If you are planning on including media such as music or sound effects in your project, it is important to keep in mind that, because of copyright law, you must have the legal right to use the media in your podcast. This means that (with the exception of uses covered by fair dealing or fair use) you cannot use copyrighted music for your podcast unless it has been released under a Creative Commons (abbreviated as CC) or other license that allows it to be reused (some resources for freely licensed media are covered later in this chapter), and the type of media that you are able to use in your project will be determined by the terms you choose to release your project under and how you plan on using the documentary, since the different CC licenses have different requirements as to the types of works they can be used in.

If you want to use CC-licensed media, it is necessary to:

• Be familiar with the differences between CC licenses
• Decide what the copyright status of your documentary project will be
• Decide whether your documentary project will be used for commercial purposes or noncommercial purposes.

Creative Commons licenses

There are six Creative Commons licenses, as well as The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC0). Below, you can read summaries of these licenses taken from the Creative Commons website.

CC BY (Attribution)

“This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use.

CC BY includes the following elements:

BY  – Credit must be given to the creator”

Example scenario:

• You find a piece of music that is available under a CC BY license and that you want to include in your documentary project, which will be released under a CC BY-SA license. Because the music is available under a CC BY license, you may use it, but you must credit the source (that is, whoever created the music) and provide a link to the CC BY license. If you make any changes to the music, you must indicate what changes you made.

CC BY-SA (Attribution-ShareAlike)

“This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms.

CC BY-SA includes the following elements:

BY  – Credit must be given to the creator

SA  – Adaptations must be shared under the same terms”

If you create an adaptation of media available under a CC BY-SA license, then the SA (ShareAlike) component of the license means that your adaptation must also be available under the CC BY-SA license.

The CC BY-SA license text gives a specific example of an instance of a use that would constitute an adaptation: “where the Licensed Material is a musical work, performance, or sound recording, Adapted Material is always produced where the Licensed Material is synched in timed relation with a moving image.” That is, if you are creating a video-based documentary, adding music licensed under CC BY-SA is only possible if your documentary is also licensed under CC BY-SA.

However, “not all reuse of SA works creates Adapted Material.” For example: “Unless the larger work would be considered an adaptation of it, using a ShareAlike photo as a separate element within it does not require original materials in the larger work to be ShareAlike or compatible.”

In other cases, it may be unclear whether a given use of CC BY-SA-licensed media is an adaptation, since the legal definition of “adaptation” depends on the copyright law in the country that you are in. In these cases, Creative Commons suggests that you “Consult your jurisdiction’s copyright law for more information.”

Example scenario:

• You find a sound effect that is available under a CC BY-SA license and that you want to include in your documentary project. Because it is available under a CC BY-SA license, you may only use it if (1) you give appropriate credit, (2) your documentary is also licensed under a CC BY-SA license. If you will be reserving all rights on your documentary or if you are using a different CC license, then you will not be able to use the sound effect unless you contact the rightsholder and they give you permission to use their work in your project.

CC BY-NC (Attribution-NonCommercial)

“This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.

It includes the following elements:

BY  – Credit must be given to the creator

NC  – Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted”

What counts as noncommercial use can vary, and Creative Commons provides a guide explaining how NC licenses work.

However, Creative Commons notes that “Whether a use is commercial will depend on the specifics of the situation and the intentions of the user,” and that “there will always be uses that are challenging to categorize as commercial or noncommercial. CC cannot advise you on what is and is not commercial use. If you are unsure, you should either contact the rights holder for clarification, or search for works that permit commercial uses.”

CC BY-NC-SA (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike)

“This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms.

CC BY-NC-SA includes the following elements:

BY  – Credit must be given to the creator

NC  – Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted

SA  – Adaptations must be shared under the same terms”

Like the CC BY-NC license, the CC BY-NC-SA license requires attribution and forbids commercial use, but it also has a SA (ShareAlike) element, which means that you can only use CC BY-NC-SA material in your documentary if your documentary is also available under the CC BY-NC-SA license.

CC BY-ND (Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0)

“This license allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use.

CC BY-ND includes the following elements:

BY  – Credit must be given to the creator

ND  – No derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted”

Unlike the previous licenses, CC BY-ND does not allow material available under it to be adapted. This means that if you find material available under a CC BY-ND license, you can’t use it in your project if this would constitute an adaptation of the material.

CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0)

“This license allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.

CC BY-NC-ND includes the following elements:

BY  – Credit must be given to the creator

NC  – Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted

ND  – No derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted”

The CC BY-NC-ND license is like the CC BY-ND license in that it does not allow adaptations, but it also has the additional restriction that it cannot be distributed for commercial purposes.

CC0 (The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication)

“CC0 (aka CC Zero) is a public dedication tool, which allows creators to give up their copyright and put their works into the worldwide public domain. CC0 allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, with no conditions.”

