Creative Commons

"Too often the debate over creative control tends to the extremes. At one pole is a vision of total control ? a world in which every last use of a work is regulated and in which "all rights reserved" (and then some) is the norm. At the other end is a vision of anarchy ? a world in which creators enjoy a wide range of freedom but are left vulnerable to exploitation. Balance, compromise, and moderation ? once the driving forces of a copyright system that valued innovation and protection equally ? have become endangered species.

Creative Commons is working to revive them. We use private rights to create public goods: creative works set free for certain uses. Like the free software and open-source movements, our ends are cooperative and community-minded, but our means are voluntary and libertarian. We work to offer creators a best-of-both-worlds way to protect their works while encouraging certain uses of them ? to declare "some rights reserved."

Creative Commonsis a group that created the Music Sharing Licence, which artists can release their music under. Basically this enables their music to be shared while they still hold control over the copyright. The site has links to artist downloads too.