These are some of the books that are now considered to be in the US public domain:
A Belated 2023 Happy Public Domain Day! These are some of the books that are now considered to be in the US public domain.
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Category Archives: Public Domain
Using Artificial Intelligence to write songs, screenplays and books
Last month, I was talking about how the rapid expansion of public domain songs and films (and books, too, but I hadn’t got around to writing about that yet) represents a great opportunity to repurpose content for entertainment.
I was fooling around with ChatGPT tonight to rewrite some public domain songs, and make them something fresh and new, and it didn’t disappoint. This is so cool.
So here is “Lady Be Good” by the Gershwin brothers:
and here is how ChatGPT used it to write an entirely new song:
So that one was alright. But the next one is lights out. Here is “I’ll See You in my Dreams” by Gus Kahn & Isham Jones:
here is what ChatGPT wrote:
There will be a lot of entertainment content generated by artificial intelligence in this way. It’s just too easy to do and the results are clearly quality results.
US Public Domain Films are also a great opportunity
So I already discussed that songs published before 1927 are in the US public domain.
The same holds true for films. While many interesting 1920’s movies are already in the public domain, in my opinion it’s only in 2023 that we really start cooking.
That’s because the first sound movies with significant dialogue started in 1927, and all of those 1,000+ movies will enter US public domain in 2023. Notable 1927 films include:
Again, this is a rabbit hole I’m planning on investigating over the next few years.
(Don’t forget that four Three Stooges shorts are already in the public domain. )
US Public Domain content represents a fantastic opportunity
Musical compositions published before January 1, 1927 are part of the public domain.
I compiled a list (below) of some popular songs that entered the public domain over the last four years. Songs you can do whatever you want with, repackage, remix, etc. It’s a rather strong list.
Imagine in our 10,000 channel world that you create a game or musical that takes advantage of the built-in familiarity of this content. “Rhapsody in Blue”? “Fascinating Rhythm”? “Remember”?
Get your hands on any analysis of all of the folk songs that Bob Dylan borrowed from. Interesting stuff.
This is one of the rabbit holes I plan to go down over the next few years.
| YEAR | SONG | AUTHOR | |
| 1926 | Baby Face | Benny Davis, Harry Akst | |
| 1926 | Birth of the Blues | B.G. De Sylva, Lew Brown, m. Ray Henderson | |
| 1926 | Black Bottom Stomp | Jelly Roll Morton | |
| 1924 | California Here I Come | Joseph Meyer, Al Jolson, Bud DeSylva | |
| 1923 | Charleston | Cecil Mack, James P. (Jimmy) Johnson | |
| 1926 | Dead Man Blues | Jelly Roll Morton | |
| 1925 | Dinah | Same Lewis, Joe Young, Harry Akst | |
| 1924 | Does the Spearmint Lose Its Flavor | Billy Rose, Marty Bloom, Ernest Breuer | |
| 1924 | Doo Wacka Doo | Clarence Gaskill, Walter Donaldson, George Horther | |
| 1924 | Everybody Loves My Baby | Jack Palmer & Spencer Williams | |
| 1923 | Farewell Blues | Rappolo ~ Leon Rappolo | |
| 1924 | Fascinating Rhythm | Ira Gershwin George Gershwin | |
| 1924 | I’ll See You In My Dreams | Gus Kahn Isham Jones | |
| 1925 | If You Knew Susie | B.G. De Sylva | |
| 1924 | It Had To Be You | Isham Edgar Jones Gus Kahn | |
| 1923 | Kansas City Stomp | Jelly Roll Morton | |
| 1924 | King Porter Stomp | Jelly Roll Morton | |
| 1925 | Milenberg Joys | Jelly Roll Morton | |
| 1923 | Mr. Jelly-Lord | Jelly Roll Morton | |
| 1925 | New Orleans Blues | Jelly Roll Morton | |
| 1924 | Oh Lady Be Good | Ira Gershwin, George Gershwin | |
| 1923 | Pearls | Jelly Roll Morton | |
| 1925 | Remember | Irving Berlin | |
| 1924 | Rhapsody In Blue | Ira Gershwin, George Gershwin | |
| 1925 | Shreveport Stomp | Jelly Roll Morton | |
| 1926 | Sidewalk Blues | Jelly Roll Morton | |
| 1926 | Someone To Watch Over Me | Ira Gershwin, George Gershwin | |
| 1925 | Sweet And Low-Down | Ira Gershwin, George Gershwin | |
| 1925 | Sweet Georgia Brown | Ben Bernie, Maceo Pinkard, Kenneth Casey | |
| 1924 | Tea For Two | Irving Caesar Vincent Youmans | |
| 1926 | Where’d You Get Those Eyes | Walter Donaldson, Abe Lyman | |
| 1925 | Who? | Jerome Kern | |
| 1923 | Yes! We Have No Bananas | Frank Silver & Irving Cohn |