Neil Gaiman Quote: Mistakes

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're doing something.

So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make new mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: Art, or love, or work, or family life.

Whatever it is you're scared of doing, do it. Make your mistakes, next year and forever.

Neil Gaiman

Creative Commons and Jamendo

I've found through the Creative Commons a fantastic music website called Jamendo.  This website is great, because if you're into free and partial copyright works, this place has loads of it.  I personally love using it to discover artists I may not normally see otherwise.  The mainstream music industry can get caught up in the capitalistic frenzy it's created for itself.  But, there are still artists out there who really focus on their music and their audience.  In fact, musicians don't make much of anything off of the CDs sold in stores.  That's all producer and music industry revenue!  The money the artist makes is through their concert tickets, merchandise sold at those events, or donations. I believe the Creative Commons to be a wonderful entity, because it allows for partial copyrights to your work.  Many go to jail for the use or distribution of something copyrighted without permission.  This world is about sharing ideas, not keeping them to ourselves.  There is no progress in that.  If we share our work and let others freely borrow and transform them, we are expanding and making deeper those ideas, furthering creativity and thought.  The Creative Commons allows for a variety of free licenses for one's work so that you can give the world what is yours on your terms.  You can reserve all rights to the work, or perhaps one option would allow it to be used for commercial use, etc.  The Creative Commons must grow.  Jamendo is also a wonderful resource for music.  I encourage everyone to check out these websites.