My friend released a hip hop mixtape recently, and we all know what that means about legality and licensing. However, his vocal parts are clearly 100% his. So would those a capellas be suitable for a CC license?

I’ve never ran into this problem before, so I thought it would be a good idea to turn to you guys! Thanks.

Now I am not a lawyer, so let’s get that out of the way. :)

I suppose that would depend: if what is on the audio patently doesn’t derive from other sources (i.e. the melody, the lyrics, or other copyrightable elements of song structure) then I don’t see why not.

On the other hand, if the hook is “Every Breath You Take” reworded and resung, or something, definitely not OK for a CC license.