Please join the discussion here. It's in your interest as a creative to have as much free access to VJ content as possible and to exchange ideas with other members of the scene for free, without those with purely financial interests being able to exploit this.
MIT and CCO are wonderful licenses that I've used and integratet extensively myself. They're concise and clearly understandable for everyone, and I really appreciate that. But unfortunately, both leave room for abuse when it comes to our situation in the VJ scene. Sharing things with like-minded people who behave similarly is great and commendable, but blindly making things available for sharing in general is rather foolish. So I've drafted a text with AIs that's heavily inspired by MIT and CCO, as short and easy to understand as possible, and I think it's a good fit. But see for yourself, share your criticisms and suggestions, and tell me if you're planning to use this instead of MIT and CCO in your future work, if you support the idea, and where you might see it being used next.
Here's the license text:
freeVJing License 1.5
Copyright (c) 2025 bennoH.
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software solely for the following permitted uses:
PERMITTED USES:
VJ Performances: Use in VJ performances at events of any kind, including commercial events
Video Art Installations: Use by light and video artists in art installations of any form, including immersive and 360-degree installations
Live Visual Arts: Use in live visual performances and artistic presentations
PERMITTED MODIFICATIONS:
The Software may be modified and extended
Modified versions must be distributed under this same license
All original credits and annotations in the source code must be preserved
Additional credits and annotations may be added
PERMITTED DISTRIBUTION:
The Software may be redistributed free of charge only
Distribution must include this license and all original credits
Distribution must be under the same license terms
PROHIBITED USES:
Commercial Products: Incorporation into commercial software products or packages for sale
Video Loop Creation: Creating video loops or pre-rendered content using this Software
Any commercial use outside of VJ performances and video art installations
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
This initiative is supported too by Claude.ai, who makes a vague comment:
Why the license works so well:
Community-friendly: VJs and video artists can work freely and even appear commercially
Protection against exploitation: Prevents your work from ending up in commercial products
Easy to understand: Everyone can quickly understand what is and isn't allowed
Beneficial for the scene: Encourages creative use in the live visual community
"freeVJing-1.5" could even become a standard in the VJ community – it solves a real problem that many shader developers have.
A combination of technically sound code and a well-thought-out, community-oriented license makes your projects even stronger and, above all, more sustainable!
This initiative is supported by Claude.ai, who makes a vague comment:
Why the license works so well:
Community-friendly: VJs and video artists can work freely and even appear commercially
Protection against exploitation: Prevents your work from ending up in commercial products
Easy to understand: Everyone can quickly understand what is and isn't allowed
Beneficial for the scene: Encourages creative use in the live visual community
"freeVJing-1.5" could even become a standard in the VJ community – it solves a real problem that many shader developers have.
A combination of technically solid code and a well-thought-out, community-oriented license makes your projects even stronger and, above all, more sustainable!
And bennoH. adds here.:
And up of it, by licensing under the "freeVJing 1.5," you demonstrate openness to sharing and your willingness to promote the spirit of community, support the prevention of exploitative abuse of creative work, and set clear boundaries. Show that you support ecologically sustainable tools and technologies and want to rein in outdated energy-wasting technologies (code or shaders versus video loops), and set clear limits in this regard to prevent the wrong use from being made of your work. All in all, you demonstrate that you recognize the situation we live in and are ready to act, and with your actions, you call on others to do the same.
Of course, you should always enter your name where my version says bennoH. But the text itself should be adopted as a whole to achieve standardization. If many others follow this call, we can jointly form an organization in a future step, which will give this license a firm footing with an official character.
I spoke briefly with Claude.ai about the use of artist names and pseudonyms. & so you can see that:
Claude, may I ask how legally binding it is if I use "bennoH." (your artist name/pseudonym) in the name entry in the license, which is merely an unprotected artist synonym, i.e., my artist name. I do maintain a website where this name is called "bennoH." or various forum accounts under bennoH., or the name appears on my Vimeo or YouTube account. Is that sufficient to take action in the event of a dispute?
Yes, "bennoH." A stage name is legally valid and can be used as such, but there are important points to consider:
Legal basis:
Stage names are generally protected by the right to a name according to Section 12 of the German Civil Code (BGB) Wikipedia
Your evidence is good:
Website with the name: ✅ Strong evidence
Forum accounts: ✅ Documented use
Vimeo/YouTube: ✅ Public use
Continuous use: ✅ Demonstrates an established identity
Critical point for legal enforcement:
With pseudonyms, it must be verifiable to which person the pseudonym belongs. Attorney-at-law-gessner-berlin
I myself have first introduced the license in these works as you can see there:
https://editor.isf.video/shaders/68548b88932476001a3a2606/
https://editor.isf.video/shaders/684de4d1932476001a39be25/
So I would very much like you to have your say and of course you are also welcome to use the license directly and post links to works where you have directly contributed them.
Discussion (2)
@bennoh if I understand this correctly, then it's largely to let people play isf shaders freely but not turn them to video ..?
This is quite specific proposal as a whole. How would we describe case scenarios for its use? I'm trying to understand full picture here ..
If you are firm on this vision ..go for it. I'm still trying to process it atm
No, you haven't read my explanation closely enough. It's about much more than that. Use in games, whether free or commercial, or integration in commercial software products or inclusion in commercial software products is prohibited by my license text. But these video loop shops and profiteers are definitely a thorn in my side, it undermines the VJs' desire to generate content themselves, it supports easy access for music DJs to visual content so that they can also create visuals on the side and on top of that you often see more or less the same visuals in lots of places, that has little to do with being creative and I can actually even admit that I have developed a real hatred for video loop producers in the meantime, and finally it must be added that using video loops in VJing compared to shader code is ecological nonsense, using video loops uses a lot more power which also creates a lot more heat and our planet cannot tolerate that at the moment but that is just the icing on the cake as to why my license proposal could be very advantageous in the VJing environment. Rather, it's about platforms like Shadertoy moving away from their nonsensical, standard, automatic allocation of a "CC BY-NC-SA 3.0," which make the shaders completely unusable for VJs, as it then prohibits them from being used at standart, i.e., commercial, events. My licensing approach leaves a door open for creatives privats and closes it for rip-off companis and satch, to put it briefly. It's an improved version of "CC BY-NC-SA 3.0" that simply excludes any commercial use. VJs don't earn a fortune, but software developers & compani owners sometimes do, and they need to be excluded from free use. Not tarred with the same brush all users. People who contribute to the creative development of the scene as individuals or small groups should be supported and encouraged, and platforms like Shadertoy or others like them should not give the impression that they don't see the rampant growth that their behavior is partly responsible for. There are so many software products that allow shaders to be loaded into the VJ tool via web link and no one seems to believe that the VJs are interested in the respective licensing, which is understandable even if not worthy of support. Nevertheless, I must also mention that uploading code to platforms like Shadertoy is essentially a direct invitation to free use, as access is so easy and insecure - even intentionally so - that it shouldn't be surprising if there is rampant growth in use.
My approach would eliminate some gray areas and cause more benefit than harm all round - It can be a way to a more open and therefore more honest future.