Public Domain Media
Simply Put, media you can use
The public domain refers to works whose intellectual property rights have expired, been forfeited, or are inapplicable as defined by Wiki sources.
There is plenty of free media out there and everyday media becomes public domain. Anything that was copyrighted before 1923 as intellectual property has lost the right to be copyrighted anymore. Therefore something like Beethoven compositions or quilted prints of Rembrandt paintings can be produced for anything including profit. For example the Mona Lisa is free domain art and can be graphically altered without permission long as you don't physically touch it. Also commercial prints of the painting, quilts, pencils etc, can be sold worldwide without infringement of rights because it is in the public domain. There are so many PD depositories that it's hard to keep up. Below I have stated some categories and examples to give you insight as to types of Public Domains.
Please read this article on public domain usage from Stanford
Music
With music anything created before 1923 is lawfully public domain. So that means if it predates 1923 then you can sample, remix, alter for use commercially. A few samples of great music to sample is Liberace or Beethoven who's compositions are PD. Also you can record CD's of classical compositions and sale it without having to pay royalties to any entity.
Here are some links to access Public Domain music resources:
Art
Any Art produced before 1923 is considered public domain. Basically any image up for PD can be Google searched but every year more are available as the copyright is not renewed or the artist has passed over 70 years of death, which forfeits the piece to public domain. Images like the Mona Lisa is public domain and can be reproduced without permission.
Take a look at some sample art (pictures of) that are in the public domain @ this link:
Google search for PD art pictures
There's a lot to consider when coming across what's public domain for the movies. Any video or monologue recordings before 1923 are public domain because rights were not establish-able before then. Movies that were produced thereof that have have lost or gave up their intellectual rights (missing the re-copyright deadline) can be free to use. Many earlier silent movies and modern educational documentaries are PD examples of video . Search and you shall find which are PD.
Any publication of any sort before 1923 is officially public domain. There are so many books, magazines and poems that you can sample, make a movie out of, twist or bring back to life without having to pay a cent. Alice In Wonderland is one of those PD books that has been remade in many different ways.
Here are some great links to Public Domain Literature
1. Feed Books - 1,000's of free books
2.Project Gutenberg - Free eBooks
There is plenty of public domain software and can be referred to as freeware. Some freeware is like Ubuntu, a kernel based operating system that can control your MSN OS. Libre Office is another good example, which is a open source-public domain version of Microsoft Office. Aside of freeware there is also computer technologies that are open source therefore considered digital public domain.
Public domain libraries online are growing rapidly making it easier for us to find pictures for our articles. Check out these sites of public domain picture depositories that can offer free graphics as well.
1. Pic Drome - for the photographer
2. Ars Publik - for the designer
3. P.D. Clipart.org - for clip art
