The goal of the Swiss Foundation Public Domain is the preservation and publication of music in the public domain as part of our cultural heritage.

Use of Digitized Tracks

The Swiss Foundation Public Domain does not claim any copyright for the digitized tracks on this web site. However, parties wishing to use these tracks, must themselves research the rights involved in every case. The foundation does not guarantee that they are in the public domain.

Music copyright

The production of shellac records stopped about 1958 in Western countries. The last shellac records in the GDR were producted 1961.

In Switzerland - the foundation's domicile where this site is hosted - "neighboring rights" were introduced 1992. Thus no performers rights are applicable to shellac records.

Copyright, however, depends on the death date of the creator (composer, author). In Switzerland a work enters the public domain 70 years after this death date.

If the rights holders cannot be determined or found, according to Art. 22b "Use of orphan works" of the Swiss Copyright Act an archive like the SFPD may make the work accessible. If the creators are unknown, according to Art. 31 "Unknown authorship" the work enters the public domain 70 years after publication.

Composers, authors, performers, rights holders and their heirs can release works they own into the public domain using licenses cc-0, cc-by, or cc-by-sa. Such works may be included in the repository of the Swiss Foundation Public Domain.

The foundation makes an attempt at fairness by not making any recording accessible, that is available commercially.

Site Copyright

To the extent possible under law the creators of the contents of the CultLib Website have waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to the contents of the CultLib Website.

That means, you are allowed to make free use of any part of the web site.