some, they experience more.

They experience
this not as isolated individuals, playing some
high tech computer game; they experience it
in groups, in communities, among strangers,
among people they come to know, and some-
times like.”
I’m incredibly proud that Creative Com-
mons is able to publish this book for the many
communities that we have come to know and
like. I’m grateful to Paul and Sarah for their cre-
ativity and insights, and to the global commu-
nities that have helped us bring it to you. As CC
board member Johnathan Nightingale often
says, “It’s all made of people.”
That’s the true value of things that are Made
with Creative Commons.

Ryan Merkley
CEO, Creative Commons

Made With Creative Commons xiii

xiv Made With Creative Commons
INTRODUCTION
This book shows the world how sharing can be
good for business—but with a twist.
We began the project intending to explore
how creators, organizations, and businesses
make money to sustain what they do when
they share their work using Creative Com-
mons licenses. Our goal was not to identify a
formula for business models that use Creative
Commons but instead gather fresh ideas and
dynamic examples that spark new, innovative
models and help others follow suit by build-
ing on what already works. At the onset, we
framed our investigation in familiar business
terms. We created a blank “open business
model canvas,” an interactive online tool that
would help people design and analyze their
business model.
Through the generous funding of Kickstart-
er backers, we set about this project first by
identifying and selecting a diverse group of
creators, organizations, and businesses who
use Creative Commons in an integral way—
what we call being Made with Creative Com-
mons. We interviewed them and wrote up
their stories. We analyzed what we heard and
dug deep into the literature.
But as we did our research, something in-
teresting happened. Our initial way of framing
the work did not match the stories we were
hearing.
Those we interviewed were not typical busi-
nesses selling to consumers and seeking to
maximize profits and the bottom line. Instead,
they were sharing to make the world a better
place, creating relationships and community
around the works being shared, and generat-
ing revenue not for unlimited growth but to
sustain the operation.
Made With Creative Commons
They often didn’t like hearing what they do
described as an open business model. Their
endeavor was something more than that.
Something different. Something that gener-
ates not just economic value but social and
cultural value. Something that involves human
connection. Being Made with Creative Com-
mons is not “business as usual.”
We had to rethink the way we conceived of
this project. And it didn’t happen overnight.
From the fall of 2015 through 2016, we docu-
mented our thoughts in blog posts on Medium
and with regular updates to our Kickstarter
backers. We shared drafts of case studies and
analysis with our Kickstarter cocreators, who
provided invaluable edits, feedback, and ad-
vice. Our thinking changed dramatically over
the course of a year and a half.
Throughout the process, the two of us have
often had very different ways of understand-
ing and describing what we were learning.
Learning from each other has been one of the
great joys of this work, and, we hope, some-
thing that has made the final product much
richer than it ever could have been if either of
us undertook this project alone. We have pre-
served our voices throughout, and you’ll be
able to sense our different but complementa-
ry approaches as you read through our differ-
ent sections.
While we recommend that you read the
book from start to finish, each section reads
more or less independently. The book is struc-
tured into two main parts.
Part one, the overview, begins with a
big-picture framework written by Paul. He pro-
vides some historical context for the digital
commons, describing the three ways society
xv
has managed resources and shared wealth—
the commons, the market, and the state. He
advocates for thinking beyond business and
market terms and eloquently makes the case
for sharing and enlarging the digital commons.
The overview continues with Sarah’s chap-
ter, as she considers what it means to be suc-
cessfully Made with Creative Commons.
While making money is one piece of the pie,
there is also a set of public-minded values and
the kind of human connections that make
sharing truly meaningful. This section outlines
the ways the creators, organizations, and busi-
nesses we interviewed bring in revenue, how
they further the public interest and live out
their values, and how they foster connections
with the people with whom they share.
And to end part one, we have a short sec-
tion that explains the different Creative Com-
mons licenses. We talk about the misconcep-
tion that the more restrictive licenses—the
ones that are closest to the all-rights-reserved
model of traditional copyright—are the only
ways to make money.
Part two of the book is made up of the twen-
ty-four stories of the creators, businesses, and
organizations we interviewed. While both of us
participated in the interviews, we divided up
the writing of these profiles.
Of course, we are pleased to make the book
available using a Creative Commons Attribu-
tion-ShareAlike license. Please copy, distribute,
translate, localize, and build upon this work.
Writing this book has transformed and in-
spired us. The way we now look at and think
about what it means to be Made with Creative
Commons has irrevocably changed. We hope
this book inspires you and your enterprise to
use Creative Commons and in so doing con-
tribute to the transformation of our economy
and world for the better.

Paul and Sarah

xvi Made With Creative Commons