[pd-discuss] Music in the Public Domain

Mon May 7 22:52:40 UTC 2012

On 7 May 2012 20:06, Adam Green <adam.green at okfn.org> wrote:
> Maarten - I understood it differently. I thought that copyright still
> applying to the lyrics, music etc of a recording made more than 50
> years ago only restricted the covering of the song - not the actual
> redistribution of the recording. ... (or else what would be the point
> of the distinction between the recording copyright and the
> lyrics/music copyright, and why all the fuss by The Beatles, Bono,
> Cliff Ricard etc to get the copyright term extended?)

No, that's wrong. Existence of authorial copyright also prevents
distribution. It is still a big deal for recording copyright to expire
though because it means you only need to pay the authorial copyright
cost -- usually much less -- and can often do this via a collecting
society. So people with recording copyright (esp music companies and
"star" artists) lobby hard to keep recording copyright in place.

You can read much more here (from our original discussions in 2005-2006):

<http://wiki.okfn.org/Working_Groups/publicdomain/pdw/law/guide>

> Rufus - any idea when this extension of 50 years to 70 years is due to
> come into effect?

I'd need to check. I note that IIRC correctly it is retrospective for
works that have not yet entered the PD but won't cover works *already*
in the PD (e.g. Glenn Gould's goldberg variations will remain PD ...).

Rufus

> On 7 May 2012 19:29, Maarten Zeinstra <mz at kl.nl> wrote:
>> 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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>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Sam Leon
>> Community Coordinator
>> Open Knowledge Foundation
>> http://okfn.org/
>> Twitter: @noeL_maS
>> Skype: samedleon
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Adam Green
>
> Editor, The Public Domain Review
> http://publicdomainreview.org/
>
> The Open Knowledge Foundation
> http://okfn.org/
>
>
> --
> Adam Green
>
> Editor, The Public Domain Review
> http://publicdomainreview.org/
>
> The Open Knowledge Foundation
> http://okfn.org/
>
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Promoting Open Knowledge in a Digital Age
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