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How To Find "Public Domain" Music(A question answered by Victor Rittenband) Recently, HSGA received a question in our e-mail from someone trying to find what Hawaiian music was in public domain (no longer privately owned, requiring that use-permission be granted and royalties paid for use). We turned the question over to Vic for response, as he is Secretary-Treasurer of Hawai`i Songwriters Association. Here's Vic's response. In answer to the question of a Public Domain "listing", I don't know of anyone who has such a listing. You can, however, apply a "rule of thumb" to achieve the same result. Prior to the revision of the U.S. Copyright Law in 1976, music copyrights were granted for a period of 18 years, and could be renewed for another 18 years, a total protected period of 36 years. Therefore, as of 1977, any songs copyrighted in 1938 or prior entered Public Domain. From 1938, you can extend those 36 years to songs that were copyrighted up until 1976. At that point, the change in the Copyright Law offered protection for the lifetime of the author plus 75 years. If there were collaborators (and thus co-copyright owners) the protection applied for lifetime plus 75 years of the last surviving co-copyright owner. If you don't know what songs you would like to search for, you might contact Bagaduce Music, P.O. Box 357, Green Hills, Blue Hills, Maine 04614. They keep a library of thousands of sheet music and sell photocopies. They may well have an index or list of songs copyrighted before 1963 (36 years prior to 1999.) As for Hawaiian songs, remember: they were not published in Hawai`i until recent years. Even if they were composed in Hawai`i instead of "Tin Pan Alley", there were published in Chicago or New York. Public libraries in major cities may have a collection of sheet music; you might ask if you can obtain a list of the songs. Your last option would be to contact the Head Office of ASCAP, #1 Lincoln Plaza, New York, NY 10023 HSGA * HAWAIIAN
STEEL GUITAR ASSOCIATION Homepage URL: www.hsga.org (hsga@lava.net) Last updated: 07/23/02 by Gerald Ross (gbross@umich.edu) |