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Determining Copyright vs. Public Domain Status of a Piece

Discussion in 'Tips, Tricks & Talk' started by Paul Poole, Apr 3, 2020.

  1. #1 Paul Poole, Apr 3, 2020
    What is the most reliable way of determining the status of a piece of music with respect to whether it is or is not in the public domain. I vaguely recall it was 50 years after the composer died, but then sometimes a composer doesn't own the copyright. Is there a database for this sort of thing, or what?
     
  2. #2 Aaron Venture, Apr 4, 2020
    Here's a breakdown by country. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries'_copyright_lengths

    You can also find the list of composers entering the public domain by year here. https://logosfoundation.org/copyleft/public_domain_composers.html

    Anything sooner, your best bet would be to inquire about it at various licencing agencies. HFA/Songfile, EasySongLicencing etc. Stravinsky died in 1971, but when I inquired about a mechanical licence for Rite of Spring, I was told it was in the public domain.
     
  3. #3 Paul Poole, Apr 4, 2020
    Thank you much. Will check those links out. (I don't know why I forgot about Wikipedia. My brain is lazy today.)

    I'm very vague on the details, but I seem to recall that something happened to the copyright on Firebird, Petrushka, and Le Sacre because of the October revolution, which is why he came out with the Firebird Suite and a concert rescoring of Petrushka, essentially giving him new copyrights on his prior work with having to do much. I don't think he did anything similar with Le Sacre.
     
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