# Public Domain Recordings



## jtilton (Aug 23, 2018)

I'm looking to start a podcast and would like to include some classical music in the intros. I know that most of the works written are in public domain, however it can be tricky to find recordings that fit this category as well. Does anyone have a place they like to go for public domain recordings that's both free to listen to and free to use?


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

> There are NO Sound Recordings in the Public Domain in the USA.
> 
> Songs and Musical Works have always been protected under U.S. federal copyright law. But sound recordings and records were so new and rare in the early 1900s, they were not included in the Copyright Act of 1909. Until 1976, sound recordings were protected by a hodge-podge tangle of state, county, and city laws. Many state and local laws included sound recordings under common law, which meant that ownership was forever and, unlike copyright protection, ownership of a sound recording would NEVER expire.
> 
> The Copyright Act of 1976 created a copyright category called Sound Recordings that now provides federal copyright protection for CD's, MP3's, WAV files, records, and other music recordings made after February 15, 1972. These Sound Recordings receive copyright protection for 70 years after the death of the last surviving author. But the Copyright Act of 1976 and the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act left copyright protection for sound recordings fixed or published before February 15, 1972, remaining under state law until 2067.


https://www.pdinfo.com/copyright-law/public-domain-sound-recordings.php

There are however a ton of recordings in what's called "library music." Once you purchase a copy of the recording, you're free to use it in any production you wish, without attribution and without royalty payments.


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## jtilton (Aug 23, 2018)

Very interesting. Thanks for the reply. I hadn't known that about copyright law as it relates to sound recordings. I have seen different free libraries, including this one https://musopen.org -- I had assumed that they were public domain recordings, but now I see they must qualify for other reasons.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

The sheet music may be in "the public domain" but thanks to Sonny any recordings of it are not.

Library music or production music comes in all different flavors and genres, but of course none of it is well-known or famous. Surprisingly, a lot of very well-known musicians have contributed to the library because they get paid up-front.


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## smithson (Dec 6, 2018)

jtilton said:


> Very interesting. Thanks for the reply. I hadn't known that about copyright law as it relates to sound recordings. I have seen different free libraries, including this one https://musopen.org -- I had assumed that they were public domain recordings, but now I see they must qualify for other reasons.


There are two Musopen collections of recordings that are in the public domain because they were recorded with that intention. These should be able to be used with podcasts, etc.:

https://archive.org/details/MusopenCollectionAsFlac
https://archive.org/details/musopen-chopin

Also, if you set the "license" filter on the Musopen search results to "Public Domain", you should be able to find more public domain audio they have recorded. It will say "PD CC" under the license field to indicate a recording is in the public domain: https://musopen.org/music/?license=CC-PD


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## Mark Dee (Feb 16, 2021)

I'm not sure if this is correct but the music on classiccat.net is free to download. As to its 'public domain' status, that you would have to check.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

There is some music on Internet Archive that is free to download. I think they state something about the legality aspect.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

Heh, the first composer I looked at, under classiccat.net, was Aaron Copland. They showed three pieces available for download. I chose "Old American Songs" because I wasn't sure what that is.



> *Performer:*
> 
> Fountain Valley High School


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Someone can correct this or clarify - but apparently there's an awful lot of music on LP that fell into public domain. There are several companies (mostly old white guys in their basement) who transfer LPs to digital media and it's perfectly legal. I have a bunch of those taken from early Mercury Living Presence LPS - some great Paray otherwise not available. And some Westminster records were handled this way. I don't know the particulars of why some recordings are in PD and others not.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Public domain laws vary widely across the world. Without knowing where the OP is planning to host the Podcast, it is difficult to be of any help. For instance, although I'm Dutch residing in the Netherlands, my blog, hosted on Google's Blogger, falls under US copyright laws. Talk Classical, hosted on servers in Denmark, falls under Danish copyright law (which is different again from general European Union copyright law).


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

mbhaub said:


> There are several companies who transfer LPs to digital media and it's perfectly legal.


It may be perfectly legal to do it for yourself, but based on the above copyright link, it might not be legal to sell.

That said, classical music -- especially old classical music that's out of print -- might be such a small market that lawsuits wouldn't make any sense.


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## jtilton (Aug 23, 2018)

Art Rock said:


> Public domain laws vary widely across the world. Without knowing where the OP is planning to host the Podcast, it is difficult to be of any help. For instance, although I'm Dutch residing in the Netherlands, my blog, hosted on Google's Blogger, falls under US copyright laws. Talk Classical, hosted on servers in Denmark, falls under Danish copyright law (which is different again from general European Union copyright law).


I'm in the US. I'm looking into the options on MusOpen, but I think in the end I will probably go with someone I know who records his own music for the show. That will clear up any issues and be a good way to support my friend as well. But I'm definitely still interested in the answer to the original question, as it's something I wonder from time to time for various reasons.

Thanks everyone for sharing their knowledge on this.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Or . . . you could simply get a license to play any music registered. Just a cost of doing business.

Venues that host a variety of different types of events just do this . . . they are covered whether it's a concert, open mic night, cabaret, or whatever.

https://www.ascap.com/music-users

In general, expect it'll cost $35/month.


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## Oldhoosierdude (May 29, 2016)

mbhaub said:


> Someone can correct this or clarify - but apparently there's an awful lot of music on LP that fell into public domain. There are several companies (mostly old white guys in their basement) who transfer LPs to digital media and it's perfectly legal. I have a bunch of those taken from early Mercury Living Presence LPS - some great Paray otherwise not available. And some Westminster records were handled this way. I don't know the particulars of why some recordings are in PD and others not.


There are so many things I want to say here ...


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