Post by François Gérin-Lajoie in Outer World Planets Cycle comments

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Hi!

Very valid question! And thanks for asking. The only asset that I'm giving out for commercial as a freebie is the asset pack of fantasy chiptunes. Everything else is a soundtrack that I have already produced and that is intended for listening and not for commercial use (unless permission given). I through itch.io's questionnaire to figure out what license to use, since I'm new to all of this. Hopefully I did everything accordingly to reflect my intentions.

You mentioned "If someone would want to to make an open source game, and use your assets, it would still be difficult though.". Apart from giving permission, would there be additional steps? Would I have to change the license type?

Thanks for your help!

François

SoloDeveloping36 days ago

Hi,

I was mistaken about the CC-BY-SA, it seems it does not force the developer to release works based on it in the same license, even though the art would still be licensed under the CC-BY-SA and would require credits.

In the Frequently Asked Questions - Creative Commons

CC licenses do not require the collection or the compilation itself to be made available under an SA license, even though each individual work is still licensed individually under an SA license and if they were modified by the distributor the modified photo would need to be licensed under the same terms.

When reading stackoverflow, the answers are not straightforward.

The only asset that I'm giving out for commercial as a freebie is the asset pack of fantasy chiptunes. Everything else is a soundtrack that I have already produced and that is intended for listening and not for commercial use (unless permission given).

-> here, all of the mp3 are released under CC-BY-SA and not CC-BY-SA-NC (NonCommercial), so it can be used commercially, I'm not sure if you are aware.

François Gérin-Lajoie34 days ago

Hi,

I am willing to let developers to use my soundtracks for their projects, but with permission only (for example, if they are willing to pay for a non exclusive license). In that case, would CC-BY-SA be appropriate? Are these different licenses conditional to me granting permission, or does the mere fact that I am making them available on itch.io suggests that they are free to use? Or is the whole permission thing separate from licenses? Maybe there are concepts that I'm still not understanding. :)

Thanks for taking the time to clarify all of this. I really appreciate your help.

François

SoloDeveloping34 days ago (1 edit)

Hi,

When you are selecting the license, the asset is released under this license.

So, here, and I quote the official page of the license:

You are free to:

Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially.

Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.

The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.

Maybe, what you want is Deed - Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International - Creative Commons.

This one would still allow people to use the license without paying you as long as they do not use it commercially (and provide credit etc).

People having already downloaded the asset still have the right to use the asset under the previous license though, theoritically.

If you just want people to listen to the samples, maybe you should not provide a license, and maybe a price as well.

Most people that don't want to use the CC system usually just write what they intend specifically in the page of the asset ("you are free to ...", "limitations:" etc).

I'm not sure of what you intended.

SoloDeveloping,

François Gérin-Lajoie31 days ago

Hi!

I think you're right. I shouldn't be providing a license and should simply explain my intentions in the description. Honestly, for my soundtracks, I was just using itch.io as a marketplace to share/sell albums. But maybe that's not what itch.io is all about! I should stick to Bandcamp for that. My free asset packs, however, are there to help out game dev and itch.io also serves as a home for the music I compose outside of actual projects.

Thanks again for your thoughts and advice. :)

François