“Take Me Out to the Ball Game” was written by of New York City music publishers and songwriters known as Tin Pan Alley. As more than 95 years have passed, the original song is now in the public domain in the United States.
Copyright free music refers to music that can be used freely by anyone. Without a copyright, the content can be used without restriction. Yet, no song is really without copyright because musicians are granted natural copyright for any produced work. That's a technicality.
The copyright duration of composed music is the same as for books, paintings and other literary and artistic works: the author's lifetime + 70 years. Therefore, the musical compositions of old masters like Beethoven (1770 – 1827) or Mozart (1756 – 1791) are all in the public domain and you can freely use them.
YouTube Audio Library
The YouTube Music Audio Library is a collection of music that you can use in your videos. YouTube itself provides these songs and gives you permission to use them in your YouTube videos, so you can use any YouTube Audio Library track without worrying about copyright violations.
Mona Lisa is in the public domain and not subject to copyright, whereas some modern works based on the original such as Marcel Duchamp's L.H.O.O.Q. are protected by copyright law.
Only use content that you've created yourself
Another way to avoid copyright infringement and strikes is to only use your own content on YouTube. If you only use music and videos that you've created yourself, you won't have to worry about copyright claims as you'll be the copyright owner.
The best way to find out if a song is copyrighted is by uploading it to YouTube and letting the Copyright Checker check if there are any copyright issues. Here's how to do it: Log in to your YouTube account and then go to the YouTube Creator Studio. Click CREATE in the top right corner of the page and then Upload ...
The "15 Second" or "8 Bar" Rule
The reality is that there is no legal protection in copyright law for these types of use. If you use a piece of a composition or sound recording that is copyrighted, you will need a license.
Songs written on or after January 1, 1978, have their author's rights protected for 70 years after their passing. The term ends 70 years after the death of the last individual author, or in cases where there are three or more authors, whenever the term would otherwise have ended.
The copyright on the 1928 movie “Steamboat Willie” – the short film that introduced the world to Mickey Mouse – will expire in 2024. That means the Steamboat-Willie-version of Mickey Mouse will enter the public domain.
Warner Chappell, belonging to the Warner Music Group, is the global music publishing company which bought the rights for the 'Happy Birthday to You' song for $22 million in 1988 and has since made an estimate of $2m a year licensing the song for movies and TV.
The song you want to use is copyrighted if you see the copyright symbol next to it when you download the song. (Not to be confused with the Creative Commons licensing symbol).
Creators of original words, like music, hold copyright protection over those works, meaning that they have exclusive rights to perform or copy those tunes. If you infringe on those rights, taking their tunes without permission, you could face legal liability. That means you are wise to be concerned.
Because TikTok has licensing agreements with those artists allowing them to offer that music to the end-user for use in TikTok videos. It's important to note that you cannot take music from TikTok's music library and use it on other platforms.
Any use of copyrighted material without permission is, according to U.S. copyright law, copyright infringement. It does not matter if you use one second or the entire song, using copyrighted materials without the consent or permission of the copyright owner, constitutes copyright infringement.
© Copyright & ℗ Phonographic copyright
The ℗ 'P in a circle', is referred to as the sound recording, phonorecords, phonogram or phonographic copyright symbol. Sound recordings have a separate copyright that is distinct from that of the underlying work.
From the legal perspective, with exception of music that is already in public domain (a.k.a. REALLY old), all music is copyrighted. This applies to both the compositions (the melody and lyrics) and their actual recordings.
Your copyright is free and is automatic. The song must be “fixed” in some way, in a written down copy or a recording. You cannot have a copyright to a tune in your head, or that you perform in public, unless you write it down or record it in some fashion. You do not have to take any action to have this copyright.
To keep it simple: copyright claim = good, whereas copyright strike = bad. So although they may sound the same, make sure to know the difference between a copyright claim and a copyright strike!
If your video has a Content ID claim, there may be restrictions on where the video is viewable or whether it can be monetized. To remove the claim and the associated restrictions, you can edit out the claimed content without having to upload a new video.
Making a commercial using a copyrighted song in the background. Creating merchandise for sale that features copyrighted words or images without a royalty agreement in place with the owner.