50k+ Public Domain Books, Music, And Movies Are Now Free To Download Legally
As of 1st January, which is also the Public Domain Day, tens of thousands of works of literature, music, and art entered the public domain.
It includes creations from some of the greatest minds from 1923 such as Charlie Chaplin, Louis Armstrong, Agatha Christie, Virginia Woolf, E.E. Cummings.
This is the first time since 1997 when new year brought such a massive collection of culture and artwork for the public free of cost.
Until 1998, U.S. Public Domain Days were an annual event, but a new law named after Sonny Bono suddenly extended copyright protections by 20 years.
This means that under US laws, a song, book or movie remains covered by copyright laws for 95 years, or until the creator is deceased for 70 years.
Here’s a glimpse of what the treasure chest of public domain goodies has in store for us:
Books
- “The Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran
- “The World Crisis” by Winston Churchill
- “Don Quixote” by Miguel Cervantes
- “The Murder on the Links” by Agatha Christie
- “Men Like Gods” by H.G. Wells
- “New Hampshire” by Robert Frost
- “Jacob’s Room” by Virginia Woolf
Films
- “The Pilgrim” by Charlie Chaplin
- “The Ten Commandments” by Cecil B. DeMille
- “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” by Wallace Worsley
Music
- “The Perfect Fool” by Gustav Holst
- “Weather Bird Rag” by Louis Armstrong
- “The Dauntless Battalion” by John Philip Sousa
There are loads of work by prominent figures like Bela Bartok, Irving Berlin, Oscar Hammerstein and many more.
How to download these free books?
Even though we have an extensive catalog of free stuff to pick from, finding it can be a bit of a task as all of them aren’t available on a single website.
Book lovers can check out websites that host public domain books such as Internet Archive, HathiTrust, and the Gutenberg Project. You can also check out our complete list of free websites to download book legally or read online.
Those who are interested in downloading free music or movies and legally can out the link below:
