The decision of what others may do with (and to) your songs lies and will remain with you.
To communicate the authors’ wishes in this regard, each file carries a {c:License: ...} entry.

You have various options for licenses, which we list and explain below, and each can be chosen for lyrics and music.

Important: “not allowed” in the context of licensing always means: Anyone who wants to do something that’s “not allowed” must first ask the copyright holder(s) and obtain explicit permission from them.

This means that for everything you allow with the license used, you won’t need to be asked.

(Important: the rights to authorship always remains with the creators according to German law (which governs this platform legally). You can only release copyright/usage rights.)

If you’re wavering between licenses, feel free to choose the more restrictive option initially. Being more liberal later is always possible, whereas the other way around is much more difficult. (What you’ve released once, others may continue to use under the original conditions, simply by not downloading the updated file and carrying on with the “old” license unknowingly.)

The Filksongbook Minimal License

{c:License (Lyrics): Filksongbook Minimal License V1.0, http://filksongbook.com/info/minimal-license-1-0/}

This is the absolute minimum you must allow for us to accept your songs.
It only allows the following:

• The Open Filk Songbook platform may host this file free of charge.
• Any person may download this file and pass it on to others unchanged in content. (Transposing or adding additional ChordPro directives doesn’t constitute a change in this sense.)
• Any person may perform the song unchanged, non-commercially, with attribution to the creators, for example at filk cons / in filk circles (including online circles) or at home. Legally, this corresponds to a release of “performance rights within the context of filk events” only.
  “Unchanged” in this context means:
  • The lyrics remain unchanged, and
  • The melody isn’t intentionally changed but is used faithfully to the original to the best of one’s knowledge and ability. (No one will be sued or given dirty looks if they don’t hit all the right notes or misremember a piece of melody😉. Chords and key may of course also be adapted to the skill level and preferences of the performer.)

This means people only need to contact you if:

• they want to perform a modified version (including parodies and translations), or
• they want to distribute recordings of your song (whether free or commercial), or
• they want to use your song in paid performances.

Songs using this license carry the above-mentioned entry.
Songs submitted without an explicit license are published under this license.
This license is based on CC BY-NC-ND, but differs in 2 points:

• unchanged performances in filk context are allowed (while any performance is a derivative under CC terms and thereby not allowed by CC ND licenses), and
• redistribution is restricted (only hosting on this platform + private sharing is allowed, no hosting on external platforms, while CC licenses allow free distribution everywhere so long as the license is respected).

You can find the legal details here.

Similar, but a bit more extensive is

The Filksongbook Filk License

{c: License (Lyrics): Filksongbook Filk License V1.0, http://filksongbook.com/info/filk-license-1-0/}

This probably corresponds to what you’d expect from the name in the context of the filk community (“I took your song and filked it…”).

The essential difference from the Minimal License is that “filking” of the songs is allowed.

This license allows the following:

• The Open Filk Songbook platform may host this file free of charge.
• Any person may download this file and pass it on to others unchanged in content. (Transposing or adding additional ChordPro directives doesn’t constitute a change in this sense.)
• Any person may perform the song unchanged, non-commercially, with attribution to the creators, for example at filk cons / in filk circles (including online) or at home.
• Any person may filk the song, i.e., create derivatives (such as parodies, new lyrics, translations, new melodies or other melody adaptations, as well as mash-ups) and perform them non-commercially (for example at filk cons / in filk circles (including online) or at home).

People still need to contact you if they:

• want to distribute recordings of your song (whether free or commercial), or
• want to use your song in paid performances.

The SING! License

{c: License (Lyrics): SING, https://www.thesilee.de/filk/sing/}

This allows a few more things, especially modifying/filking and also commercial use under certain circumstances, but is not identical to CC BY because it was explicitly developed for the context of filk songs.

• Any person may sing and/or play the song, including publicly or commercially, as long as the creators are credited.

• Any person may filk the song (i.e., parody it, expand it, add new verses, or reuse parts of the melody).

• Lyrics, chords, and sheet music may be reproduced and distributed at will, e.g., in songbooks, on websites, or as downloads. (For print editions, a proof copy must be sent to the artist.)

• Recordings are permitted, including commercial ones, provided it is not a derivative work (parody, translation). But if other contributors to the project are paid, the creator must also be considered. A proof copy per song used is requested.

• Special provision: The creator accepts that attribution may fade over time as the song enters folk tradition. However, falsely claiming authorship is not permitted.

You can find the license details at https://www.thesilee.de/filk/sing/.

Creative Commons Licenses

These are the internationally widespread Creative Commons licenses. You can find them described in detail at https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/cclicenses/.

All CC licenses basically allow the correspondingly licensed work to be shared everywhere.

CC licenses come in various variants, which we list here from “least restrictive” to “most restrictive”:

(Actually, CC licenses also offer the ND (No Derivatives) option. However, this does not allow performances, because in the sense of Creative Commons licenses, performances are the same as a text or melody change: a derivative. Since this would contradict the purpose of this songbook (namely the distribution of our song material for performance at filk events), we do not accept songs under CC ND licenses. If you’re looking for an equivalent to CC BY NC ND that allows performances, please use the Filksongbook Minimal License (see above)).

CC0

{c:License (Lyrics): CC0, https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/}

Here you waive all protective rights of copyright. This is similar to the public domain. Attribution of the creators is desired but not necessary.

CC BY

{c:License (Lyrics): CC BY, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/}

The BY stands for “Attribution”, meaning the creators must be credited.

This means:

• Only attribution is necessary.
• Modification is allowed.
• Commercial use is also allowed.

CC BY-SA

{c:License (Lyrics): CC BY-SA, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/}

The BY stands for “Attribution”, meaning the creators must be credited.
The SA stands for “Share Alike”, meaning derivatives must be shared under the same license.

This means:

• Attribution is necessary.
• Any modifications are allowed (melody changes, text changes, parodies, translations…).
  • Modified content may only be shared under the same license.
• Also commercial use is allowed, as long as the above points are observed.

CC BY-NC

{c:License (Lyrics): CC BY-NC, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/}

The BY stands for “Attribution”, meaning the creators must be credited.
The NC stands for “Non Commercial”, meaning no one may make money with the work without the creators’ agreement.

This means:

• Attribution is necessary.
• Commercial use of any kind is not allowed.
• Modifications are allowed, as long as they are not used commercially.

CC BY-NC-SA

{c:License (Lyrics): CC BY-NC-SA, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/}

The BY stands for “Attribution”, meaning the creators must be credited.
The NC stands for “Non Commercial”, meaning no one may make money with the work without discussing this with the creator beforehand.
The SA stands for “Share Alike”, meaning derivatives must be shared under the same license.

This means:

• Attribution is necessary.
• Commercial use of any kind is not allowed.
• Modification is allowed.
  • Modified content may only be shared under the same license.

The Licenses Compared

Once again:

• “allowed” in this context means: may be done without explicitly asking the creators.
• “not allowed” in this context means: if you want to do this, you must explicitly ask the creators.