If a piece of media has been released under CC0, then it can be reused in a documentary project, and there is no need for the source of the media to be credited, for the documentary to be available under any particular CC license, or for the documentary to be noncommercial.

Choosing a license for your project

There are tools available to help you decide what license to use for your project.

If you want to release your documentary project under a CC license, Creative Commons has a handy License Chooser that you can use to determine which license to use. You can also use this Creative Commons license flowchart. Both the License Chooser and flowchart walk you through the criteria that are relevant for determining what CC license to use.

Compatibility of freely licensed media

Once you’ve decided how to license your work and how you will be using it, you can determine what licenses are compatible with the license you have chosen.

However, the license of your work is not the only factor that determines what sorts of media you can add to it. You also need to consider whether you will be using your documentary project purely for noncommercial purposes, or whether you will also be using it for commercial purposes (such as selling streaming access to it).

The different CC licenses are not all compatible with each other, and depending on the license of your documentary, you may not be able to use some types of CC-licensed media. The sections below show what sorts of media can be used in documentary projects with different licenses.

CC BY

If your documentary project is licensed under CC BY, you can include media available under the following licenses:

• CC0
• BY

You cannot use media released under the following licenses:

• BY-NC-ND
• BY-NC-SA
• BY-ND
• BY-SA

You can use media released under the following license as well, but Creative Commons discourages this because the resulting adaptation would have multiple licenses that reusers of your project would need to follow. Creative Commons notes that if you do use media available under this license, “you should take additional care to mark the adaptation as involving multiple copyrights under different terms so that downstream users are aware of their obligations to comply with the licenses from all rights holders.”

• BY-NC

CC BY-SA

If your documentary project is licensed under CC BY-SA, you can include media available under the following licenses:

• CC0
• BY
• BY-SA

You cannot use media released under the following licenses:

• BY-NC-ND
• BY-NC-SA
• BY-ND

You can use media released under the following license as well, but Creative Commons discourages this because the resulting adaptation would have multiple licenses that reusers of your project would need to follow. Creative Commons notes that if you do use media available under this license, “you should take additional care to mark the adaptation as involving multiple copyrights under different terms so that downstream users are aware of their obligations to comply with the licenses from all rights holders.”

• BY-NC

CC BY-NC-SA

If your documentary project is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA, you can include media available under the following licenses:

• CC0
• BY
• BY-NC
• BY-NC-SA

You cannot use media released under the following licenses:

• BY-NC-ND
• BY-ND
• BY-SA

CC BY-ND

If your documentary project is licensed under CC BY-ND, you can include media available under the following licenses:

• CC0
• BY

You cannot use media released under the following licenses:

• BY-NC-ND
• BY-NC-SA
• BY-ND
• BY-SA

You can use media released under the following license as well, but Creative Commons discourages this because the resulting adaptation would have multiple licenses that reusers of your project would need to follow. Creative Commons notes that if you do use media available under this license, “you should take additional care to mark the adaptation as involving multiple copyrights under different terms so that downstream users are aware of their obligations to comply with the licenses from all rights holders.”

• BY-NC

CC BY-NC-ND

If your documentary project is licensed under CC BY-ND, you can include media available under the following licenses:

• CC0
• BY

You cannot use media released under the following licenses:

• BY-NC-ND
• BY-NC-SA
• BY-ND
• BY-SA

CC0

If your documentary project is licensed under CC BY-ND, you can include media available under the following licenses:

• CC0

You cannot use media released under the following licenses:

• BY-NC-ND
• BY-NC-SA
• BY-ND
• BY-SA

You can use media released under the following licenses as well, but Creative Commons discourages this because the resulting adaptation would have multiple licenses that reusers of your project would need to follow. Creative Commons notes that if you do use media available under these licenses, “you should take additional care to mark the adaptation as involving multiple copyrights under different terms so that downstream users are aware of their obligations to comply with the licenses from all rights holders.”

• BY
• BY-NC

All rights reserved

If you choose not to release your documentary project under a CC license but instead retain all rights, you can include media available under the following licenses:

• CC0
• BY

You cannot use media released under the following licenses:

• BY-NC-ND
• BY-NC-SA
• BY-ND
• BY-SA

Summary of the compatibility of different CC licenses

The following is an adapter’s license chart created by Creative Commons (available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license) that summarizes which licenses are compatible with each other (in green), which are not compatible with each other (in grey), and which combinations of licenses are compatible but discouraged (in yellow):

The licenses in the column on the left indicate the status of the original work that is being adapted. The licenses in the row at the top indicate the license that the adapter is using for their work.

