Louis Armstrong, whose recordings of ‘St. Louis Blues’ and ‘If I Lose, Let Me Lose (Mama Don’t Mind)’ will enter the public domain in 2026. Photo Credit: Herbert Behrens
2026 is set to see multiple classics – including “On the Sunny Side of the Street,” “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” and Bing Crosby’s first film – enter the public domain.
Duke Law’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain just recently shed light on a variety of these works, which will become free to exploit, modify, and distribute on January 1st. As we broke down in our previous coverage of (early) Mickey Mouse renditions’ public domain entry, there are several moving parts to account for when it comes to cartoon characters.
(A handful of additional Mickey Mouse cartoons and comic strips are poised to hit the public domain next week, as are early renditions of Betty Boop and Disney’s Pluto, originally known as Rover.)
But things are more straightforward on the music and especially the literary sides. Regarding the former, underlying compositions from 1930 will make their way into the public domain in the new year.
It goes without saying that it’d take a massive amount of ink to list those thousands of soon-to-be-public works.
At the top level, however, Duke Law noted that one will as of January 1st be able to freely cover and change the two initially mentioned compositions – besides “Georgia On My Mind” (lyrics by Stuart Gorrell, music by Hoagy Carmichael), “It Happened in Monterey” (lyrics by Billy Rose, music by Mabel Wayne), and four numbers from Ira and George Gershwin (“I Got Rhythm,” “I’ve Got a Crush on You,” “But Not for Me,” and “Embraceable You”).
On the recorded front, the public domain is days away from adding 1925 efforts from Gene Austin (“Yes Sir, That’s My Baby”), Marian Anderson (“Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen”), Bessie Smith ft. Louis Armstrong (“St. Louis Blues”), and Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson, and Maggie Jones alike with “If I Lose, Let Me Lose (Mamma Don’t Mind).”
Of course, the ability to lawfully rework and exploit compositions as well as recordings is significant in its own right – though AI-powered modifications and derivatives certainly present another angle.
Furthermore, as 1930 is talkies territory, music that debuted in films during the year will likewise enter the public domain in 2026. One should exercise a bit of caution here; technically, this applies only to musical works that hadn’t been published or registered before appearing in the movies themselves.
Keeping that point in mind, the public domain is days out from adding the King of Jazz (which, music-status considerations aside, marked Bing Crosby’s first on-screen appearance), Howard Hughes’ Hell’s Angels, and Soup to Nuts (which features The Three Stooges).