Music credits
The player in the corner plays six American recordings from 1918–1925. All are in the public domain in the United States.
Why these are free to use
Under the Music Modernization Act, US sound recordings published in 1925 or earlier are in the public domain — they enter it 100 years after publication. Everything below was recorded between 1918 and 1925, so no license is required for commercial use, and no attribution is legally required either. We credit the performers anyway, because they deserve it.
The files here were digitized by Internet Archive contributors, then re-encoded to mono 96 kbps to keep the page light. The audio is a 1920s 78 rpm transfer: expect surface noise, which is part of the charm.
Tracks
| # | Title | Performer | Year | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Prisoner's Song | Vernon Dalhart | 1924 | Library of Congress / Internet Archive |
| 2 | St. Louis Blues | Boyd Senter | 1925 | 78 rpm collection |
| 3 | Tiger Rag | Original Dixieland Jazz Band | 1918 | Victor 18472-B |
| 4 | The Charleston | Arthur Gibbs Gang | 1923 | 1923 (USA) Archives |
| 5 | Maple Leaf Rag | Albert Brunies Halfway House Orchestra | 1925 | 1925 (USA) Archives |
| 6 | Yes! We Have No Bananas | Selvin's Orchestra | 1923 | 78 rpm collection |
Composers
The underlying songs are also public domain: W. C. Handy's "St. Louis Blues" (1914), the Original Dixieland Jass Band's "Tiger Rag" (1917), "The Charleston" by James P. Johnson (1923), Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag" (1899), and "Yes! We Have No Bananas" (1923). "The Prisoner's Song" (1924) was written by Guy Massey, whose copyright expired in 2020.
Background photos
The home page hero rotates through three American landscapes. All are public domain or CC0, so no permission is needed:
| Image | Photographer | Rights | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kansas wheat field | Carol M. Highsmith | Public domain (Library of Congress) | Wikimedia Commons |
| Barns and the Grand Tetons | Jon Sullivan (PD Photo) | Public domain | Wikimedia Commons |
| Route 66, New Mexico | Volker Schmidt | CC0 | Wikimedia Commons |
Images were cropped to 16:9 and recompressed to keep the page under 1 MB of imagery.
If you are a rights holder
If you believe a track here is still protected, contact us through the contact page and we will remove it promptly.
Note: Public-domain status applies to US law. If you reuse these files outside the United States, check your local term for sound recordings.