Public Domain Music Recordings: Basic Licensing Information
When a music recording is classified to belong in the “public domain”, it means that there is no underlying copyright protection of the music recording. In other words, although the music recording has an author or creator, the copyright protection offered by law (the copyright law) does not anymore apply to works belonging to public domain.
According to copyright law, the term of copyright can last up to 50 years from the time the work has been created. More than 50 years, if the author or the copyright holder will not renew the copyright protection/ registration in the government offices, then the work is classified as belonging to “public domain”.
So how do you know if the music recording is now belonging to “public domain”?, you need to know the music recording licensing information. These information can provide you the following important details:
1. Author/Creator
2. Songwriter (if it is a song)
3. Years copyrighted
4. Performer
5. Title
You need to have these information at hand before you can research further if the music recording is now belonging to public domain. If you do not have the above information, then you cannot be sure that the music is now in public domain. And it is not safe to assume “it is” just because you visit public domain websites offering music downloads, you need to obtain that information for clearing and documentation purposes.
There are a lot of lawsuits because of the so called “public domain” assumption. So you can legally protect yourself having those above information.
So what are you going to do if you have already the 5 important information? The next step is verification, you can either go to www.copyright.gov and do some research about the underlying copyright.
The exact URL is: http://www.copyright.gov/search/
What you are going to see next is a search form for the Library of Congress Public catalog. You need to click on “Other search options”, now you have the form, you can enter any of the above information obtained about the underlying music recording. For example, you can enter the surname of the creator, songwriter or even the title of the work.
For example purposes, say someone is interested to know my catalog whether it belongs to public domain, and they will enter my surname in the box.
Then in the search result, they will click “Emerson Roble Maningo Song Catalog”, and hence you have this following information obtained:
Date of Creation: 2008
Date of Publication: 2009-01-01
Nation of First Publication: United States
If the current year is 2010, then the work is still not considered belonging to public domain. Only after 2008 + 50 = 2058 then the work will be considered belonging to public domain. But since this catalog will pass to my heirs and renewing the copyright protection, the chances of belonging to public domain is impossible.
