Attribution for Creative Commons Licensed Material

Attribution for Creative Commons Licensed Material 

The creative commons (CC) license allows you to 'share' (ie copy and redistribute) and 'adapt' (ie remix, transform and build on) licensed material for any purpose, even commercially. This condition persists indefinitely since the licensor (usually the author) can not revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms. However, you can do so as long as you provide attribution, ie give credit to the author in a manner that is "reasonable" "based on the medium, means and context in which the licensed material is used" and without suggesting that the licensor endorses you. 

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Dr TASL MD for Description, Title, Author, Source, License, Modifications and Derivatives is an acronym I use to remember the different elements to be included in the best attribution practices. 

• Description refers to whether the material is a photo, video, piece of music and so on.
• Title refers to the name that the author may have given to the material. If one was not given, ignore this detail.
• Author refers to the person or entity that created the material. If the author(s) prefer to remain anonymous, ignore this detail. You may use a hyperlink to the author's professional profile on his / her preferred site like LinkedIn, Facebook and so on.
• Source refers to where the original material can be found. If applicable, even a URL or hyperlink is acceptable. Instructions are often provided by the author.
• License refers to the types of conditions under which you can use the material. In this case, you would say 'licensed under creative commons by 2.0' or 'licensed under CC by 4.0'. There are different versions. The generic version is 'CC by 2.0'. A newer version, the international version is labelled 'CC by 4.0'.
• Modifications refer to any ways in which you have altered the original work slightly like changing the photos to black and white (aka 'desaturation'), trimming films and so on 
• Derivatives refer to work that have been altered through considerable modifications, even when the final product appears like a different piece of original work. Examples include if you did voice overs and included additional instruments in a piece of music 

Ideal exampes of attribution for creative commons licensed material

• When the material was used as is
• Music: "Dubakupado" by Kevin MacLeod, http://incompetech.com/ is licensed under CC by 2.0
• When the material was modified slightly
• Music: "Dubakupado" by Kevin MacLeod, http://incompetech.com/ is licensed under CC by 2.0 / tempo altered from original
• When the material was modified significantly
• Music: This work "Festive Time" is a derivative of "Dubakupado" by by Kevin MacLeod, http://incompetech.com/ is licensed under CC by 2.0 by  [ your name ]

Also acceptable are the following examples. Notice that, although details are not spelled out, the hyperlinks direct viewers to the webpage where the specific piece of music or latest license can be viewed. These formats are acceptable because the artist and specific piece of work can be found.

• Music: "Dubakupado" by Kevin MacLeod, http://incompetech.com/ / CC by 2.0
• Music by Kevin MacLeod, http://incompetech.com/ / CC by 2.0 
• Music by Kevin MacLeod / CC by     

Placing attributions for creative commons licensed material

• Video
• The attribution can appear as text on the screen
• Presenters can mention these attributions. This is becoming very common in Youtube videos
• If the video exists on a webpage, that webpage may also have the attributions
• Audio
• Presenters can mention these attributions
• If the audio exists on a webpage, that webpage may also have the attributions
• Dedicated webpage for all attributions

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CONTENT RELATED TO ATTRIBUTION OF MATERIAL USED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE

• Videvo offers free videos
• Pexels offers free videos under CC0, ie no attribution required
• Pixabay offers free videos under CC0, ie no attribution required
• Kevin MacLeod's site Incompetech offers free music under CC 
• Freesound offers free sounds
• Looperman offers free audio under CC
• Youtube Audio library offers free music and sound effects with various types of usage terms (like CC)
• BigVu teleprompter video creator is an app that allows you to read a teleprompter off the screen of your smartphone while recording a video
• Free online GIF maker from still images
• Free online GIF maker from video   
• Names that are used for apparent variants exist like Dreamstime's Limited Royalty Free License (RF-LL). This other license appears to have a similar meaning to CC license. Dreamstimes uses it for 'free downloads' even for "commercial projects", apparently to differentiate it from paid photos. Although it is a form of royalty free license, ie the "right to use copyright material or intellectual property without the need to pay royalties or license fees for each use or per volume sold, or some time period of use of sales" (Wikipedia), its 'limitation' appears to refer to the fact that some required is stated like attribution and number of copies.

When the RF-LL link is clicked, a usage limit (of 10,000 images) is also stated, ie in addition to the attribution 'suggestion' (pictured).