1. Public Domain (1886 Version)
The original composition by Gussie Lord Davis, titled "Irene, Good Night", was published in 1886. This version, including its lyrics and sheet music, is entirely in the public domain due to its age.
2. Copyrighted (Lead Belly / Lomax Versions)
The version most people know today—popularized by Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter —contains significant lyrical and structural changes that are still protected under U.S. copyright law.
The original composition by Gussie Lord Davis in 1886 titled "Irene, Good Night" of which Led Belly “Goodnight, Irene” was based on...
"Irene, good-night, think love of me, my pretty Irene, Good-night, good-night, Irene, oh, precious one!
Irene, good-night, keep me always in thy dreaming.Think, love, of me when the night closes day with its twilight;
Irene, good-night, softly the moonlight is gleaming. Would I ne’er could leave thee, my pretty Irene, good-night!
I’ll count the moments and the hours they pass so slowly by.Until I see your sunny smiles and gaze into your eyes; Oh, let me hear thy tender voice, I so oft heard before, Irene, good-night, oh, precious one, oh, lov’d one I adore!
Irene, good-night, keep me always in thy dreaming. Think, love, of me when the night closes day with its twilight; Irene, good-night, softly the moonlight is gleaming, Would I ue’er could leave thee, my pretty Irene, good-night!
Irene, good-night, think, love of me, my pretty Irene, goodnight.
Good-night, Irene, oh, precious one, good-night, good-night!"
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I took those lyrics to make my version, which will have to do for now, because I had a stubborn time with it and just don't feel like messing with it no more. Im tired and may not come back to it..
Incidentally, I do all these on my phone, I've never tried the advanced features of Suno on a desktop or anything, I just kind of construct them piece by piece. Anyone can do it.
Good Night Irene was written, or rewritten in the mid 1930s by Huddy Ledbetter known as "Lead Belly" and the Weavers, a family folk group had a no. 1 hit with it in 1950. That is the version we all are familiar with.
Just a thought about all this public domain. I am the prime listener to my station and I have to like...no, "love" is the word...what I am playing as it's for me. Wanting to get to the public and have a listener or two is a side effect, but a part of it or why would I be doing it on the radio. Thinking of all this work that I could never do which Artisan is doing, and you(Rich) are doing somewhat also, is mindboggling how to even start to figure out all these ins and outs of what is what with public domain. I wouldn't know how to do all this research. All of us do part 15 stations to be on the radio to target the public. Or else why have a transmitter to be on a commercial broadcast band? With all respect to my friend Artisan, going through all that he does to find out what can be played or not is "hell" to figure out and I don't particularly want to listen to 1920s opera in another language. Like I said I have to like it.....love it...as it's my station. And what I love is what I grew up with, the hit parade of the 50s 60s and 70s plus some swing era and the blues people in the 40s and 50s.
As I understand from others like Timinbovey on past posts about royalties that in the USA BMI is the only licensing body that cares about part 15. The others you don't have to worry about. Why not just pay the fee they want for you to be able to play what you want, it's not unaffordable. Same in Canada. Being in Canada currently on AM which is RSS-210 and not considered broadcasting to the public copyright doesn't matter but I want to go back to FM and BETS-1 which is a broadcasting undertaking and as soon as you use a BETS-1 transmitter it is considered targeting the public. There are no AM BETS transmitters.
When I was on BETS-1 before I checked with the two main licensing bodies here...Resound and Socan and both told me after they had to find out what BETS-1 was that we don't have any requirements for that. So I was home free. But now after an AI conversation 7 years later, that *may* have changed and I will find out on Monday. Stupidly back then I didn't get anything in writing just verbal confirmation.
But the point......the fee to just pay so you can play what you want is not a deal breaker, it's a $200 or so a YEAR. If that. Why not just pay them and be able to play what you want? Instead of going through this "copyright hell" with all this research that is also copyright hell. And just compiling a playlist based on public domain is fine....if you can listen to your own station and love what you hear, if not why not just pay the small fee for a station that you do from your bedroom that covers 300 ft around you and has no operating costs and has no revenue and is not a business, and play what you want. Just my take on the whole thing.
But I admire Artisan that he has the smarts to be able to do all this research.
Why do I want to go to FM even with little space? There are no BETS-1 transmitters for AM.
It's hard to get listeners on AM if not impossible. I am lucky to have the 2 listeners I know about. Only FM transmitters are BETS-1 certified where I can target the public and not have to hide it and figure out what to tell an agent to convince them I am not broadcasting. Like I said before we do this for not just ourselves but to also get listeners. That's why we use a transmitter on the commercial broadcast bands or even stream. But if I was out in the country with no one around me I would still do it and not worry about copyright if there is no potential audience around me.
@mark Right, the Part 15 BMI is only $330 a year, and you have the option to also put your station online for another $192, so it's only comes to a little over $500 a year to legally broadcast your part 15 station publicly on air and online. But let's say your station utilizes two transmitters - Well, that means your licencing fees then goes up another $330 for each additional transmitter you add even if it's identical programming.
