Royalty free music question

M

Mr-Joe

Well-known member
Hi,
Would anyone know if there is there a certain date where all music created before... say 1940 is royalty free, or needs no permission?

Isn't there a law after so many years it is public domain or something like that?

Please excuse me for my ignorance in this matter.
 
Mr-Joe said:
Hi,
Would anyone know if there is there a certain date where all music created before... say 1940 is royalty free, or needs no permission?

Isn't there a law after so many years it is public domain or something like that?

Please excuse me for my ignorance in this matter.
Click to expand...

There is, I believe it's 1922. But a recording has its own copyright that's independent of the music copyright, so if you want to use The Star Spangled Banner (public domain) as recorded last year by the Boston Pops (copyrighted recording) you'll still need to deal with licensing. Of course if you perform and record the anthem yourself, no worries.
 
Hi Mr-Joe,

As an aside, just because a song is nationally sung, it doesn't mean it is or is not copyrighted. For instance "God Bless America" was copyrighted in 1938 and is still in force:

http://www.answers.com/topic/god-bless-america

As far as the first date copyrights enjoyed protection in the United States, I believe it was around 1929 or 1930 (I recall hearing Disney helped push through legislation). If you need an exact date, see:

http://www.copyright.gov/title17/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Act_of_1976

Good luck, Michael
 
Thanks Steve, Thanks Moonlitnight,

I looked into this, Steve is correct, The Sheet music or notes and compositions created before 1922 are public domain, but recordings are not.

I did find this site that takes donations to pay a performer to record public domain compositions and then It appears that they make the recording public domain as well:

http://www.musopen.com/music.html
 
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