Public Domain Rights: Artists Who Share

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By Newsweek Editors

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If mediocre artists borrow, and great artists steal, what kind of artists share? Until recently, mostly unknown ones. But that is starting to change as big-name artists, who don't need to give away their work free of charge, are doing just that. Inspired by the idea that appropriation and influence are inherent to the artistic process, musicians and writers are posting their work on the Web for anyone to borrow or adapt. Many of these artists make their work available via licenses from Creativecommons.org, which lets artists give away limited or total access to their work, instead of the standard "all rights reserved." Since its inception in 2002, the nonprofit organization has issued an estimated 150 million licenses.

Playwright Charles Mee, author of "bobrauschenbergamerica," instructs writers to "pillage" the structure and contents of his plays as resources for their own work on a section of his Web site he calls "the (re)making project." And science-fiction writer Cory Doctorow posts original stories on his blog for readers to do with as they wish. "No artist is so successful they can't benefit from exposure," says Doctorow. Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer of the sketch-comedy trio Lonely Island got jobs on "Saturday Night Live" after posting their video shorts online, along with their fans' "remixes" of the footage. (Samberg is in the cast; the other two are writers.)

In the latest twist on the movement, writer Jonathan Lethem is now accepting proposals for a film adaptation of his new novel, "You Don't Love Me Yet." The winning filmmaker must pay Lethem 2 percent of the film's budget as well as agree to release the film's rights to the public domain after five years, so fans can re-edit, borrow from and share the movie. Last week the offers weren't immediately rolling in. But Lethem's already gotten something out of the deal, and it's also free: some good publicity for the new book.

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