What do you think of when you hear the term "The Public Domain" in relation to music?  Really old pieces?  Music that has no copyright?  Works in the Creative Commons?  Perhaps even one or two specific genres come to mind?  The label is a fluid one, to say the least, and complete consensus on it appears unlikely.  Tonight we'll explore some of the ways the public domain has been understood and misperceived, and listen to music that's not only representative of these ideas, but also delivers the usual multi-directional jumble of music heard on the show.

Tune in to CIUT 89.5FM tonight at midnight (EST) and have a listen. If you're outside the station's terrestrial range, you can stream the show live online, or listen to the podcast on the Playlists page starting sometime tomorrow.

Here are some great articles I read while preparing for this show; being about the public domain they are all appropriately available for free as pdf files.  If you're interested in learning more about this topic, you should definitely check these out: 

James Boyle, "The Second Enclosure Movement and the Construction of the Public Domain"

Anupam Chander and Madhavi Sunder, "The Romance of the Public Domain"

David Lange, "Reimagining the Public Domain"

I'll also be posting about this epsiode on my Free Music Archive profile and creating a playlist there which will include all the FMA tracks played tonight. (edit: here's the FMA post)

Edit 2:  Here''s an earlier post I wrote about some of the confusion surrounding the public domain and classical music.

The site is one year old today!  Did you know that Warner Chappell claims that "Happy Birthday to You" is under copyright in the United States -- until 2030?!  Well, here in Canada, "Happy Birthday" is in the public domain, so let's publicly perform/communicate said work with impunity!*

Show'em how it's done, Kiki:

*I know, I know, where I am is not necessarily the same location as where my site is hosted and thus different laws may apply.  But if we're to bring up technicalities, I've got some too: Kiki here has sufficiently transformed the original work by means of her own creative efforts.  She's altered pitches, changed the rhythm, and added punctuating clicks.  She's also a bird...