Can i use classical music

Therefore, two sets of copyright protection exists in every sound recording — the right in the composition, and the right in the sound recording. The same happens when a record company records a recording of the song and includes it on an album. The record company will own the copyright in their own recording and arrangement. Regardless of the number of sound recordings, there will only be one copyright in the underlying composition.

However, the additional costs to re-record a song might cancel out the cost savings of avoiding to pay the master use fees. To conclude, do not assume that a sound recording is in the public domain just because the composer of the underlying musical work died 50 years ago.

Even when a composition is in the public domain, the sound recording is still protected and its copyright owner has exclusive rights to that particular arrangement for 50 years after the first publication of the sound recording.

For more information and blogs, please visit www. Please contact Edwards Creative Law or another lawyer, if you wish to apply these concepts to your specific circumstances. But even so, take a piece of Mozart music from a CD and use it on your YouTube video, on your website or in your film, without first buying a license for commercial exploitation of that music — and you risk, at best, having YouTube strip the audio track off your video, or at worst, having legal action taken against you by a company that claims copyright in that recording.

The clue is in that word: The recording. For here we come to the crux of the matter. There are in fact two copyrights that exist in every music recording. One is the right in the Composition, and the other is the right in the Recording. When we are talking about classical music rights, we are talking about the rights that exist in that recording and arrangement. If you decide to sing a Mozart piece out loud, that is your arrangement of that composition. When a record company decides to release a classical CD, they make their own arrangement and recording of that music.

When they have done so, they own the rights to that recording. So long as you stay within the license terms. The same goes for traditional music, meaning music where the composition is so old that nobody even knows who really composed it. The Composition is not copyrighted to anyone, but if somebody hires musicians and makes their own recording of any of these tracks — then that person or company owns the rights in that recording. However, you need to be especially careful when dealing with films, music and photographic reproductions of works of art.

You also need to be aware of other types of rights that might affect when you can make use of works in the public domain. We consider these issues next. Knowing if a film is in the public domain is complicated because so many people and types of copyright works are often involved in its production. According to UK copyright law , in order to know if a film is in the public domain you need to identify the following creators:.

Copyright in the film expires 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the last person listed above dies. A good source of freely available films is the Prelinger Archives , a collection of movies that are supposed to be in the public domain in the US. However, remember that copyright law is territorial. So, while a film from this archive might be in the public domain in the US, it may still be in copyright in the UK, and identifying the copyright owner may not always be easy.

Indeed, many of the films contained in the Prelinger Archives are orphan works : works that are in copyright but whose copyright owner is unknown or cannot be traced.

Fortunately, there are some films in the Archive that we can definitely say are in the public domain in the UK. You can safely make use of Le Voyage dans la lune in any way you like.

Script, images, footage and music are not the only copyright works involved in the production of a film. Intellectual property rights exist also for brand names, logos, fonts, texts and designs, which makes everything more complicated.

For a detailed guide on copyright for filmmakers, see the BBC website at:. Therefore, the musical compositions of old masters like Beethoven — or Mozart — are all in the public domain and you can freely use them. However, as mentioned above, you need to keep in mind that a musical composition and a sound recording are two different works: even if the former is in the public domain the latter may be still protected by copyright.

A good source of freely available sound recordings is Incompetech , a collection of songs produced by the American artist Kevin MacLeod and distributed under a Creative Commons licence.

You can freely use all the songs originally produced by Kevin MacLeod under the only condition of crediting him. But you have to be careful when the song is a reproduction of another composition because — again — copyright law is territorial.

Galleries and museums often generate income by licensing the use of photographs of famous works of art from their collections. That is, while the artworks themselves are often in the public domain, the galleries claim copyright in their photographs of those artworks. This is considered by some to be controversial, especially when dealing with a photograph of a two-dimensional work of art such as a painting. And, this is an issue that has become more complicated in the UK because of the influence of European copyright law.

But if you happen to have a public domain publication of the music then you can preform and record your own copy of it. I had to research this for one of my own projects, originally under the misconception that copyright only extended for a period after creation. I've noticed other answers quote on creation , and the difference could mean the difference between getting sued or not. Can I use my keyboard and play modern classic music?

That may be possible but I'm not sure about that. You can quite literally be sued for anything. You have no way of knowing that it won't happen, you simply assume its highly unlikely. I've decided its not worth a down vote, but a disclaimer is usually advisable, in case a user acts on your answer literally.

Be smart, play it safe, don't let something small hurt your game. Seth Paxton Seth Paxton 6 6 bronze badges. It is not 80 years from creation. It is from the death of the author. The MIDI file needed to be worked on by someone to produce the sounds. The notes had to be arranged. MIDI files are not produced out of thin air. Believe me. If you distribute your game with MIDI files you're not allowed to use, and the author notices it, and sues you in court, you will lose. That's copyright infringement.

This misconception can get you sued. That said, MIDI is a popular choice for musicians who release their content into the public domain. Always check the license for the specific track you have,and ensure it explicitly allows use. As far as I know, most classical music scores are in the public domain, because they've been around for so long.