Advertising can affect your cost too, but as long as your station brings in less than $192 a week your fine, but if it makes more than that then your licencing fees are primed for an increase. You also have to keep records and agree to furnish BMI lists of what specific musical works you broadcast, and BMI has the right to examine your records, whenever they want, in relation to your Part 15 station income and all public performances of all musical works that you air (you must agree to furnish BMI lists of that).
So it's a lot more headache than simply paying the $500 a year. I prefer not to be responsible to catering to and abiding with some outside bodies regulations to operate my hobby operation. But I do want to play music, so that's what this whole ai/public domain thing is all about.
Personally, I say "screw them", broadcast whatever you want, and that's actually what the majority of part 15 broadcasters do -- because it so unlikely that you'll ever get cited for it. It's never happened before. But I prefer to rest assured that my part 15 station operates legally nonetheless.
Perhaps it's because I've gotten in trouble over it before - not over a part 15 station, it was a jukebox, but the situation itself is identical. Usually with jukeboxes you just use an amusement company that puts their own jukebox in your establishment and splits the profits with you 60/40 or 50/50 each month and they take care of all the public performance rights themselves, you don't even have to worry about it. But in my case I had my own jukebox, it took 45 records, and that's what I had in my restaurant - 5 plays for $1, It brought in enough to pay my electric bill each month! It went fine for a few years untill the wrong person at the wrong time came in to eat a noticed there was no sticker on my jukebox.
The bottom line is that it's not so much a matter of not wanting to pay for public performance rights, it's more a matter of eliminating any outside requirements or control over the operation of my station.
@mark Also, you really don't have to do much research yourself on what is and what is not in the public domain, all that research has already been done and made publicly available by official bodies in various online databases. Also each month there's a list that comes out detailing works that recently became public domain.. All you got to do is pick out whatever you decide is worth airing ... But I don't particularly care to listen to the majority of those original vintage recordings - but the songs themselves are pretty good for recreating with a more modern style and flair.
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@richpowers I understand what you are saying but I again revert to you are the listener and you have to love what you are playing. Also there is no money we make as you referred to different situations. We have no listeners or one we may know of and cover a whopping 300 to 500ft and are not a business. Here in Canada Artisan told me he had to keep a log for a few days once a year and they never came back and that was he was also streaming which for that there is a requirement to pay. Salamandra does it for you as you can set it to keep logs for the time. I may have a problem with that as all my tracks don't have the song title and artist. Way back when I converted all my 500/600 or so records(45s and album collections) with a rented record player machine that coverts on the go to DVDs and when I had about 50 DVDs I imported them all on to a computer to have all the tracks but I never filled in the song title and artist as back then I didn't know how to do that. And that would be a huge undertaking So to this day they show up as track 325 or 87 etc so a log wouldn't identify it for the licensing body. The rest of my playlist was compiled from downloads from youtube which also automatically came with the song title and artist. And if it came to that I would have to explain that to them. What if you use an MP3 player for an audio source and it just plays even if you are out or sleeping, how would you keep a log? It's a different situation with us.
I have a feeling that I won't have to as before and I will cross that bridge if I come to it about the logs and explain I wouldn't have the info they would want and the best I could do is if they once a year want some kind of few days log I would just let Salamandra do the log and give them the huge folder and hope with some understanding they'd accept it. And who knows maybe half of my playlist is in the public domain already. All I have to say to them is most of my playlist is 1965 or before 70 years old. And OTRs are older, 100 years old.
But I don't think it will come to that.
All I want to hear when I contact them by phone or walk in to the office in person is "what is BETS-1? I hear that, I won't have to worry about it like before. I won't be stupid this time I will get it in writing via email and I will keep it on backup.
Streaming is a different story.
But I go back to my other point, do you like or love what you are playing or doing it just because it is is the public domain? You are the main listener to your own station. You have to like your own station. That's an important thing.
And you brought up a good point. With all the citations in the USA each year for pirate and out of compliance unlicensed operation has there ever been a case where an operator was cited for not paying for the music they played? In Canada? I don't think so. What about legal part 15 stations that got a visit and were OK? Is there any record of anyone ever with a part 15 station or a Canadian equivalent getting a notice of illegal operation about copyrighted music? All the FCC cares about is are you in the field strength rules or with AM power and antenna/ground rules...if so they drive on. In Canada they care about are you broadcasting or nonbroadcasting and are you using a transmitter certified in their radio equipment look up page and the correct transmitter for your intended purpose.
When I called Socan 7 or 8 years ago I was asked a few questions....what is your operating expense....none.....how many listeners...one I know of, next door neighbour......do you sell advertising or make any income...no.....what is BETS-1......license free operation allowed on the FM or AM bands known as 30 meter stations coverage maybe 300 ft around the house. It's done from my bedroom.
