Skip to content
DnsLister Forum

Where domain hunters compare notes

Please share your opinion on people (not just musicians but also content creators, filmmakers etc) using music that is in the public domain without citing the source

I'm a bit at a loss. I have very strong feelings about this, admittedly, although I'm not a musician myself. I have posted my opinion on this topic in two (non-music related) subreddits and got shred to pieces. There's clearly something I'm not getting here and maybe you guys can help. Here is what I wrote in another subreddit and a response to a comment for further clarification. I'm sorry it's a bit long:

—–

People who use music that is in the public domain, be it for sampling or for content creation, should be required to cite it, just like authors are required to do in literature.

It would never be considered okay to just insert 1-2 pages (or even sentences) of a Shakespeare play into your own writing without citing it; why is it okay to not name Mozart in your description box when you use his Rondo Alla Turca in your YouTube video?

Some argue that there is music in the public domain that is explicitly made to be there and be royalty free. I don't see how this is a counter argument, as the people who make this royalty free music often just don't care getting paid for any further usage, per contract, which is not the same as citing it. I'm not arguing you should have to pay music in the public domain. You should always honour the actual artist, though. If said artist doesn't want to be named, they can use a pseudonym for their art.

It's also really frustrating for the consumer. Many pages and subreddits like 'whats that song' or 'who sampled' wouldn't need to exist if this was a requirement or at least the agreed to standard. It's incredibly frustrating to search for a piece of music that was used in a YouTube slop short for hours because it's so faint in the background that no tool can detect it correctly.

It would take the content creator or artist 2 seconds to copy and paste the name of the source in their description box or in the end credits of your film or your music sheet or wherever.

Further clarification as a reply to a comment:

Would you be comfortable writing a book and ripping off even just one page from an author in the public domain without acknowledgement in the book?

Would you feel okay making a movie and inserting a whole ass scene from a film that is now in the public domain without acknowledging it in the end credits, at least?

If no, would you expect to get backlash for that? Because you certainly would. Somehow, with music it's all different and zero effort should be put into acknowledging the amazing work musicians in the past did.

——

What do professional musicians think about this? I find it very odd that it's so accepted to just take something someone has worked really hard in the past on without even mentioning them. What is the big deal with citing your source (if you don't have the absolute original source, it's okay to cite the website that provided the sample – any interested person can go from there).

As a sidenote, I also brought up that it often hinders people/kids learning about music that came before them, as they will often just recognise it from a social media reel or cartoon or whatever, and, without a source, not investigate further. I personally find that disheartening, but I feel like I'm very much on my own with this opinion.

Again, this has nothing to do with music currently under copyright laws or any payments.

submitted by /u/Lil-Nuisance to r/askmusicians
[link] [comments]

Source: r/askmusicians · by /u/Lil-Nuisance

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *