There are a lot of opportunities for licensing using p.d. stuff. My first encounter with it was over thirty years ago for what is now called the Special Olympics. I was contacted to adapt and produce a public domain melody to fit existing lyrics. The chosen melody was "This Little Light of Mine" the lyrics were "A Time to Give." They came to me because I was both a songwriter and a teacher at the Old Town School of Folk Music, in Chicago, and had the resources to find a good fit.

Many pop, rock, blues and country songs, though they are copyrighted, are actually public domain melodies. Charlie Daniels won a famous lawsuit for this. His song "Long Haired Country Boy" was sued by Acuff Rose Publishing for one of John D. Loudermilk's melodies. Daniels proved to the court that the melody was public domain.




You've got to know your limitations. I don't know what your limitations are. I found out what mine were when I was twelve. I found out that there weren't too many limitations, if I did it my way. -Johnny Cash

It's only music.
-niteshift

Mike Dunbar Music