Singing Potatoes
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Tuesday, 16 August 2005
Curse you, Sonny Bono!
Steamboat Willie

When the Garritan Jazz & Big Band sample library is finally released (target date: first quarter 2005), the first thing I want to do with it is The Charleston, before trying to do some original stuff. I figured, it's got to be in the public domain by now... right?

Of course not! All works written before January 1, 1923 are in the public domain — and The Charleston was written in 1923. And thanks to Sonny Bono's Walt Disney Immortality Act, it'll probably stay in copyright until the cockroaches reign over the post-apocalyptic landscape of the rubble that used to be the planet Earth.

Sigh. Time to look into the wonderful world of ASCAP licensing fees...

Update: According to this site, Jimmy Johnson actually composed The Charleston in 1913, and used it in 1923's Runnin' Wild. Now to find out if that's actually true... If I can find an audio recording published prior to 1923, that would be pretty conclusive evidence, I think.


Posted by godfrey (link)
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Comments
Don't hold your breath. We both had the same idea, and I searched a while back. Charleston's sheet music cannot be found anywhere on the Web, and that's usually a pretty good indicator that the sheet music was not published prior to 1923... which generally means it's still under copyright.
Posted by Squelch on 16 Aug 2005 11:04
Well, if it was recorded earlier than that, that would count as first publication, if I'm reading the copyright circulars correctly. However, the earliest recording of it I've found so far is Paul Whiteman's 1925 version.

Posted by Godfrey on 16 Aug 2005 13:56
Earlier than the original piano recording, found on the full Ken Burns Jazz CD? Check it out. But I think it's still post-1923.
Posted by Squelch on 17 Aug 2005 07:03