The Creative Commons Family — How to Read the Six Combinations
Standardised licences — freedoms granted up front
Related
The two questions creators hear most: "May I repost it?" "May I use it commercially?" — Creative Commons exists to give those questions standardised answers: the author keeps copyright but grants certain freedoms in advance to everyone.
(Terms follow the official texts; this is a plain-language guide, not legal advice.)
Four elements, six combinations
CC assembles from four elements:
| Element | Meaning |
|---|---|
| BY (Attribution) | credit the author (in every version) |
| SA (ShareAlike) | adaptations must carry the same licence ("viral") |
| NC (NonCommercial) | no commercial use |
| ND (NoDerivatives) | verbatim sharing only; no adapting |
The six common combinations: CC BY · BY-SA · BY-NC · BY-NC-SA · BY-ND · BY-NC-ND — plus CC0 (rights waived, effectively public domain) and public-domain marks.
Reading one licence: an example
"CC BY-NC-SA" reads: attribution + non-commercial + share-alike:
- You may: copy, distribute, adapt (within non-commercial bounds);
- You must: credit, and license adaptations the same way;
- You may not: use it commercially.
The order of the words is the order of the conditions — once fluent, any combination translates on sight.
Three commonly tripped wires
1. "Commercial" under NC has no simple definition — an ad-carrying blog? a sponsored video? Judge per scenario; when unsure, treat it as commercial; 2. SA infects your adaptation — if you want your version proprietary, avoid SA material; 3. ND does not forbid sharing — ND allows verbatim reposting (with credit); it only forbids adaptation.
A transparent example: this site
This site's own content is published under CC BY 4.0: copy, adapt, use commercially — just credit. The musical works it links to are not covered by that licence: each carries its own licence tier (three tiers with different bounds — see the data copyright page).
That is open licensing done right: your own work clearly open; quoted material clearly labelled — two layers, each in order.
Listen: an "open" chord
Open does not mean unstructured — it means the structure is clear and anyone may enter. Hear a suspended, open chord: hanging, translucent, inviting.
Next
- The upstream of open licensing: copyright duration and public-domain reckoning.
- Datasets use open licences too: open music data and licensing.
- The direct object of openness: Melody.
Listen in the library
All tracks from midicn-lib — inline badge is the license tier (C1 commercial / C2 non-commercial / C3 study only).
Sources
- 本文为 CC 许可家族的通识介绍（条款以知识共享组织官方文本为准），不构成法律意见
- 涉及的曲目均标注来源与许可档位，可在线试听
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.