For example, the chart shows that a BY-NC-ND license cannot be adapted under any CC license (as shown by the fact that all the cells to the right of the BY-NC-ND license in the left-hand column are gray). This is because the ND component prohibits derivatives (such as adaptations) from being made. The text of the BY-NC-ND license gives one specific example of such a derivative: it notes that “where the Licensed Material is a musical work, performance, or sound recording, Adapted Material is always produced where the Licensed Material is synched in timed relation with a moving image.” That is, if a piece of music is licensed under BY-NC-ND, you cannot sync it to a video that you have created, as this would constitute an adaptation.

On the other hand, a BY-NC-SA licensed work can be used as the basis for an adaptation, but only so long as the adaptation is also available under a BY-NC-SA license (as indicated by the fact that the only green cell in the BY-NC-SA row is the one that intersects with the BY-NC-SA column). For example, if a piece of music is licensed under BY-NC-SA, you may adapt it (such as by including it in a documentary), but only if your adaptation is also licensed under BY-NC-SA.

Resources with freely licensed media

There are a number of websites that offer freely licensed or public domain media.

Multimedia

The following websites allow you to access content in a variety of different formats:

Openverse: This is a search engine for images and audio (such as music or sound effects).

• Openverse lists works that are CC-licensed or public domain.

Wikimedia Commons: This is the media repository used by Wikipedia and other Wikimedia Foundation projects. It contains images, audio, videos, and PDFs (e.g. of books).

• Works in Wikimedia Commons are public domain, or licensed under CC BY or CC BY-SA (Wikimedia Commons does not accept works under CC licenses that have an NC or ND element).

The Internet Archive: Like Wikimedia Commons, the Internet Archive contains works in a variety of formats, including images, audio, videos, and PDFs.

• Internet Archive contains works that are CC-licensed or public domain.

OpenGameArt.Org: OpenGameArt.Org is mainly devoted to media meant to be used in games (such as clip art, textures, and music). However, you may find some of the media (such as music) useful for your project even if it is not related to video games.

• An advantage of OpenGameArt.Org is that it lets you look for media that has specific licenses, namely:
  • CC-BY 4.0
  • CC-BY 3.0
  • CC-BY-SA 4.0
  • CC-BY-SA 3.0
  • GPL 3.0
  • GPL 2.0
  • OGA-BY 3.0
  • CC0
  • LGPL 3.0
  • LGPL 2.1

It is important to keep in mind that because works on Wikimedia Commons, the Internet Archive, and OpenGameArt.org are user-submitted, there may be errors in the listed copyright status of a particular work, and it may not actually be public domain or freely licensed (for example, a user may have uploaded a work that is not their own and labeled it with a license they do not have the right to assign).

Furthermore, Wikimedia Commons and the Internet Archive follow US copyright laws, and some works on those websites may be public domain in the US, but not in other countries. If you do not live in the US and are planning to use a work that is listed in Wikimedia Commons or the Internet Archive as being in the public domain, check the copyright laws in your country. Wikipedia has an article on the length of copyright in different countries.

There are also websites that offer media available under non-CC licenses that allow for personal or commercial use.

Pexels: Pexels is a website that offers stock photos and stock videos that can be used for projects. Media on Pexels is available under the Pexels license.

Videvo: Videvo offers not just videos and audio, but also templates that can be used in video editing software such as DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro, and Premiere Pro. Media on Videvo can be available under one of multiple licenses, which are described in the Videvo help page on licensing.

Pixabay: Pixabay offers images, stock footage, music, and sound effects available under the Pixabay license, which allows for both commercial and non-commercial use without attribution. The text of the Pixabay license is available in Pixabay’s terms of service. Pixabay’s Frequently Asked Questions also contain clarifications about what uses are allowed under the license.

Before using a piece of media available on any of the websites above (regardless of whether it is distributed under a CC license or not), check the license of the media to see if the type of use you are considering is allowed.

Audio (Music and/or sound effects)

The following websites are devoted to providing freely licensed audio:

Freepd.com: Freepd.com has music in a variety of genres.

• All of the music on Freepd.com is licensed under CC0.

Freesound.org: Freesound is mainly devoted to providing recordings of sounds rather than music (such as telephones ringing or doors slamming shut), although it does have recordings of music as well. Freesound.org can be a useful source for if you need sound effects.

• Sounds on Freepd.com are available under one of the following licenses (when you search for a term, there will be a “licenses” section that allows you to filter the results by license):
  • CC BY
  • CC BY-NC
  • CC0
  • CC Sampling Plus

Musopen: Musopen is a site that offers classical music under a variety of CC licenses.

IMSLP: IMSLP (which stands for International Music Score Library Project) is a website that is mainly devoted to sheet music and recordings for public domain pieces of music (mainly classical music).

Creative Commons also has a list of other websites with freely licensed music.

Video

Besides sites like Pexels that are devoted to royalty-free media in multiple formats, there are also sites dedicated to video specifically.

