Hi everybody, I'm a game programmer and I'm planning to make a adventure game, which, I suppose, can be successful. And I decided, it would be the best to play some jazz music in the background -like in the game "Mafia"- Many of these jazz songs' composers and artists are dead, so I thought nobody would mind if I used these songs (encrypted) in my game, which will be completely free. So, what do you think? Is it "completely" legal? Thanks.

In most circumstances.. no.

If the artist is alive, contact them. Even in the case that the music _IS_ in public domain, you will need to either record your own or get a license for permission to use it (or use a recording dated 75 years prior... good luck with that). To be on the safe side, you should assume that unless the artist has particularly granted his copyright to the public domain, that the copyright is valid for 75 years after its original copyright or release date.

Another thing to note is, even if the music ITSELF is public domain (either due to the author giving up copyright, or being past the public domain threashold) that does not mean that any particular recording or derivation thereof is.

For instance, "Alice in Wonderland" is public domain now. on the other hand, various companies own copyrights to their respective derivative works. The music behind "The Nutcracker" is in public domain, but the modern classical interpretations (within the past 75 years) are not. You would need to either record your own instrumentals, get a friend to record it (not rip/steal it), or grab a recording which was made public domain.

The law does give some liberties when it comes down to derivative works though. Mimicking riffs found in particular songs, or using classical jazz harmonics is probably not going to get you sued, provided you don't overdue the former.

Your best bet would be to listen to a few pieces you want to reproduce. if the copyright date on the material is 75 years in the past, you can use it verbetem in your own recording. If not, just play around with mimmicing the general style of the music in your favorite recording package. Just use the same reasonable thought you would give to paraphrasing information when working on a colleggette paper.

Please note. I am not a lawyer.

Quote: Many of these jazz songs' composers and artists are dead

Songs are owned by other people though. Ever heard of "so so bought the rights to all the beatles songs". Even if all the members are dead, I believe someone can still own the rights to their songs.

Completely legal? I'm saying no.

If its a free game that you aren't going to make money off of, or its just for fun, then music isn't going to be the most important thing. So find what you can that is legally free, I'm sure non-jazz stuff will work just fine.

Okay, I'll see what I can find, thanks a lot! :)

Because of lobbying efforts by Disney and Sonny Bono, copyright for a work extends 70 years past the death of the original creator.

Part of this is so that the legacy of an artist's work can continue to sustain his or her family beyond the grave.

Part of this is that Disney doens't want Mickey Mouse to become public domain.

70 years.

If a work is public domain, it will say so, that's the term you are looking for, and there is a "general rule" that you can follow for finding public domain works which are likely works that predate 1912.

However, even if you find a work that predates 1912 it doesn't mean that there isn't a copyright in place for that work AND it doesn't mean that the recording you have is not copyrighted by the performers or the record label that created it.