Published on Wed Jun 17 2026 17:13:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) by Doctor Tarantism
The FU License Drafts Are Now Online
One of the recurring themes on Divide By None is that technological progress often outpaces the institutions that surround it.
In recent years, independent creators have gained access to tools that would have seemed extraordinary only a decade ago. Small teams can now create films, music, animation, games, and visual effects at a level that was once reserved for large studios. Production is becoming cheaper. Distribution is becoming easier.
Discoverability remains difficult. A brilliant film that nobody sees is still invisible. A great song that never finds its way into a film remains unheard.
A reaction creator who genuinely wants to support independent artists still faces uncertainty about what they can and cannot safely use.
The FU License project began as an attempt to explore whether some of those problems could be addressed through licensing rather than technology alone.
The project currently consists of two draft licences:
The film licence is designed to allow filmmakers to explicitly authorize full-length reaction videos under a clear framework.
The music licence is designed to help songwriters place selected tracks into independent films and other qualifying projects without the friction of individual sync negotiations.
Together, the licences attempt to create a small ecosystem where filmmakers, songwriters, and reaction creators can collaborate more easily while still preserving long-term incentives and ownership.
One concept that appears throughout the project is grandfathering. The basic idea is that creators should be able to rely on permissions that were granted in good faith. If a filmmaker invests time and money into a project, or if a reaction creator builds content around a licensed work, those rights should not disappear simply because someone later changes their mind.
Whether the current drafts achieve that goal is an open question. That is one of the reasons the licences are being published now.
These documents should be viewed as working drafts rather than finished legal instruments. Over the coming months I intend to seek legal advice, gather feedback from creators, and refine the framework based on what I learn. Some provisions may change substantially. Others may disappear entirely. New licence tiers may emerge. Certain assumptions may prove incorrect.
That is normal. Good ideas rarely emerge fully formed. They evolve through criticism, testing, and revision.
For now, our goal is simply to make the ideas public so they can be discussed.
If you are a filmmaker, songwriter, reaction creator, lawyer, or simply someone interested in how independent creative ecosystems might evolve, I would welcome your feedback.
The current drafts can be found here:
This is the beginning of a conversation, not the end of one.
Written by Doctor Tarantism
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