Any song or musical work published in 1929 or earlier is in the public domain in the United States. You're most likely okay to upload your arrangement of a public domain song as long as there's no current copyright on the original work or the arrangement that you're covering, but public domain can be tricky.

Public domain songs are not inherently free of all copyright protections. Although the original written music is no longer protected by copyright when a song is in the public domain, there are still copyrights that apply to recordings and other issues. No sound recordings are in the United States public domain due to complexity of Federal and State Law. Sampling public domain recordings is not allowed.

Determining if a Work is in the Public Domain

If you're recording your own original arrangement of an old, traditional song (originally published in/before 1929), you may be permitted to distribute it. You can search the database here if you're unsure.

If it's NOT an old, traditional song, and you're just not sure about the original songwriter, you need to do some research. Covers of copyrighted songs require a DistroKid Cover License. For more information about DistroKid cover licenses, please see the article here.

It's important to know when a song or musical work is in the public domain and when you will need a cover license to distribute your version of a song. Not opting cover songs into DistroKid's cover song licensing solution can lead to streaming services taking down your content, or worse: songwriters taking legal action.

Uploading a Public Domain Song

If you're distributing a public domain song, make sure to select "I wrote this song, or manage the songwriter (it's an original song)" on DistroKid's upload form when prompted.

As long as you're certain there are no other known songwriters, you can list yourself as the songwriter for your own arrangement of a public domain work, or list "Traditional Music" as the songwriter.