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Welcoming Recorded Music to the Public Domain

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Re: Welcoming Recorded Music to the Public Domain

#11
post #7

So what has Disney done this year to contort our public domain laws?

Nothing new so far, Steamboat Willie isn't scheduled to enter the public domain until 2024. And considering only the properties that Disney actually cares about, Snow White has until 2032.

Let's also keep in mind the difference between copyright and trademark; even if art containing Mickey Mouse enters the public domain, that doesn't mean that Disney loses the trademark to Mickey Mouse. AIUI you would be able to reproduce Steamboat Willie verbatim, but if you attempt to publish a new work derived from Steamboat Willie that includes Mickey Mouse they may be able to stop you based on trademark protections.

Re: Welcoming Recorded Music to the Public Domain

#12
post #5

So what software can be used to clean up the hissing and cracking?

These days, there are more audio plugins to add hissing and cracking than remove it; but iZotope RX is scarily good and the best noise removal plugin I've ever tried. ML has enabled a lot of pretty revolutionary capabilities in audio, songwriting, and music production over just the past couple years.

Re: Welcoming Recorded Music to the Public Domain

#13
post #6
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't remember ever seeing a copyright date more granular than the year, in any copyright notices on blogs and source code.

From everything I've ever heard, copyright notices don't mean a lot though, in that regardless of if I put one on my website or not, I still have a copyright on my works.

Well, at least in the US, copyright wasn't automatic until 1978, which is important context when discussing works from 50 or 100 years ago.

Re: Welcoming Recorded Music to the Public Domain

#14
post #11
post #7

So what has Disney done this year to contort our public domain laws?

Nothing new so far, Steamboat Willie isn't scheduled to enter the public domain until 2024. And considering only the properties that Disney actually cares about, Snow White has until 2032. Let's also keep in mind the difference between copyright and trademark; even if art containing Mickey Mouse enters the public domain, that doesn't mean that Disney loses the trademark to Mickey Mouse. AIUI you would be able to repr…

I think including a "Not official Disney merchandise" warning would get past any trademark concerns, since the goal of trademarks is preventing confusion between similar products.

Re: Welcoming Recorded Music to the Public Domain

#16
post #11
post #7

So what has Disney done this year to contort our public domain laws?

Nothing new so far, Steamboat Willie isn't scheduled to enter the public domain until 2024. And considering only the properties that Disney actually cares about, Snow White has until 2032. Let's also keep in mind the difference between copyright and trademark; even if art containing Mickey Mouse enters the public domain, that doesn't mean that Disney loses the trademark to Mickey Mouse. AIUI you would be able to repr…

> AIUI you would be able to reproduce Steamboat Willie verbatim

The cynic in me suspects that even this might be challenged. Is there anything specifically preventing trademark protections from applying to unauthorized verbatim reproduction, and only derived works?

Re: Welcoming Recorded Music to the Public Domain

#17
post #11
post #7

So what has Disney done this year to contort our public domain laws?

Nothing new so far, Steamboat Willie isn't scheduled to enter the public domain until 2024. And considering only the properties that Disney actually cares about, Snow White has until 2032. Let's also keep in mind the difference between copyright and trademark; even if art containing Mickey Mouse enters the public domain, that doesn't mean that Disney loses the trademark to Mickey Mouse. AIUI you would be able to repr…

> Nothing new so far, Steamboat Willie isn't scheduled to enter the public domain until 2024. And considering only the properties that Disney actually cares about, Snow White has until 2032.

It makes me wonder if they will push DeSantis for president just to extend copyright?

Re: Welcoming Recorded Music to the Public Domain

#18
post #5

So what software can be used to clean up the hissing and cracking?

Adobe Audition is good for this, but I'm sure other free offerings like Audacity can do it. In Audition you can sample a quiet section of the audio to fingerprint the type of noise and then apply that noise reduction across the whole track.

Re: Welcoming Recorded Music to the Public Domain

#19
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing new so far, Steamboat Willie isn't scheduled to enter the public domain until 2024. And considering only the properties that Disney actually cares about, Snow White has until 2032. Let's also keep in mind the difference between copyright and trademark; even if art containing Mickey Mouse enters the public domain, that doesn't mean that Disney loses the trademark to Mickey Mouse. AIUI you would be able to repr…

> Nothing new so far, Steamboat Willie isn't scheduled to enter the public domain until 2024. And considering only the properties that Disney actually cares about, Snow White has until 2032. It makes me wonder if they will push DeSantis for president just to extend copyright?

It's probably cheaper to just pay off all the necessary politicians.

Re: Welcoming Recorded Music to the Public Domain

#20

For a good time, peruse [1]. At Google, I was running the Cinema Club (in-person only showings of movies on DVD every Thursday night). I came across this movie and loved it. It had 4 stars from Roger Ebert. How you gonna beat that? Lots of people including me wanted to show it at Google. It turns out that Ms. Paley had figured her 12 songs from the 1920s must be out of copyright, right? Wrong. The songs were not, and…

Interesting link, thanks for sharing!
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