The following conditions for usage apply to my own material and to the sound clips. For material under the copyright of other persons or organisations, you must obtain permission from them directly (as I have done) - the names and contacts of copyright holders are given throughout the website alongside the relevant texts or images (click on the thumbnails for full versions and copyright information). Should you have any queries about copyright, please send me an email (address at the bottom of this page). For more general information about myself, the website and future projects, go to about the author.
1. Conditions for personal, non-commercial and not-for-profit use
The term personal use as used in this copyright notice is defined as use of this website's materials in a strictly non-commercial and/or non-profit nature, and by one user only. In plain English, it means that neither you nor any third-party will stand to gain financially from the use of materials from this website, whether directly or indirectly, and that any use cannot be made publicly accessible, for example on the internet or across a network.
Subject to the exceptions and clarifications set out in sections 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3, personal use means that you may download, print and store one copy of any part of this website. See also Use of sound clips.
1.1. Permissible academic and NGO use
Beyond the provisions provided for by the Fair Use Statute of US Copyright Law, teachers, students, non-commercial researchers, NGOs, schools and other non-commercial and non-religious educational organisations may freely copy and distribute a limited quantity of materials contained on this site, on four conditions:
1. the materials or the products in which they are incorporated are distributed free of charge
2. I am notified of the usage prior to use or publication
3. usage is limited to 500 words and two images.
4. all materials used are individually credited with the following text:
Copyright Jens Finke
Traditional Music & Cultures of Kenya
www.bluegecko.org/kenya
In other words, as a student, you may use a reasonable amount of material from this website to convince your college teacher or professor that you did indeed do the homework, fieldwork or report that you were supposed to do, though I would appreciate a copy of the work.
1.2. Prohibited academic and NGO use
Beyond the provisions provided for by the Fair Use Statute of US Copyright Law, Christian and Muslim organisations (defined at my total discretion), including those of a non-profit or non-commercial nature, are prohibited from making use of this website, as is any type of usage considered (also at my discretion) to be derogatory. The reason is that imported religion has done, and continues to do, enormous damage to traditional African cultures, societies, beliefs and knowledge bases. So, if you're an evangelical Christian missionary looking to target "untouched peoples" with your merciful narrow-mindedness and religious intolerance, learn to respect other people and their cultures by leaving them alone.
1.3 Personal use in electronic or other media
Non-commercial use of materials on the internet or in any other networked or electronic form (including audio CDs, CD-ROMs, DVDs etc) requires explicit written permission from myself prior to such use. Requests may be refused at my discretion, and will certainly be refused if I consider the use to be derogatory. Requests for permission should be made by email in the first instance; the address is at the bottom of this page.
2. Conditions for commercial or other use
Commercial use of any kind and of any part of this website is strictly prohibited without prior written consent from myself. Permission for any other type of use must also be obtained. Payment may be requested. "Commercial use" includes use of these materials in any form whether electronic, digital, printed or audio, and covers both their use in products and in advertising. Violations will be prosecuted under US copyright law.
3. Use of sound clips
Most of the music presented on this site has been digitized from a collection of 130 audio cassettes bought or copied by myself while in Kenya between 1998 and 1999 (see about the recordings). In some cases, the primary material was commercially available, usually in a restricted area delineated by the geographical extent of the tribe concerned, and bears copyright notices; these copyright details, together with the publisher's contact information where indicated or known, have been included in my notes accompanying the descriptions of the sound clips. In these cases, I have used a maximum of 15% of the total recorded length of the cassette.
In other cases, the music was dubbed in the field, either by locals participating in ceremonies, or by myself.
My position on the copyright of music clips is simple. I cannot and do not claim material copyright for any of the clips presented on this site, even when it was me that recorded them, as is it not my singing, nor my culture, or my traditions. In short, I have no right to benefit financially from any of the recordings, and neither does anyone else except the performers and communities involved. Material copyright belongs with them. In many cases, however, the names of the performers are unknown, indeed the name of the village or district is also unknown. Given this, and the fact that many of the recordings in my collection are unique except for the single examples from which they were copied, I do claim moral copyright in trust over all recordings presented on this site.
This unorthodox interpretation of copyright law means that, notwithstanding existing material copyrights for some music clips (which are always mentioned in my accompanying notes wherever known), my permission has to be sought before copying any of the sound clips on this site. If the material is to be used for non-commercial or non-profit purposes, there shouldn't be any problem so long as the sources (including my website) are credited. However, if sound clips are to be used in any commercial manner (see above), it is neither your moral or legal right to reproduce the files.
4. Linking to this site
Feel free to link to this website. Please use the site's main page http://www.bluegecko.org/kenya/ for the link, ideally with the text reading "Traditional Music & Cultures of Kenya". Let me know if you want a reciprocal link on this site.
If you wish, make use of the bluegecko logo below for the link (which must be uploaded to your own site; the server I use won't allow you to link to it). To copy it, right-click your mouse over the image and choose "Save Image" or "Save Image As". The image has a transparent background; feel free to change it to a solid background of a colour that suits your site.
For both copyright and technical reasons, you cannot link directly to images or sound clips (JPG, GIF, OGG and M3U files). There are two reasons for this: copyright permissions I've obtained for using third-party images are explicit in stating that use is only to be made on this website, and in no other place or form; and the web host in any case blocks direct requests to images and sound clips from servers outside the bluegecko.org, planosphere.com or tropicalsoup.com domains.
5. US Copyright Law: the Fair Use Statute
The following is the full text of the so-called Fair Use Statute of the United States Copyright Act (1976). For notes relating to Fair Use, see California State University's "Fair Use: Overview and Meaning for Higher Education" at http://www.cetus.org/fair5.html.
Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified in that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.
In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include -
1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.
