Can you use cowboy songs that are more than 60 years old?

Question

I am trying to figure out the copyright law here if I am doing a western comedy melodrama - can I use cowboy and western/country songs that are 60 years old word for word, or do I need to change the lyrics in true parody form?

Answer 1

As a general rule (because an exact answer gets pretty complicated), you should consider the term of a copyright to extend to the end of the author's life plus seventy-five years. Based on the age you've estimated for the songs, their authors would have had to write them after being dead for fifteen years or so, which is pretty unlikely, even for tough, old cowboys. Neither should you proceed under any delusion that you can avoid the copyright matter simply by making arbitrary changes to the lyrics or that doing so constitutes parody, which has some specific meaning to it in copyright law. If the songs belong to someone else, you need to track down the copyright owners and obtain permission; otherwise, it sounds like you would be infringing copyrights and liable to the penalties such conduct entails.

Answer 2

You must give credit (and sometimes obtain permission depending on the circumstance), if what you are using was EVER done commercially, as of course, it would have a copyright. At some point, works become public domain, but CREDIT must always be given, otherwise you are engaging in plagiarism.

Answer 3

if it was produced in at anytime and used comercially you must give credit to that song and producer or artist.