Glossary
Public domain
Material in which copyright has expired or never applied, free for anyone to use. Public-domain status resolves copyright only — recordings of identifiable people can still raise voice, likeness, and privacy questions.
Copyright expires on schedules that differ by country and by work type — in the US, published works enter the public domain 95 years after publication, and sound recordings follow their own, longer timeline. US federal government works are public domain from creation. Status must be verified per work, not assumed for an era.
Why it matters
Public domain answers copyright only — it says nothing about the living, identifiable people in a recording.