Finding public domain music

[solarblast]

It seems a tricky matter to find recorded music in the public domain for making DVDs. I may have found one such source, Pavilion's Pearl music distributor. However, I'm not sure I didn't get the only such recording. Any ideas on getting such material? Some so-called royalty free sites I've visited have some catch that requires a good bit of bucks. My needs are pretty simple. I occasionally make movies for viewing by friends. Definitely a hobby, but with no business interests.

[jagabo]

If you are looking for out-of-copyright professionally recorded music -- there won't be any until 2067:

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

You will only find recordings that have been intentionally give to the public domain. I've seen many sites with free music for personal use. But they all require a license for commercial use. It's not clear where your use falls. Start here:

http://www.archive.org/details/audio

[solarblast]

In the case I cited, the music, classical, was made in the 30s. Your math suggests that some 50 years are covered by copyrights. That would account for my find. I would think though music from the 40s and 50s would be freely available now.

[budwzr]

The only way to be totally safe and legal is to learn to use "loop" based software and make your own.

I think "Fair Use" allows you to use music you've purchased in a non-commercial personal-use production. The stickler would be "public performance".

There's a special satisfaction that comes with making all original content. Then NOBODY can sully your work claiming it's a derivative.

[jagabo]

In the case I cited, the music, classical, was made in the 30s. Your math suggests that some 50 years are covered by copyrights. That would account for my find. I would think though music from the 40s and 50s would be freely available now.

In the USA no audio recording will come out of Copyright until 2067. Sound recordings are currently protected for 95 years. Anything recorded before 1972 has its recording date fixed at 1972 by law. In theory, Thomas Edison's 1877 recording of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" will be covered by Copyright until 2067. And before then Copyright will probably be extended again. So it's likely no recording ever made will ever come out of Copyright in the USA.

[zoobie]

Yep...they renew the copyright
IMO, I don't think anything really happens until they smell money

For private use, I use anything I want...including my own

[jman98]

solarblast - Some years ago in the early 2000s Naxos Records put out a late 1930s recording by Pablo Casals of Bach's Cello Suite in the USA. Capitol Records sued them as they own the US copyrights to the recordings in question. A district court in New York issued an absolutely bizarre ruling that basically said that EVERY recording EVER made in the USA, including Edison's stuff that was in the 1800s, are STILL under copyright. Their justification was that "common law" allowed perpetual copyrights as in "forever" and that it was only with passage of various copyright acts by Congress that the "forever" term became set at a specific number of years. It's an absolutely bizarre example of the court basically making up the law as they go but Naxos lost a lot of money on the case and just basically went "Screw it" and failed to appeal as they didn't feel like spending any more money. They just simply pulled their public domain recording reissues out of the USA. So technically speaking as jagabo says EVERY musical recording in the USA is considered under copyright because Naxos failed to appeal the verdict and the ruling stands.

Laws in other countries are quite different. There's an ongoing attempt to change EU copyright to cover the Beatles (their earliest recordings will enter the public domain in 2012 otherwise) and other early 60s groups by extending it beyond 50 years, but it's unclear if it will pass or not. No such consideration was given to 1950s artists so for example all of Elvis Presley's pre-1961 recordings are in the public domain in the UK.

Note that motion pictures are accorded no such help as given to the music industry and while no films are likely to enter the public domain for decades, if ever, there are public domain films right now and no US court has ever made up law to retroactively copyright them again.

zoobie - NOBODY renews ANY copyrights any more. Sonny Bono's law allows for AUTOMATIC FREE (!!!) copyright renewal for everything. It's one thing to allow them to renew, but can you imagine how much money the US government has pissed away by this law? If those copyrights are so damn valuable then why aren't they being paid for? It's no coincidence that Sonny himself happened to benefit from this law as he wrote and his estate now owns the copyright on various songs which still bring in some money.

[Munster1]

http://incompetech.com is a royalty free music site run by a composer called Kevin MacLeod. All of his music can be used under a creative commons licence. In practice it means as long as he is given a credit for the music you don't have to pay him any fee. If you don't give credit then fees apply. The site gives more details. He also has a public domain music site.

[Soixante]

http://freeplaymusic.com/

[Calidore]

Does this mean that old-time radio recordings are no longer considered public domain?

[jagabo]

Does this mean that old-time radio recordings are no longer considered public domain?

In the USA, yes.

[solarblast]

Freeplay. I'll give them a call tomorrow. Same with <http://www.archive.org/details/audio>

"There's a special satisfaction that comes with making all original content." I can whistle. I think Vegas has some diy music (not vocal) s/w. Forgot the name.

[intracube]

I was wondering what the legal situation is with websites that provide 'copyright free'/'royalty free' tracks while simultaneously requiring the user to obtain a license to use their music.

Some of these sites provide decent quality samplers. What would happen if I took one of these tracks and used it on a personal YouTube video, for example.

They can't exactly claim copyright infringement as they've already stated their music is 'copyright free'.

Hmm.

[budwzr]

I think Vegas has some diy music (not vocal) s/w. Forgot the name.

That would be Cinescore. No longer available though, I think it tanked. It was loop based only, no midi.

These music generating softwares are kind of like the GNU philosophy in that the output is free to use, not the loops themselves.

Cinescore was an attempt by Sony(SCS) to introduce the concept of loop music to videomakers. Apparently, editing video and making music are disparate functions though. Editors are geeky and musicians are funky.

Whoever wants to free themselves of the copyright police and keep a good-standing YouTube account eventually has to dabble into loop music.

For speech synthesis I use http://mary.dfki.de:59125/

It's free AFAIK. This is the only way I know of to make vocals other than recording yourself or someone else.

[solarblast]

If you are looking for out-of-copyright professionally recorded music -- there won't be any until 2067:

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

You will only find recordings that have been intentionally give to the public domain. I've seen many sites with free music for personal use. But they all require a license for commercial use. It's not clear where your use falls. Start here:

http://www.archive.org/details/audio

Well, I played around with some of the sources suggested here, but the archive.org was a real puzzler. I called them, and could get virtually no help from the attendant. I have no idea why they have anyone answering the phone, if that's the case.

I wandered around on their site for awhile, and it seemed filled with archives of about everything. Possibly even music. I think I'll give it a shot again today. Any comments about the site generally?