Doesn't copyright expire after 50 years?
Generally, copyright protection lasts for the length of the author's life plus another 70 years.
If you have a 100 year old recording (1923) then it's possible the artist could have been young and lived into the 60s, 70s, or even later.
For example, Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins, one of the old school blues pianists, was active from the late 20s until he died in 2011. Even though his original recordings are almost 100, they won't be copyright free until 2081, some 150 years later.
He's kind of a bad example as there's a foundation with his name that could potentially curate and use his works for their charitable purposes, but it still illustrates just how long some of this stuff lasts. One hit wonders in the 20s that died in the 90s will have their recordings unavailable forever-ish.
I did not know that, thank you
(post is archived)