Vimeo is a video-sharing platform that, although it is not exclusively devoted to freely licensed media, allows you to search for videos that are available under a Creative Commons license. For some videos, Vimeo also gives you the ability to download them.

Videezy is a platform dedicated to stock footage, and the Videezy support page contains information about the different licenses that media on Videezy is licensed under.

Crediting CC-licensed media

The attribution requirement of CC licenses that have a BY component (such as CC BY, CC-BY-SA, etc.) means that in order to use media available under such licenses, you must give credit. For example, according to the text of the CC BY-SA 4.0 license:

Attribution.

If You Share the Licensed Material (including in modified form), You must:

retain the following if it is supplied by the Licensor with the Licensed Material:

identification of the creator(s) of the Licensed Material and any others designated to receive attribution, in any reasonable manner requested by the Licensor (including by pseudonym if designated);

a copyright notice;

a notice that refers to this Public License;

a notice that refers to the disclaimer of warranties;

a URI or hyperlink to the Licensed Material to the extent reasonably practicable;

indicate if You modified the Licensed Material and retain an indication of any previous modifications; and

indicate the Licensed Material is licensed under this Public License, and include the text of, or the URI or hyperlink to, this Public License.

You may satisfy the conditions in Section 3(a)(1) in any reasonable manner based on the medium, means, and context in which You Share the Licensed Material. For example, it may be reasonable to satisfy the conditions by providing a URI or hyperlink to a resource that includes the required information.

If requested by the Licensor, You must remove any of the information required by Section 3(a)(1)(A) to the extent reasonably practicable.

Creative Commons’ summary of the Attribution component of the CC BY-SA 4.0 license states that “You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.”

The Creative Commons wiki has an article on best practices for attribution that contains a number of examples of correct and incorrect ways to provide credit for CC-licensed media. The article mentions that “A good rule of thumb is to use the acronym TASL, which stands for Title, Author, Source, License” and gives the following as an example of an ideal attribution:

“Creative Commons 10th Birthday Celebration San Francisco” by tvol is licensed under CC BY 2.0

As the article notes, all four elements are present in the attribution above:

Title? “Creative Commons 10th Birthday Celebration San Francisco”

Author? “tvol” – linked to his profile page

Source? “Creative Commons 10th Birthday Celebration San Francisco” – linked to original Flickr page

License? “CC BY 2.0” – linked to license deed

Sources

“About CC Licenses,” Creative Commons. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).

“Creative Commons License Flowchart,” by the Minnesota State Community and Technical College (M State) Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology, is licensed under CC BY 4.0. The flowchart is a derivative of “Which Creative License is Right for Me?” published by the Australian Research Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation in partnership with Creative Commons Australia under license CC BY 2.5 AU.

Further reading

4.4 Remixing CC-Licensed Work. (n.d.) In Creative Commons Certificate for Educators, Academic Librarians and GLAM. https://certificates.creativecommons.org/cccertedu/chapter/4-4-remixing-cc-licensed-work/

Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, and Creative Commons Australia. Attributing Creative Commons Materials. http://creativecommons.org.au/materials/attribution.pdf

burrough, x., and Mandiberg, M. (n.d.) 2.2 Exercise 2: Searching in the public domain. In Digital Foundations: Introduction to Media Design with the Adobe Creative Cloud. https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/digitalfoundations/chapter/2-2-exercise-2-searching-in-the-public-domain/

Creative Commons USA. (n.d.) Common Licensing Questions. https://creativecommonsusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Ask-CC-Final.pdf

Creative Commons. (2021, November 22). Frequently Asked Questions. https://creativecommons.org/faq/

Creative Commons. (n.d.) Creative Commons Certificate for Educators, Academic Librarians and GLAM. https://certificates.creativecommons.org/cccertedu/

Hyde, Z. (n.d.) 17 CC Licensing Guide. In Mays, E. (Ed.), A Guide to Making Open Textbooks with Students. https://press.rebus.community/makingopentextbookswithstudents/chapter/cc-licensing-guide/

NonCommercial interpretation. (2017, October 15). In CC Wiki. https://wiki.creativecommons.org/index.php?title=NonCommercial_interpretation&oldid=116467

ShareAlike interpretation. (2014, October 30). In CC Wiki. https://wiki.creativecommons.org/index.php?title=ShareAlike_interpretation&oldid=100807

Smartcopying. How to attribute Creative Commons licensed materials. https://smartcopying.edu.au/how-to-attribute-creative-commons-licensed-materials/

University of Guelph-Humber. (2022, June 9). Copyright and Fair Dealing: Guidelines for Documentary Filmmakers. https://guelphhumber.libguides.com/c.php?g=700284&p=4992233

Vogele, C., and Garlick, M. Podcasting Legal Guide.  https://wiki.creativecommons.org/index.php?title=Podcasting_Legal_Guide&oldid=21175. In CC Wiki. Note: this guide is based on U.S. copyright law.