Is This Song Public Domain? How to Check

Public-domain works are free to use with no permission and no payment. But "public domain" is a status you have to verify per work, and the biggest mistake is assuming a famous old song is fair game when a specific modern recording of it is not.

How to check, step by step

1. Find when the composition was first published. In the U.S., works published in 1929 or earlier are in the public domain (as of 2025 — the line advances by one year every January 1).
2. Check the specific recording separately. Under the Music Modernization Act, recordings first published before 1923 entered the public domain on January 1, 2022; later recordings follow a staggered schedule and most 20th-century recordings are still protected.
3. Watch for a newer arrangement or edition. A fresh arrangement, translation, or edition of a public-domain song can carry its own new copyright on that new material.
4. Confirm with a primary source — U.S. Copyright Office records, the Copyright Office public-domain circulars, or a reputable duration chart — rather than a lyrics site.

On our public-domain pages, the "Rights Status" card states the basis for each side (composition and recording) with its source, so you can see why a song is free, not just that a page says so.