Hey all you samplers, get a load of all these classic songs that are now free to use as you wish after entering the public domain.

Every year another group of works and recordings enter the public domain, allowing free use on their content. Now that 2024 is here, a bunch of new works from 95 years ago for books, films and other works, and 100 years for music have entered the public domain.

You may have seen people sharing Steamboat Willie in recent days. The Disney classic that introduced an early Mickey Mouse to the world is amongst the works that has entered the public domain. This has allowed the image of ol’ Willie to be replicated – though Disney emphasises that the modern depiction of Mickey Mouse is still under copyright and they will continue to defend their copyrights (oh, you bet they will).

Amongst novels, screenplays, short and feature length films, are a list of song recordings that are now in the public domain. This means that you are free to use these recordings how you wish, including chopping, flipping, and sampling them up in your beats.

Here are the songs for your pleasure.

Bambalina – Ray Miller Orchestra

Charleston – James P. Johnson

Dipper Mouth Blues (feat. Louis Armstrong) – King Olivers Creole Jazz Band

Down Hearted Blues – Bessie Smith and The Tennessee Ten

Down South Blues – Hannah Sylvester and The Virginians

Froggie More (feat. Louis Armstrong) – King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band

Lawdy, Lawdy Blues – Ida Cox

Moonshine Blues – Ma Rainey

Parade of the Wooden Soldiers – Paul Whiteman and his orchestra

Southern Blues – Ma Rainey

Swingin’ Down the Lane – The Isham Jones Orchestra, The Shannon Four, and The Columbians

That American Boy of Mine – Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra

Tin Roof Blues – New Orleans Rhythm Kings

Who’s Sorry Now – Lewis James, The Happy Six, and The Original Memphis Five

Wolverine Blues – Benson Orchestra of Chicago

Yes! We Have No Bananas – Billy Jones, Furman and Nash, Eddie Cantor, Belle Baker, and The Lanin Orchestra

The US Library of Congress have an amazing website full of public domain recordings which you can easily explore and download. They even have a sampling tool to experiment and play with songs to get instant inspiration before deciding which ones to download and how to use them.

Welcome to the Library of Congress’s free Hip-Hop sampling tool

If you’ve chopped up the songs above into a tasty track and want to release it to the world, then we’ve got you covered. You can distribute unlimited tracks for free to all the top services like Spotify and Apple Music at www.routenote.com.