Freedom Worth Protecting
Alabaster Commons exists so valuable creative work can be freely received, shared, translated, adapted, and multiplied.
But freedom can disappear if the next person closes what was freely given.
Alabaster Copyright uses open licensing to protect both the creator and the continuing freedom of the work.
Why Protect Something You Want to Give Away?
Because free and unprotected are not the same thing.
A creator can freely offer a song, book, translation, recording, or teaching resource—and still clearly identify who created it.
Others can be given extraordinary freedom to use that work—and still be required to preserve that freedom when they build upon it.
Alabaster Copyright is designed around both ideas:
Honor the source.
Protect the freedom.
The goal is not to control how far a work travels.
The goal is to help it travel farther without losing the freedom with which it was first given.
Built on Creative Commons
Alabaster Copyright uses the Creative Commons Attribution–ShareAlike 4.0 International License, commonly called CC BY-SA 4.0.
Creative Commons provides the established legal framework.
Alabaster Copyright expresses the heart behind why we use it.
Together, they allow creators to retain authorship while giving others broad freedom to share, translate, adapt, record, build upon, and redistribute participating works.
Alabaster Copyright is the invitation.
CC BY-SA 4.0 provides the legal framework.
What Can I Do With It?
If a work is released under CC BY-SA 4.0, users are generally free to:
Copy it. Send it. Post it. Print it. Distribute it.
Use the work in churches, ministries, small groups, classrooms, events, recordings, media, and other settings.
Carry the work into another language.
Arrange it. Rewrite or modify it. Create a new version. Build upon it.
Where the licensed work and rights permit, create your own performance or recording.
Pass it on so others can receive and build upon it too.
These freedoms are broad.
They are intentionally broad.
CC BY-SA 4.0 allows people to share and adapt licensed material for any purpose, including commercial purposes, as long as the terms of the license are followed.
Two Simple Commitments
Honor where the work came from.
Give appropriate credit to the creator and identify the license.
If you changed the work, say that you changed it.
Attribution preserves the creative lineage of the work.
Pass on the freedom you received.
If you create and share an adaptation of the licensed work, your contribution must remain available under the same CC BY-SA framework or another compatible license permitted by the license.
You received the freedom to build upon someone else’s work.
ShareAlike means the next person receives that freedom too.
Attribution Can Be Simple
Attribution does not need to dominate the work.
It simply needs to reasonably identify the creator and the license, and indicate when changes have been made.
Depending upon the medium, this might appear in a book’s copyright page, song credits, video credits, website footer, recording metadata, description, or linked credits page.
Created by [Creator Name]
Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
AlabasterCommons.org
Adapted by [Adapter Name].
Changes were made.
Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Why ShareAlike?
Imagine receiving something freely, building upon it—and then preventing everyone else from doing what you were allowed to do.
The chain of freedom would stop with you.
ShareAlike keeps that from happening.
If you share an adaptation of a CC BY-SA work, the adaptation must preserve the same kind of freedom for those who receive it.
Freedom received becomes freedom passed on.
Can It Be Used Commercially?
Yes.
CC BY-SA 4.0 does not prohibit commercial use.
A licensed work may be shared or adapted for commercial as well as noncommercial purposes, provided the license requirements are followed.
Don’t Close What You Received Open
You may build upon what was freely given.
You may not use your version to take the same freedom away from everyone else.
What Is Not Included?
The CC BY-SA license applies only to material specifically released under that license.
Examples of possible exclusions: Scripture translations, photographs, artwork, fonts, logos and trademarks, quotations, licensed recordings, stock media, and other third-party material.
Always check the licensing notice attached to the individual work.
Scripture Notice
Where Scripture quotations come from copyrighted Bible translations, those quotations remain subject to the rights and permissions of their respective publishers.
They are not automatically relicensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 simply because they appear inside an Alabaster Commons work.
Alabaster Copyright
This work is offered in the spirit of the alabaster jar—freely poured out for the glory of Jesus and the strengthening of His people.
Our desire is that it be freely shared, translated, adapted, built upon, and multiplied while preserving the same freedom for others.
Except where otherwise noted, original content is licensed under the:
Creative Commons Attribution–ShareAlike 4.0 International License
(CC BY-SA 4.0).
Third-party material is not included under this license unless otherwise stated.
Freely received. Freely poured out. Free forever.The Goal Is Multiplication
A song written in one language can become worship in another.
A book written in one culture can be adapted for another.
A teaching resource can be translated by someone the original author may never meet.
A musician can create a new arrangement.
A church can carry a resource into a community the creator may never reach.
A new creator can build upon an old work and give something new back to the Commons.
Not control.
Not scarcity.
Multiplication.
Give Credit. Then Keep Creating.
Attribution is not merely a legal requirement.
It also tells the story of how creativity travels.
The credits become a map of multiplication.
Heaven’s Sound
Heaven’s Sound is one of the first major works being released through Alabaster Commons.
The book, audio, songs, translations, and future adaptations demonstrate what a protected commons can make possible.
Read the License
This page is intended to explain the Alabaster Commons approach in understandable language.
The actual legal permissions and requirements are governed by the Creative Commons Attribution–ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This page is a practical explanation of how Alabaster Commons uses CC BY-SA 4.0. It is not a substitute for the terms of the license itself and is not legal advice.