Copyright, Creative Commons, and Public Domain

If there are laws protecting people and intellectual property, there are also laws that protect things businesses create, develop and distribute. If you are creating music and making it available to fans, you copyright the material so people can’t sell and distribute your music without giving you a share of the profit. Some things are so old, like songs from the 1800’s, that they no longer belong to a specific person or company. That means they are in the public domain – anyone can use the song in any way they like.

In this module, you will discover that the Internet has both copyrighted and public domain materials. Knowing which is which will save you time and frustration. It will also keep you out of trouble with lawyers hired by companies to protect their copyrighted materials. Finally, you will discover what you can use for free or for free with conditions set by the owner of the material you are using.