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I want to put together a product I'm going to sell where I need to analyze a song, fairly in depth. I'll need to use some audio, so it'll probably have to be public domain.

Can any one think of any public domain songs that may work well to be looked at as a "popular" song?

thanks!

The public domain songs were popular, once, but today they are more like.. classic.
Great for jazz standards, chistmas and perhaps childrens music, but not sure if any of them could be thought of as "popular" today.

Does it have to be a PD song? Why don't you just write an original one, and base it on findings from "Hit songs deconstructed", to prove your points, and then use that as an example?

What target group are you writing for? The "Who" is important

I've used this great site to check before: http://www.pdinfo.com/Public-Domain-Music-List.php

Stuart

Or you could tweet Katy Perry and ask to license one of hers.

"Fair use is a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. In United States copyright law, fair use is a doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders. Examples of fair use include commentary, criticism, news reporting, research, teaching, library archiving and scholarship. It provides for the legal, unlicensed citation or incorporation of copyrighted material in another author's work under a four-factor balancing test."

Len911 wrote:"Fair use is a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. In United States copyright law, fair use is a doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders. Examples of fair use include commentary, criticism, news reporting, research, teaching, library archiving and scholarship. It provides for the legal, unlicensed citation or incorporation of copyrighted material in another author's work under a four-factor balancing test."

Does not apply, since this is a commercial product.

ya...this site does look good. http://www.pdinfo.com/Public-Domain-Music-List.php

also...don't quote me, but is scarborough fair in the public domain?

Yes, unless you use Simon & Garfunkle's arrangement.

Good points, all - thank you! The PD site looks good!

thesongcabinet wrote: Does it have to be a PD song? Why don't you just write an original one, and base it on findings from "Hit songs deconstructed", to prove your points, and then use that as an example?

This is a good point too.. I was considering that as well. Who would know that song better than me, right?

AnthonyCeseri wrote:Good points, all - thank you! The PD site looks good!

thesongcabinet wrote: Does it have to be a PD song? Why don't you just write an original one, and base it on findings from "Hit songs deconstructed", to prove your points, and then use that as an example?

This is a good point too.. I was considering that as well. Who would know that song better than me, right?

You could even write your analysis first, and then use that as specs for writing the song