[pd-discuss] Music in the Public Domain

Mon May 7 17:29:10 UTC 2012

Yes, you cannot freely distribute the song unless all layers of copyright have expired. Outofcopyright.eu has the following to say about sound recordings (in the UK) that are public domain:

"Copyright in the sound recording has expired. Please note that a single item might be protected by multiple layers of rights. You may need to apply the Public Domain Calculator again to examine whether additional rights apply, such as copyright protection in any underlying literary or artistic work or performers’ rights in any performance that may be fixated in the sound recording."

So this deals with the lyrics, sheet music, artwork, etc.

Cheers,

Maarten

Kennisland | Knowledgeland

t +31205756720 | m +31643053919 | s mzeinstra
www.kennisland.nl | www.knowledgeland.org

On May 7, 2012, at 19:07 , Sam Leon wrote:

> Thanks for the responses guys. I'm still trying to get my head round all of this.
> 
> @Maarten -- do you mean to say that one is not free to redistribute a recording if the authorial copyright has not expired? This would render any song written by Sister Rosetta Tharpe not in the public domain.
> 
> However, the song that I linked to ("Down By The River Side") and many others recorded by Rosetta Tharpe are traditional gospel songs, so this shouldn't matter too much even if it turns out to be true.
> 
> Sam
> 
> On Mon, May 7, 2012 at 4:40 PM, Maarten Zeinstra <mz at kl.nl> wrote:
> Also,
> 
> Even if the recording is in the public domain, does not mean that the lyrics and notes are in the public domain. You do not have the rights to distribute a song where only the recording is public domain.
> 
> Best,
> 
> Maarten
> 
> Kennisland | Knowledgeland
> 
> t +31205756720 | m +31643053919 | s mzeinstra
> www.kennisland.nl | www.knowledgeland.org
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On May 7, 2012, at 17:17 , Rufus Pollock wrote:
> 
> > On 7 May 2012 16:10, Sam Leon <sam.leon at okfn.org> wrote:
> >> Dear All,
> >>
> >> Quick question -- copyright for musical recordings made within the EU
> >> expires after 50 years, but what about music that was recorded in the US?
> >
> > Origin does not matter. BTW in the EU it will soon be 70 years due to
> > the recent extension.
> >
> >> Are, for instance, Sister Rosetta Tharpe's US recordings from 1948,
> >> available on the archive.org, available for free re-use within Europe?
> >
> > Yes - though IANAL etc. Also remember songs have both recording and
> > authorial copyright in them.
> >
> > There used to be a long FAQ about all of this on, I thought,
> > publicdomain.okfn.org based on our analysis of all of this for Elvis'
> > That's Alright (done back in 2005-2006) but I'm not able to find this
> > right now.
> >
> > Rufus
> >
> >> Advice much appreciated, as I'm due to be curating some of this amazing
> >> vocalists songs for a website in the coming weeks.
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >> Sam
> >>
> >> --
> >> Sam Leon
> >> Community Coordinator
> >> Open Knowledge Foundation
> >> http://okfn.org/
> >> Twitter: @noeL_maS
> >> Skype: samedleon
> >>
> >>
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> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Co-Founder, Open Knowledge Foundation
> > Promoting Open Knowledge in a Digital Age
> > http://www.okfn.org/ - http://blog.okfn.org/
> >
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> 
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> 
> 
> -- 
> Sam Leon 
> Community Coordinator
> Open Knowledge Foundation 
> http://okfn.org/
> Twitter: @noeL_maS
> Skype: samedleon
> 
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