Public Domain Music - Public Domain Music

Music is considered to be in the public domain if it meets any of the following criteria:

• all rights have expired
• the authors have explicitly put a work into the public domain
• there never were copyrights.

In the U.S., any musical works published before 1922, in addition to those voluntarily placed in public domain, exist in the public domain. In most other countries, music generally enters the public domain in a period of fifty to seventy-five years after the artists' death. (Public domain rights must be verified for each individual country.) It is important to note the distinction between "musical works" (sheet music and other compositions) and "sound recordings" (audio files, CDs, records), as virtually all sound recordings will not fall into public domain until 2067, unless explicitly placed into the public domain by its creators or made by an employee or officer of the United States Government acting under their official duty.

If a piece of music does not fall within public domain and is under copyright, then it is unlawful to:

• reproduce its music or lyrics
• perform the music or lyrics in public
• distribute the music or lyrics (for free, for non-profit, or for profit)
• play a recording of the music or lyrics in public without copyright access
• create a version of the music for public use of any form

Note that under compulsory license laws, some of these actions may in fact be lawful, but the infringing party would then be liable for any royalty the copyright holder may charge for the use of their work.

For more information on general public domain, see Public Domain.

Sources/Projects

Inherently, all historical musical works (pre-1922) are public domain. Classical sheet music, for example, is widely available for free use and reproduction. Some more current works are also available for free use through public works projects such as Internet Archive. This and similar projects aim to preserve and make readily available thousands of public domain music files, many of which have been recorded by projects dedicated to recording music for public use.

The Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization created for the purpose of housing the public domain. The Commons allows copyright owners to dedicate their works to the public domain either immediately or, with the "Founders' Copyright" (originally created in the first copyright law in 1970), can obtain an exclusive license for 14 or 28 years (if renewed) of copyright protection in exchange for selling their work to the Commons for one dollar after that protection has expired. Copyright owners can fill out an online application at https://creativecommons.org/ in order to apply.

Public domain musical works and recordings can be loaded onto the Wikimedia Commons website.

Classical sheet music, for example, is widely available for free use and reproduction. Some more current works are also available for free use through public works projects such as Internet Archive. This and similar projects aim to preserve and make readily available thousands of public domain music files, many of which have been recorded by projects dedicated to recording music for public use.

Music on the Creative Commons:

Copyrights

For music the involved rights are:

• authors (composers, lyricists) - e.g. CISAC members, AR:SADAIC DE:GEMA GB:PRS US:SESAC BMI ASCAP
• performer
  • mechanical rights e.g. BIEM members (mechanical rights collecting societies) AR:SADAIC DE:GEMA GB:MCPS US:HARRY-FOX
    • BIEM is the international organisation representing mechanical rights societies. Mechanical rights societies exist in most countries. They license the reproduction of songs (including musical, literary and dramatic works). Their members are composers, authors and publishers and their clients are record companies and other users of recorded music. They also license mechanical aspects of the downloading of music via the Internet
  • live performance DE:de:GVL
• publisher e.g. IFPI members AR:CAPIF, US:RIAA