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So I heard from somewhere that if the composer of a certain music dies, 50 years later it can be used without any royalty. I was wondering if I could use some ww2 soundtracks in my visual novel since its based on 2 nations at war? I don't know much about this at all lol

It's 75 - now 95, thanks Disney - years after death if nobody else renews or takes over the copyright.
Note that applies only to the song and not to any individual performance of the song which will have its own copyright term.


Just look for some royalty free music in the public domain, much of the music associated with WWII is both, since most of it actually come from centuries before WWII. For example, Ride of the Valkyries.

Not exactly associated with WW2, but "Preußens Gloria" is worth a look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ELjttkTKug There must be a really old recording of it somewhere that is public domain by now.

Preußens Gloria is an awesome song XD

Milkymalk wrote: ↑

Sat May 09, 2020 11:08 am

Not exactly associated with WW2, but "Preußens Gloria" is worth a look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ELjttkTKug There must be a really old recording of it somewhere that is public domain by now.

Hi hi. I wanted to address something thats a common misconception about this rule. Yes, after a certain amount of time certain things enter the public domain, however there are various ways to extend and prolong this time so you have to look into things on a case by case basis and see who owns the rights to the music and if their title is still valid. ALSO what comes into play often with this rule is the difference between the master rights and the song rights. A song by Beethoven for example may be in the public domain, HOWEVER that recording of the song played by the Berlin Symphony orchestra is owned by the Berlin Symphony orchestra. The rights to the song and the rights to the recordings (the masters) are BOTH things you need to take into account. So when looking for music in the public domain you have to first confirm that the song is old enough and that its license hasn't been extended in some way and then you ALSO have to check with the actual recording and make sure that is fair to use as well.
Its a complicated and messy issue, which is why most people dont really bother with public domain. But I hope that helps.

I have some original jazz tunes in a "mock 30s/40s" style.
Trying to emulate the sound of the big bands with a couple of Roland synths and a Tascam DP32 recorder.

I know it's not the 'real thing' but no copyright issues with my stuff.
Can make more similar (original) tunes if there is an interest.

The Swingaling:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcxQ2S32kHk

Here's a demo of another of my "mock 40s" original jazz tunes.
The idea was to use the different synth brass instruments to "impersonate" the Tommy Dorsey orchestra (lead trombone, sax + trumpet sections etc).
I was a one-man jazz band before the lockdown.

"Dark Waters":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rms-PY20tTA

As elaborated its dependent on the recording.

Anyway you will find a lot of military bands publish their music as public domain.

https://www.music.af.mil/Multimedia/Mus ... ain-Music/
https://www.marineband.marines.mil/audi ... lip-sousa/
https://www.loc.gov/collections/patriot ... ollection/

And if you search a bit I'm sure there are many more like this.