Music released under the Creative Commons license? What of the world is this? According to Wired, it looks like this could potentially become thing quite big. I wonder of the established music industry is concerned about this.

By nature, musicians are thieves. Nicking a bit of this song and a lick from that one, shaping their style on the riffs of those who came before, musicians are experts in the art of acquisition. Woody Guthrie knew this; he pinched melodies from Leadbelly - and let anybody pinch him in return. The Sex Pistols knew this; they shamelessly lifted from the New York Dolls and ABBA (yes, ABBA) and set off a teenage riot. And James Brown knows this; he accrued a large debt to Little Richard - only to become the most sampled man in showbiz, with thousands of his grunts and bridges and beats pilfered by lesser men.

But what some call theft, others call sharing. Thanks to sharing, there are genre-bending artists like Beck and Prince, the mash-up legacy of Jay Z’s Black Album, and the sublime delight of Walter Murphy’s “A Fifth of Beethoven.”

At root, sharing and stealing music start from the same impulse: Cribbing is creation. Building on what other musicians have done - with or without their blessing or collaboration - is what it takes to make new music, music that will delight and sustain people. That, after all, is why it’s called making music (playing music is something else altogether). Elvis Presley, that pioneer of appropriation, put it best: “Fair exchange bears no robbery, and the whole world will know that it’s true. If you wanna be hugged, well, you gotta hug me too.”

In the interest of more fair exchange, we present The Wired CD.

It is, in a sense, a concept album. But unlike Ziggy Stardust or OK Computer, the concept isn’t in the music, though the songs are pretty great. It’s in the fine print. All the songs come with a license that gives you permission to do more than just listen to them. You can swap them. You can sample them. You can use them to fuel your own creative impulses, without worrying that the copyright cops will beat down your door.