Is Beethoven music royalty free?

[cb1]

I know it depends on the copy of the song, but lets say I used a midi of a Beethoven song in a commercial, would that be copyrighted? What are some well known classical songs that are royalty free?

 

[KevinP]

The composition would be out of copyright but the recording may not be. If you create your own recording of a classical piece you would own the copyright to that recording.

 

[ryvac]

just make it in garageband

 

[alignment1]

• Works published in the United States with a copyright date of 1922 or earlier are in the public domain in the United States.

http://www.pdinfo.com/copyrt.php

 

[4100xpb]

NewHPXuser has it right. The music itself is out of copyright, but pretty much any recording you find of it will still be under copyright, including those midi files you found. However, if you make a new recording of it, then you own the copyright to that specific recording.

 

[youngindiefilms]

NewHPXuser has it right. The music itself is out of copyright, but pretty much any recording you find of it will still be under copyright, including those midi files you found. However, if you make a new recording of it, then you own the copyright to that specific recording.

To get this even more to the point. You may assume that the midi file he has is not the original composition but a arrangement / slight variation (for whatever reason). Unless you have the original sheet music and you can compare it to the midi file to make sure it's same you can't use it, well you can but you don't know for sure you are legally allowed to do so.

...oh... and how again does that go into DVX100 forum? Come on people.

 

[Jordan_S]

[...]
...oh... and how again does that go into DVX100 forum? Come on people.

Everyone knows that the DVX's mysterious clicking noise is under strict copyright.