Ok I will look into this and have to find out what a BETS station is and get back to you....he did next day and said we don't have any provision for that.....Ok thanks!
Resound the same thing....What is BETS-1? ....not on their radar and I hope it's the same now as I suspect it will be. I had this conversation with AI and that's why I am worried that it may have changed but I mentioned this to artisan and he said there's inaccuracies with what AI said. I stupidly didn't get it in writing/email or we wouldn't be having this conversation. We also wouldn't be having this conversation if I had not asked and had that conversation with AI. Don't even know what prompted that anyways.
I'll post what I find out next week.
√1. @richpowers I understand what you are saying but ... there is no money we make as you referred to different situations. .....
√1 - I guess there's not, but the potential exist, so for that reason it's applicable in regard to public performance, to any who might aim to use part 15 for monetary ventures, whether it be personal or business. So my point there was certainly applicable.
√2 But I go back to my other point, do you like or love what you are playing or doing it just because it is is the public domain? You are the main listener to your own station. You have to like your own station. That's an important thing. ...
√2 - I think it's good listening and enjoyable, and yes, I do it because it public domain. For many years prior I focused specifically on talk programming for the same reasoning.
√3... has there ever been a case where an operator was cited for not paying for the music they played? In Canada? I don't think so. What about legal part 15 stations that got a visit and were OK? Is there any record of anyone ever with a part 15 station or a Canadian equivalent getting a notice of illegal operation about copyrighted music?
√3 - Nope, never, no indication of it, not even once. BMI, nor any other music royalty entity has ever cited a part 15 station (actually there was a thing, a blurb, about 2 decades ago, but nothing really) And your right it is not an FCC issue, nor did I intend to indicate it was, the FCC has zero bearing on the issue. My point was that the majority of part 15 stations do not pay, nor ever has in the last 20 years (or prior), with exception to perhaps a few campus stations, and an individual or two -- So like I said "screw them", don't pay, but I prefer the station operation be legal with the t's crossed and the i's dotted.
The core concept of Part 15 AM has always been to provide a legal way to broadcast without any license and without any oversight. It was accomplished in 1938 and that core concept remains today. Limit to 3 meter ant and 100mw, done.
What you broadcast is entirely irrelevant as far as the FCC is concerned, that's where a different oversight creeps in BMI, ASCAP, SOCAN(?) and whoever comes into the picture, it doesn't matter if a part 15, a licenced station, a juke box, a live band, or any other number of public performance of copyright content methods.
We're free to disregard part 15 limits and/or public performance laws if we so decide to, and chances are no one's going to suffer any repercussions for doing so, other than maybe a warning. Do what you want.
When I played music that was not in the public domain, I did get a SOCAN license. Back in 2006-2008, there was a minimum of C$100 per year. That has changed so that there is no minimum - you pay strictly 1.9% of your operating costs, which are close to C$0. At least that was the case at the end of 2024 - I don't know where the minimum of C$200 came from from Mark's AI 'conversation'.
But, like @richpowers, for me, that's not the point. I don't want to be beholden to some amorphous regulatory body that oversees what I play. And that has outrageous mistakes in its copyright database anyway.
The advantage of playing different music and other things is that you may actually grow to like and even love them just as much as what you like or love now. Maybe more. That's happened with my public domain programming.
I'm currently in test mode with the following programs. Tin Pan Alley - 1900-1930 popular songs. Roaring 20's - The Beginnings of Jazz. Classic Mode - historical classical recordings. Divas and Divos - historical vocal recordings. Monster Thriller Horror Theater - early scripted Old Time Radio. And finally, Sherlock Tomes - book readings from early detective stories.
All are either in the public domain in Canada (it's time consuming, but not really difficult to determine that for music, and some OTR), or have explicitly been put there (as in the case of Sherlock Tomes readings - research has been done to also ensure that the underlying book works are also in the public domain in Canada). It's actually more difficult to determine who to pay copyright royalties to if a work is NOT in the public domain, as in addition to SOCAN, there is Resound, and a whole lot of other, smaller, regulatory bodies that may represent rights owners (including the artists themselves).
Anyway, I'm really enjoying listening to all this stuff. It's fun, certainly unique as compared to what else is over the airwaves right now, and expands my musical (and other) horizons. And isn't that really the point in both Part 15 and life - exploring new things?
Try something different. You may end up loving it.
I'd also like at some point to do a show, hosted by myself, called If It Ain't Swing, with apologies to Duke Ellington & his famous album If It Ain't Swing, It Don't Mean a Thing.
The show would focus on popular music (in the public domain in Canada)in the 1930s, when the big bands were king. Kind of a mixture of jazz and all the other genres that were popular at the time. There's not as much music available in the public domain for that era, but enough for a show with it preselected.
Despite it's image, there was a lot of variety during that period. Everything from the aforementioned big bands, to crooners such as Bing Crosby and Rudy Vallee, to such future superstars as Frank Sinatra. I think it would be a lot of fun.
Sounds good.