Virtual Public Domain Day Celebrates 1929 Creative Works & 1924 Sound Recordings

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Singin’ in the Public Domain, a virtual celebration of the works that moved into the public domain in 2025. The event was co-hosted by Internet Archive and Library Futures.

Watch:

Speakers include (in order of appearance):
Natalia Paruz (The Saw Lady), musician
Lila Bailey, Internet Archive
Jennie Rose Halperin, Internet Archive
Sean Dudley, Internet Archive
Jennifer Jenkins, Center for the Study of the Public Domain
Vivian Li, Innovator in Residence, Library of Congress
Tim Findlen (Roochie Toochie and the Ragtime Shepherd Kings), musician
Kathleen DeLaurenti, Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University’s Arthur Friedheim Music Library
Colin Hancock (The Joymakers), musician
Ayun Halliday, Necromancers of the Public Domain
Simon Close, WYNC & Public Song Project
Dorothy Berry, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
Theo Unkrich, Internet Archive
Posted in Audio Archive, Books Archive, Event, Movie Archive, Music, News | Tagged public domain, public domain day |
Public Domain Spotlight: Singin’ in the Rain
Posted on January 22, 2025 by Sterling Dudley
One of the most enduring pieces of music from the 1920s has just now entered the public domain (Duke Law). Watch as photo restoration service Archive’s Sean Dudley, a researcher specializing in the public domain, highlights the song’s iconic origins. Access the original sheet music from 1929 on Archive!


Transcript
Hi, my name is Sean.

I’m a researcher at the Internet Archive.

One of my favorite pieces of music is Singin’ in the Rain.

Of course, I know it best from the 1952 film, but it’s actually from a 1929 film that just entered public domain called The Hollywood Review.

The songs featured a couple of times, being sung by Cliff Edwards, who would later go on to be Jiminy Cricket, and then later on by this giant chorus of stars who are from the silent era and the early talky era, all singing in raincoats in two-strip Technicolor, so some really early color in film.

Now when we think about Singing of the Rain, we think about how many half-lives it’s already had under copyright.

The 1952 film, it’s reuse later on in A Clockwork Orange, and so many countless other moments.

So now that it’s in the public domain and it belongs to all of us, we can remix Singing in the Rain however we want.