To be public domain in the USA the song
must have been published prior to 1930. Each year it moves forward a year … meaning on Jan 1 2026 it will include songs published before 1931. This started a few years back with major changes in the US laws. Your version must not copy another artist’s version. If all of this is followed then you own all rights to your version and can refer to it as trad. arr. (traditional arrangement). There are many misconceptioms regarding this but the above is correct. We have a full album of PD songs on Spotify and our current post here is PD. A 70 year old song would cause you copyright issues on the streaming platforms.

Duke university is a great source for US PD info.

Duke University PD

Bud


Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more.
If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks!
Our Videos are here on our website.