Is classical music royalty free?

Question

What classic musicians or music pieces are royalty free? I know if you perform it yourself then you can use any music but where can I find what songs are ready to use for free? I assume more well known musicians such as Beethoven and Bach's music are copyrighted by someone but I'm not sure. All information will help.

Answer 1

well the Beethoven dvd only costs about $12.99 thats a classic.

Answer 2

Royalty Free Classical Music

Answer 3

If the classical music is old enough, yes.

Classical is a style, and there are classical composers still making music every year.

Older creative works (including music) fall into the public domain, and out of copyright, after a certain period.

In the US, that's 70s after the death of the creator (if a person), or 95 years after publication (if a corporation).

Answer 4

It depends on whether you're using the music (with a copyright that expired, if it ever had one) or a phono-recording of a performance of the music (which may or may not be copyrighted). No sound recording made in the US prior to 1972 has (or will ever have) any federal copyright protection. The copyright office website has a lot of material on music laws, royalties, mandatory licenses, etc.

Answer 5

If a musician has been dead for a certain period of time, his works are royalty-free. Since many classical musicians have been dead for so long, their music is usually royalty-free.

Answer 6

Most classical pieces dating back are public domain which is royalty free but if you "sample" these old classical songs but that have been performed by modern day orchestras, you have to pay "mechanical royalties" to those who played it.

Answer 7

Since the people who placed much of the music on YouTube have downloaded cds, records and live performances free of charge, I am guessing that you could click on the hundreds of You Tube videos and down load their music too. Just a thought.