My music content is not open to be reused or rehashed by anyone. If that's the case, pull my music out. I maintain all rights for my music and will not allow anyone to mess with or mod it. I understand that the code in Wesnoth is open "source" (as in source code), but my musical notes and recording are my property.
Please clarify this for me. If my music is considered free for all to mess with, I'm done with this project. If I keep all rights, then keep it in the game.
Ouch; sounds like we might lose one more composer... From what I can tell (and I'm NOT an authority on this), any content that is submitted to wesnoth's add-ons server must be GPLed; it says so right on the upload. I know for certain that the art of Wesnoth is (happily) under GPL, so I imagine that music would be no exception. If the music is placed on the forums, it remains under your control, but if it were ever added to the game in any practical means (either add-ons or mainline), according to what seems to be current policy, it must be GPLed.
For what it's worth, I'm not a musician, so I cannot relate specifically to this issue. But I am a writer - both for myself, and for open-content venues (sp. Wikipedia/Wikiversity) I know something of what it's like to have someone take what you've made, turn it around, and generate something based off of your original work. At times it can be a thrill, knowing that someone else is further advancing a project that you started. At other times, especially when your work is masticated, it can be bitter and sobering.
It takes a certain kind of person to place an open license on their works - not a better person, as the righteous Richard Stallman might imply, but a person with certain priorities. If your (current) priority in content-development is the advancement of a certain cause - say Battle for Wesnoth - then your willingness to release code or content into the community will reflect that priority. If on the other hand, you're trying to accomplish a more personal goal, such as develop a portfolio of art or music (or code :-), then there is a very good, compelling reason
not to release your content into the open community - it needs to remain
your content.
So I think that the issue that needs to be resolved for all of us contributors is why are we here, donating our time and effort to this cause of Wesnoth? If we hope to advance this game (and thus in my estimation, the open source initiative), then GPL shouldn't be an issue. If our goals are more personal, however, then there are other closed venues that may be better suited to meet those goals.
imo, anyway.
--Opensourcejunkie
what if the Bible's claims about Christ depicted accurate, verifiable history? given some research, you might be surprised at the evidence...
about someone messing with your content: but that's the nature of open source/free. Wesnoth is free, and even if the music is -slightly less- in quality because of this (I mean, come on, look at the music we've already got: it's fantastic AND GPL'd!) I think its worth it to preserve its spotless identity.
