative Commons licenses, what they do and how to use them on your work.
What are Creative Commons Licenses?
These licenses give the public permission to use your creative work while you retain some rights.
Types of Creative Commons Licenses
There are six main types of Creative Commons licenses, each with different permissions:
1. Attribution (CC BY)
They can share, modify, and expand your work for commercial use, crediting you.
2. Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA)
Same as CC BY but you must license any new works under the same terms.
This is the license used by Wikipedia.
3. Attribution-NoDerivs (CC BY-ND)
Share the material, giving credit, without altering or omitting content.
4. Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC)
Others can remix, adapt, and build upon your work non-commercially. They must acknowledge you and be non-commercial. But, they don’t have to license their derivatives on the same terms.
5. Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA)
Others can remix, adapt and build upon your work non-commercially as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the same terms.
6. Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)
This is the most restrictive license. Others can download and share your work, as long as they credit you. But, they can’t change it or use it for commercial purposes.
For Small Business Owners and Content Creators
Benefits:
- More Exposure: By allowing others to use and share your work you can reach a bigger audience.
- Legal Certainty: CC licenses give you a clear and legal way to share your work while protecting your rights.
- Community Building: Sharing your work can help build a community around your brand or creative project.
How to use a Creative Commons License on your work
Follow these steps:
- Choose: Go to the Creative Commons website and use their license chooser to select the license for your work.
- Mark: Add a CC license notice to your work, usually at the bottom of a page, in the metadata or in a prominent place. Use the HTML code to ensure proper attribution.
- Educate: Tell your audience what the license allows and how they can use your work.
Attribution and Legal Stuff
Each CC license has its own legal implications. Make sure you comply with the terms:
- Attribution: Always credit the original creator. Name, title of the work, license type and a link to the license.
- Non-Commercial: Your use of the work must not be for commercial purposes.
- NoDerivs: Do not change the original work in any way.
How to find and use CC licensed content
Here’s how:
- Use Search Engines: Google and Flickr allow you to filter search results by CC license.
- Check Databases: Creative Commons, Wikimedia Commons and the Internet Archive have loads of CC-licensed content.
- Attribute Correctly: Follow the best practices for attribution to respect the original creator’s rights.
Case Studies and Examples
See these examples to understand how CC licenses work in practice:
A small business uses CC BY-SA images in their marketing. They attribute the photographer and share the content under the same license.
A content creator uses CC BY-NC music in their YouTube videos. They credit the musician and don’t monetize the videos.
Data and Research
A 2022 Creative Commons study found over 1.4 billion works licensed under Creative Commons. This shows how widespread and trusted these licenses are.
How to use CC licenses
Follow these steps:
- Evaluate: Determine what license is right for your work and goals.
- Use the License Chooser: Go to the Creative Commons website to select and generate the license for your work.
- Apply: Add the license notice to your work, make sure it’s visible and formatted correctly.
- Educate: Tell your audience what the license means and how they can use your work.
What does CC mean?
The Creative Commons license, or CC-BY, allows unlimited use, sharing, and distribution of this work. Remixing — adapt.
Creative Commons vs copyright?
Copyright gives creatives some freedom. Creators require those who want to use their work under copyright to obtain permission. CreativeCommons protects copyright. The law applies to all humans on Earth to use their work.
Creative Commons licenses let small business owners and creators share their work. It’s both legal and ethical. This can expand their reach and build a community around their content.
