Mahlatze Vokal explains public domain music
Local artist Mahlatze Vokal from Muzo Brothers singing duo studied music on a professional level and explains the legalities behind 'public domain music'
POLOKWANE – Professional artists are constantly accused of stealing or copying other artists’ songs. One such example is Vusi Nova who recently accused ogf stealing a song after releasing a song called As’phelelanga, which went viral and is considered one of the biggest ‘December Anthems.’
Vusi Nova mentioned in one of his radio interviews that he has never said the song “belongs” to him and that he won’t let people drag him for 15 minutes of fame. He did admit that the song was public domain and that he used to listen to the song as he grew up in his home town.
Local artist Mahlatze Vokal from Muzo Brothers singing duo studied music on a professional level explains the legalities behind ‘public domain music’.
He explains that music domain is music placed in public, which exists in the public for everyone to use. “Music generally enters the public domain in a period of between 50 – 75 years after the composer’s death. This means any artist can use the music because the artist has died for a long time and the music has been on the internet for over 40 years,” he added.
In other words Public Domain Music is music that was published before the year 1922; this is music that has intellectual property rights which have expired or have been forfeited by license or permission. This is music that’s put out there for public usage where anyone can take the music sample and record their own version on top of the same composed music.
He further explains that before people start judging artists for stealing or copying songs, they should do some research first and understand the whole meaning and hard work behind their releases. “What people must understand is that, public domain music is simply music that does not have any form of licenses or copyrights attached to them, so no one will be in the right to sue you for using the music. Though it’s too good to be true, as an artist one can also sell public domain music without referencing or compensating anyone,” he concluded.
