The Roots Music Listening Room

February 7, 2006 2:38 PM

The Roots Music Listening Room for Collectors of American Roots Music. We feature Old-Time Strings Bands, Ballads & Breakdowns, Early Blues & Gospel, some Early Jazz, Vintage Country Gospel, Early Bluegrass and various Ethnic Musics played by immigrants to America. Most of this material was originally recorded in the 1920s through the early 1950s and was first issued on 78 RPM Records. (Out of consideration for others only download about 15-20 songs in one day.)
posted by crunchland (22 comments total)

wow this is a great find. nice one crunchland.
posted by nola at 2:48 PM on February 7, 2006

Not disputing that it's a great find, but the legality of the site seems questionable. This is their disclaimer:

The pre-1972 selections on these MP3s are assumed to be in the PUBLIC DOMAIN. Further, they were digitized from analog sources. If anyone has written proof that any selections are not PUBLIC DOMAIN, please notify us. Those selections will no longer be made available on this website.

IP is not my area of legal expertise, but my recollection is that the earliest a work produced after 1923 will enter the public domain is 2019. Therefore, most of what is on that site is not in the public domain. Many of the compositions probably are, but the recordings are not.
posted by fochsenhirt at 3:17 PM on February 7, 2006

We have the blues.
posted by sgt.serenity at 4:36 PM on February 7, 2006

Another extremely extensive sound file library of American old time music is Honking Duck. They voluntarily took down their site some years ago after being challenged on copyright, but apparently the challenge didn't stick, and they put the site up again. It's been there safely for a couple of years now, with the same reference to "pre-existing material" before 1972.
posted by zaelic at 4:38 PM on February 7, 2006

as always, crunchy, gracias!
posted by shoepal at 4:39 PM on February 7, 2006

excellent
posted by mert at 4:44 PM on February 7, 2006

The Internet always sounded better on 78s! Thank you for the post. Thanks also to the website.
posted by Peter H at 4:51 PM on February 7, 2006

Yes, an excellent find! I grew up in Lafayette, LA, and have known this song almost my whole life, in varying versions. And I learned this one in first or second grade, at school (I especially like how the singer enters in a different key than the band for the first verse). It's really cool to hear these old recordings.

Also, w/r/t legal issues--though the timeline may indicate that recordings this age should be under copyright, it could be that the copyright holder is no longer around, or aware, or interested, or etc. etc. Recordings this old, and this local, are often of uncertain ownership. Until someone claims copyright, they're probably in the clear. And even then, as zaelic mentions above, that's not always final.
posted by LooseFilter at 5:25 PM on February 7, 2006

Nice post! I am now listening to some fine old Jelly Roll Morton. Thanks.
posted by caddis at 7:18 PM on February 7, 2006

Fantastic one. Thanks!
posted by Miko at 7:24 PM on February 7, 2006

Crunchland wins! End of game. You can shut down metafilter now.
posted by spicynuts at 8:21 PM on February 7, 2006

(reminds me a little of the Johnny Spencer site, back when it had mp3s to download. [mefi post])
posted by shoepal at 8:25 PM on February 7, 2006

Not disputing that it's a great find, but the legality of the site seems questionable. This is their disclaimer:

The pre-1972 selections on these MP3s are assumed to be in the PUBLIC DOMAIN. Further, they were digitized from analog sources. If anyone has written proof that any selections are not PUBLIC DOMAIN, please notify us. Those selections will no longer be made available on this website.


Intellectual "property" is a sham, especially where these fine old recordings are concerned. Let's put folk music back in the hands of the folk, huh?
posted by ford and the prefects at 8:31 PM on February 7, 2006

Ford, I agree with the spirit of what you're saying, but it has to be noted that in today's world, it's pretty complex. I basically agree that content like this should wend its way where it will. On the other hand, you have stories like this: Alan Lomax records a guy singing a version of a song in the 1950s, it gets picked up by T. Bone Burnett and put into a blockbuster movie, the movie engenders soundtracks and a concert series, everyone's rolling in dough...except for the former prisoner, the guy who performed the song so compellingly for Lomax,. Fortunately in that case, due diligence was done.

There's a real tension around intellectual property when it comes to traditional/folk material because of the very complicated issues of class, culture, ownership, and profit. There really are no pat answers to this conundrum.
posted by Miko at 8:57 PM on February 7, 2006

Wow, what a find.
posted by y2karl at 12:00 AM on February 8, 2006

Rock star quality post-ful of iPod Food.
posted by By The Grace of God at 4:07 AM on February 8, 2006

"IP is not my area of legal expertise, but my recollection is that the earliest a work produced after 1923 will enter the public domain is 2019. Therefore, most of what is on that site is not in the public domain. Many of the compositions probably are, but the recordings are not."

It's not that cut and dried. You can be certain that anything produced pre-1923 is public domain. But some works produced after that point are PD as well, because they were never renewed, and were not grandfathered by later copyright extensions.
posted by litlnemo at 4:42 AM on February 8, 2006

Incredible! Thanks so much for sharing this. MeFi is the best!
posted by WyoWhy at 4:54 AM on February 8, 2006

Thanks for this. Nice Find.
posted by jonmc at 6:27 AM on February 8, 2006

Right the fuck on! Thanks so much.
posted by OmieWise at 7:15 AM on February 8, 2006

Thanks for posting this. I can't wait to fill up my iPod.
posted by bryghtrose at 8:03 AM on February 8, 2006

I'm late to the party, but: magnificent!
posted by languagehat at 7:56 AM on February 15, 2006