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THE MUSIC
First, let’s clarify one thing: apparently, there is NO SOUND RECORDING available in the public domain in the United States until 2067.
In fact, sound recordings are usually adaptations of the original works, which means that in the UK it’s the same as with books – 70 years after the death of the composers or creators.
You can, however, record your own version of a musical composition by a composer such as Mozart as the sheet music is in the public domain which you can download for free.
There is also another way around this anomaly. There is a great source of recordings available for free from a company called Incompetech. Here you will find a collection of songs / music produced by American artist Kevin Macleod.
These are distributed under a Creative Commons license. The only condition of use is that you credit it if you use it – not too much to ask!
BOOKS.
It is the main product sought by those who wish to start a business outside the public domain. The problem is that there are so many sites offering such books where to start?
A fantastic site to visit is http://www.ebookfriendly.com. On this site alone, you get 25 different sites offering free books which are all in the public domain.
There’s one that gives access to millions of items from European libraries, museums and archives, while another called Librivox specializes in audiobooks.
I got a quick glimpse of them and it looks promising as they are always adding to it. They are also looking for volunteer readers if you feel like recording a book yourself!
PLANS
The New York Public Library has published 20,000 historical maps from the 16th to the 19th century, mainly of the United States and New York, but also of other countries for free download.
You can also digitally align them with current maps if you download their mapwarper.
Go to http://www.openglam.org for more information.
IMAGES, SOUNDS AND VIDEO
For these types of creative works, try visiting Wikimedia Commons. It has a database of millions of such articles, all available for free.
One important thing to note is that even though the product you want is in the public domain, meaning it’s free to use however you want, that doesn’t mean it’s free to download! After all, you can find an old book in a thrift store and it may well be in the public domain, but you still have to buy it to use it.
The same applies online – there is a website where the owner has burned over 80 self-help books to a CD, all of which are in the public domain. You can use all of these books however you want, but you have to purchase the CD to be able to do so.
You may have noticed that all of the above is available online, but remember that you can find a lot of creative works that are in the public domain such as prints, books, sheet music, etc. offline in flea markets, libraries, auctions and car shoe sales.
Don’t limit yourself by sitting in front of a computer, it’s a big world out there!
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Source by Jim Crossman
