Commercial use of content licensed under "Creative Commons License Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0"?

Question

I am trying to find a music track for my Android game. It's a free game but includes ads.

I found a good music on this site. As per the FAQs and the licensing terms (Creative Commons License Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0), I can include this music in my application without any paid subscription as long as I give the owner credit (which I am totally okay with). But I can't find any reference about whether I can use the music, if I have commercial gains (through ads) from the software/app.

So, can anyone tell me if I am allowed to add these musics in my app?

Answer 1

Yes, you can use content released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported license in a commercial application. According to the legal code and the human-readable summary, commercial use is not restricted.

The only clause that may cause concern is the NoDerivs clause, which states that "if you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material". Specifically, this part of the legal code:

For the avoidance of doubt, where the Work is a musical work, performance or phonogram, the synchronization of the Work in timed-relation with a moving image ("synching") will be considered an Adaptation for the purpose of this License.

Your use of the music in your game may be considered a derivative work, causing you to violate the license.

However, the licensing page that you linked to also does say that you can use the music in software (which includes video games) with appropriate credit.

My recommendation would be to contact the author and get the information before going forward. There appears to be a contradiction between the license text and what the author is indicating on the site. I would adhere to the license text unless permission is granted otherwise.