What about public domain sounds/recordings? **When signing up a release in the Soundrop app, be sure to mark public domain songs as either 'Public Domain' or 'Original.' Any composition written after 1927 should be marked as a cover. If you're recording classical music please see our handy composer info guide here.

If the songwriter is unknown, simply enter 'Traditional Song' as the songwriter. **Songwriter information IS required for public domain works. If our licensing folks determine that you're covering a song in the public domain, we'll let you know and refund your licensing fee. Do your best research, and when in doubt, mark your release as a cover. To check the status of a song in the public domain, we recommend using to see when the song was recorded. If the words 'Hark How The Bells' are in there at all - that's a cover song. So your instrumental ocarina version - totally public domain.

Well, sort of! While the melody is public domain, the English lyrics were written in 1956 and ARE copyrighted. The curious case of Carol of the Bells is a great example.Ĭarol of the Bells as we know the melody is a Ukranian Folk carol composed in 1916. However, specific arrangements may be copyrighted. Usually, (and this is a big USUALLY) songs are in the public domain if the song was composed and the lyrics were written before January 1, 1928. What does that mean for your Soundrop release? First of all, we'll need to define 'Public Domain': So, you're releasing a song that you're pretty sure is in the public domain.

Public domain music