Overheard a guy at the coffee shop ask how to find out if a song is public domain

I was grabbing a coffee yesterday and the guy next to me was asking his friend how you really know if a song is free to use. He was working on a video and was worried about getting a copyright strike. His friend just shrugged and said 'Google it, I guess.' It made me think about how many people just guess on this stuff and hope for the best. What's the best way you've found to actually check copyright status for something like music or old photos?

4 comments

4 Comments

jennybailey2mo ago

Ugh, the Library of Congress site.

charlieh742mo ago

What's wrong with it?

rowanr881d ago

God, right? Its like they designed it to be as confusing as possible on purpose. You click one thing and end up in some random deep archive from 1912. I've spent way too many hours just trying to find a basic copyright date for an old song. It's legit painful when you just need one simple piece of info.

max7162mo ago

Yeah, the Library of Congress site is a maze. You can find the info there, but it takes forever to figure out their search system. I usually start with a good music rights database instead.