Why artists will use the CC?
What is the relationship between using CC and alternative economies?

The use of the CC is related to several factors.

The increasing autonomy of artists thanks to digital technology at the level of production/creation:
–Artists can have home-studios and create sounds, images, writings, multimedia pieces with better and better software.
The increasing autonomy of artists at the level of distribution thanks to the internet:
–The network is a way to distribute music, meet fans, create communities, create netlabels...
The culture of sampling:
–The culture of sampling has introduced musicians, videomakers, writers into interactive creativity. It is a common practice for artists now to take an existing piece, modify it, remix it resample it and let others reuse the result.
Collectivity reloaded:
–Exit the individualist model of the 80-90's. Post dotcom mentality is about creating links between individuals and groups, it is about sharing rather than individual heroism.
The existence of an existing model:
–The Free Software movement has been a major source of inspiration for the Creative Commons. The idea that you can “hack” author's right to guarantee the freedom of information and the larger access to knowledge has inspired these licenses. And the succes of the collective creation for something as complex as an operating system(GNU Linux) has proved that it was not only an ideal but also a working model.
The Creative Commons are human readable, lawyer readable and machine readable.
–human readable: the communication of the CC is really clear and to select a CC license is simple. You do not need to be a lawyer to define the scope of your rights anymore.
–lawyer readable: the licenses are solid and adapted to an impressive series of local legislations, ie. the CCs  are adapted to the Belgian Law, so you can go to court in a Belgian tribunal without problem.
–machine readable: when you create a weblog, you can automatically produce a CC license of your choice, there are search engines that look for content licensed under CC, etc

Artists are not only artists:

Artists are downloaders too, “Not in my name”:
–The artists also know that if you want to have access to the cultural goods, you cannot do it only through the official channels. Culture is too expensive and its acces not democratic enough. That is why a lot of artists do not want to hunt their public.

Artists have multiple jobs:
–It makes their life more complex, but they are more prone to self-production. Their career is not their only source of revenue.

Very few artists make a decent living with big music labels or big production studios. Most of the contracts are not at the advantage of artists.

Copyright collecting societies are less and less author's societies. The most striking example is Sabam which collects money for Universal in Europe. Their most important clients are the biggest mergers(Universal, EMI, ...), not artists. This imbalance  has a strong effect on the priorities of the Collecting Societies. And in case of conflicts between authors and labels, the Collecting societies have conflicts of interests.

So where to start from here?

Following the model of Open Source, do not sell a product, sell a service.
The code is for free, but if you need a service associated to this code(customisation, a specific product, network installation, ...), you will have to pay. The economy of open source is centered around services.
To adapt it to the cultural world, it would mean “do not sell CD, sell concert tickets”, “do not sell a video, sell a workshop”.
see  Aiyer Rishab Ghosh

Funding:
In Europe, a large part of the cultural work is funded by the state. Wouldn't it be logic that what is paid by citizens taxes would be released under a free license?
see Volker Grassmuck
But may we mention that a large part is funded by the artists themvelses as a NICC study prooves it, and also based on a dedicated, voluntary base, that culture, art is a gift then how do you make a living
see NICC, Els Vanheusden

How do they make a living?
It is important to learn from what artists are already doing to earn money. To learn from their complex models. And how they deal with mixed status.
see cuisine interne