[Dixielandjazz] Public Domain Information

[Stephen Barbone]

For those budding recording artists who wish to learn more about
"copyright" and "public domain" as it relates to the music business, the
following web site will be helpful:

http://www.pdinfo.com/list/s.htm

Just click on everything on the site. It will keep you busy for days.
Even has a list of some 3500 Public Domain songs. It also affirms
earlier postings that EVERYTHING PUBLISHED in 1922 or prior is now in
the public domain. However, if someone takes a PD song and modifies it,
that modification, of melody and/or lyric can be copyrighted.

However, it appears that chord progressions cannot be copyrighted. Hence
the re-write of new tunes on existing chord progressions.

One of the interesting bits of information on the site is Elvis
Presley's "Love Me Tender". The tune is "Aura Lee" and in the public
domain so you can play it. However, his lyrics were added and
copyrighted, so you can't sing them without royalties being due.

Another is the re-write of the lyrics to :"Shine". The original "That's
Why They Call Me Shine", song and lyrics are PD having been written in
1910. However, the "Shine Your Shoesies" lyric written after 1922 is
protected by US Copyright Laws.

Also, generally speaking, it affirms that the copyright laws regarding
music are so tangled up that it is virtually impossible to state with
certainty whether or not some songs written after 1922 are under
copyright. People who ask for "positive proof" from a reliable source
are whistling in the wind. And each Country has different copyright
laws.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone

PS. Perhaps the best source for copyrighted song lists would be to get
the files sent to Napster by Sony, etc. Some 150,000 songs were listed
as being under copyright protection by the various companies seeking to
take their free distribution off the internet.