Classical Music and the Public Domain

[Achán hiNidráne]

Hey all:

I'm going to put together my own podcast and I need some title music. Since the topic of the podcast is going to be miniature wargaming, I was thinking of using either Holst's "Mars: Bringer of War" or Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture." The question is, what are the legalities of using these pieces? I realize that both these composers are long dead and their works in the the public domain, but before I just whip out my CDs and splice in tracks, I need to know what's legal and what not.

 

[Kevin_Lowe]

Even though the music is now in the public domain, specific recordings (and I believe specific arrangements) can be and are still covered by intellectual property laws.

If you want to stay on the right side of the law you might be able to dig up a recording which is old enough to be public domain, or you might find one that is "abandonware" in the sense that there is no longer an active publisher defending their legal rights to exclusive use.

In practise, I suspect that unless you make millions off your podcast nobody is going to engage in the kind of analysis that would be required to differentiate any one version of these pieces from any other version, and so enable them to sue you. Those two pieces have probably been recorded dozens if not hundreds of times by professionals and you will only be using snippets.

Morally, unless you are making money off your podcast I personally don't see any problems with using these pieces. If you are making money out of it, then morally I think you do owe something to the people involved in getting those CDs to you.

I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice, blah blah blah, no artificial monopolies were harmed in the making of this post.

 

[Mojo]

As Kevin Lowe says, although the music itself may be out of copyright (it remains in copyright until 70 years after the death of the author), recordings may still be. The law in Europe is that a recording remains in copyright for 50 years after release, or if unreleased, 50 years after recording. I think this period may be even longer in the USA.

In addition, there was a recent case over here in which it was held that someone who edited the scores of an old piece of music for recording then owned copyright in the resulting work. Given the international nature of much of copyright law this may have consequences in the USA as well.

 

[bruto]

As far as I know, Holst's work is not in the public domain. I seem to remember not too long ago that there was a flap about copyright violations involving "The Planets." I think some family member, or a foundation, still owns the rights to that.

Most recordings are copyrighted, but I'm not sure, as others have pointed out, how carefully they are overseen. It appears, though, that a number of older Russian recordings were not copyrighted. If you have access to a record library including older LP's, see if you can find Melodiya recordings, or even their Angel reissues, and check the label. I have a few (sorry, no 1812, can't stand that bombastic potboiler myself) that carry no copyright notice at all.

Have you googled for "royalty free music" or similar definitions? You might find something.

 

[Psi Baba]

As far as I know, Holst's work is not in the public domain. I seem to remember not too long ago that there was a flap about copyright violations involving "The Planets." I think some family member, or a foundation, still owns the rights to that.

I thought that The Planets went out of copyright in 1997, but possibly it's been contested since then. His daughter Imogen retained the rights to his works until her death in 1984. I don't know what happened to them after that. It's a common mistake to think that if a work of classical music is in the public domain then you can freely use a recording of that work. But, as Kevin Lowe pointed out, you can't just use someone's recording without permission. You are, however, certainly free to perform and record your own rendition of, say, the 1812 Overture.