Delta Blues and Piano Ragtime. Any of it PD yet?

PositiveFuture

PositiveFuture

Praise God I'm satisssssssssssfiiiiiiiiiieeeed...

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I think Robert Johnson is still under copyright.

Are there any Ragtime or Delta Blues artists who are public domain yet?

I could happily soundtrack half my film with this stuff.

Well he gave me joy and gladness,
for the clouds he rolled away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-p_YD0PFmY
 
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I'm especially interested in Blind Willie Johnson... Robert Johnson, Bill Broonzy and Memphis Minnie are also fine.


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http://www.google.co.id/#hl=id&sour...+blues&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&fp=1853621f595215f6

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Apparently these Robert Johnson songs are in the PD

http://www.discogs.com/Robert-Johnson-King-Of-The-Delta-Blues-Singers-Vol-2/release/1150768

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A debate here:

http://blindman.15.forumer.com/a/complete-blind-willie-johnson_post9743.html

According to them; the original 78's aren't under copyright, but the remastered versions are.

http://www.suite101.com/content/top-delta-blues-musicians-a63156
 
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I've not verified this personally, but I believe the field recordings that Alan Lomax did for the Library of Congress of pre-war country blues acts like Son House, Skip James, Booker T. Washington White and Ishmel Bracy are all public domain. This is why they are available under a hundred different titles and collected in boxed sets of various price points.

Listening to Son House for the first time made me lose my religion. Don't you mind people grinning in your face.
 
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1927 for film, everything after is copyright. Renewable contracts for music. There's work by Mozart where his descendants still renew the copyrights, and live lives of extreme wealth as a consequence.
 
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Alcove Audio said:
You have to keep in mind that although the song is in the public domain the recording may still be under copyright.
Click to expand...

I'd have to refresh my memory, but I think the "Sonny Bono" law of either 1974 or 1972 put EVERY recording of an any song on any media under protection until something like 2019. There are no copyright free recordings period. They do not exist. The music's copyright may have expired, but the recording is protected.
 
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You'd have to research each recording individually.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act

The Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA) of 1998 extended copyright terms in the United States by 20 years. Since the Copyright Act of 1976, copyright would last for the life of the author plus 50 years, or 75 years for a work of corporate authorship. The Act extended these terms to life of the author plus 70 years and for works of corporate authorship to 120 years after creation or 95 years after publication, whichever endpoint is earlier.[1] Copyright protection for works published prior to January 1, 1978, was increased by 20 years to a total of 95 years from their publication date.

This law, also known as the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, Sonny Bono Act, or pejoratively as the Mickey Mouse Protection Act,[2] effectively "froze" the advancement date of the public domain in the United States for works covered by the older fixed term copyright rules. Under this Act, additional works made in 1923 or afterwards that were still protected by copyright in 1998 will not enter the public domain until 2019 or afterward (depending on the date of the product) unless the owner of the copyright releases them into the public domain prior to that or if the copyright gets extended again. Unlike copyright extension legislation in the European Union, the Sonny Bono Act did not revive copyrights that had already expired. The Act did extend the terms of protection set for works that were already copyrighted, and is retroactive in that sense. However, works created before January 1, 1978, but not published or registered for copyright until recently, are addressed in a special section (17 U.S.C. ยง 303) and may remain protected until the end of 2047. The Act became Pub.L. 105-298 on October 27, 1998.
 
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