Category Archives: Music

Timeless Songs, Fresh Lyrics: Musician Stephanie Woodford Reinterprets the Public Domain

Posted on by

When songs enter the public domain, they don’t just get older, they get new lives. For this year’s virtual Public Domain Day celebration, musician Stephanie Woodford gave three newly public-domain classics a fresh voice by writing new lyrics, reimagined for today.

Partygoers were treated to live performances of Georgia on My Mind and Dream a Little Dream of Me, while a third reinterpretation, On the Sunny Side of the Street, lives on as a special recording. Together, these performances show what the public domain makes possible: creativity that’s playful, personal, and very much alive.

Dream a Little Dream of Me

Music composed by Fabian Andre and Wilbur Schwandt, with lyrics by Gus Kahn. (1930)

Georgia on My Mind

Music composed by Hoagy Carmichael, with lyrics by Stuart Gorrell. (1930)

On the Sunny Side of the Street

Music composed by Jimmy McHugh, with lyrics by Dorothy Fields. (1930)

Stephanie Woodford is a pop, soul, and RnB singer/songwriter and performer. She is a graduate of both the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Preparatory Division and also St. Ignatius College Preparatory High School. She has a degree in music from City College of San Francisco.

In Memory of Rob Reich: Musician, Performer, Friend

Posted on by
Rob Reich, performing at the Internet Archive’s annual celebration, October 2022.

We are deeply saddened by the passing of Rob Reich, a remarkable musician whose warmth, humor, and creativity touched the hearts of so many. Based in San Francisco, Rob was a frequent and beloved performer in our “Essential Music Concerts from Home” series at the Internet Archive. At the height of the pandemic in October 2020, when we all needed connection and comfort, Rob brought us both. He performed for us a total of eight times, including serving as the MC for two of our virtual holiday parties during the pandemic. His music lifted our spirits, and his presence made everything feel like a celebration.

Rob and his ensemble, Circus Bella, kicked off our October 2022 celebration with their signature whimsy and energy. He was a master of joy-infused musicianship—a true one-man band. Whether playing the accordion, piano, bells, whistles, or cymbals, Rob’s performances were always memorable. One Bastille Day, he performed in a striped shirt and beret, with an Eiffel Tower zoom backdrop, serenading us with French classics. 

I once had the pleasure of seeing him perform at Zuni, a favorite restaurant in San Francisco, where he played timeless tunes as patrons enjoyed oysters, Caesar salad, and roasted chicken.You’d never have guessed he was also a circus performer—such was his versatility.

Rob was more than a performer—he was someone we could count on. He was reliable, kind, hilarious, serious, wildly creative, and most of all, genuine.

We are grateful for the joy Rob brought to us and to so many others. His loss leaves a silence, but his music and memory continue to resonate.

Our hearts go out to his family and loved ones.

Rest well, Rob. You are deeply missed.

-The Internet Archive Team

A Red-Carpet Affair: Celebrating Public Domain Day 2025 in 1929 Hollywood Style

Posted on by

Lights, camera, preservation! On a star-studded evening at the Internet Archive, we rolled out the red carpet to honor the creative works from 1929 and the sound recordings from 1924 that entered the public domain in 2025. And what better way to celebrate than with a glamorous, Oscar-inspired soirée?

Guests arrived in true 1920s fashion, riding in a vintage convertible before stepping onto the red carpet, where they were met by the spirited Raining Chainsaws street theater troupe, who transformed into a fleet of eager, old-time paparazzi—flashing cameras, barking questions, and adding a touch of whimsy and Hollywood magic to the night.

📸 Check out photos from the red carpet!

Inside the Internet Archive, attendees sipped on French 75s and Old-Fashioneds, classic cocktails that transported us back to the final, glittering moments of the Roaring Twenties. The theme of the night? 1929—the year of the very first Academy Awards—and we honored this cinematic milestone with an evening of film, history, and remixing of the past.

🎞 Lecture by George Evelyn on Disney’s The Skeleton Dance
Animation historian George Evelyn enlightened the audience with a viewing of The Skeleton Dance, the first of Disney’s Silly Symphonies. With its pioneering use of synchronized sound and animation, the 1929 short was a perfect reminder of how creativity from the past continues to shape the present.

🎬 Public Domain Film Remix Contest Screening
What happens when today’s creators remix yesterday’s masterpieces? Our Public Domain Film Remix Contest showcased the most inventive reinterpretations of public domain classics, where old Hollywood met modern storytelling in unexpected and thrilling ways. View all the winners, honorable mentions and submissions from this year’s contest.

👀 Watch the livestream of the night’s festivities

As the evening came to a close, guests toasted to the future of open culture, celebrating the power of preservation, creativity, and the public domain. Thank you to everyone who joined us for this dazzling night of history, cinema, and community!

Virtual Public Domain Day Celebrates 1929 Creative Works & 1924 Sound Recordings

Posted on by

On January 22, hundreds of people from all over the world gathered together for Singin’ in the Public Domain, a virtual celebration of the works that moved into the public domain in 2025. The event was co-hosted by Internet Archive and Library Futures.

Watch:

Speakers include (in order of appearance):

  • Natalia Paruz (The Saw Lady), musician
  • Lila Bailey, Internet Archive
  • Jennie Rose Halperin, Internet Archive
  • Sean Dudley, Internet Archive
  • Jennifer Jenkins, Center for the Study of the Public Domain
  • Vivian Li, Innovator in Residence, Library of Congress
  • Tim Findlen (Roochie Toochie and the Ragtime Shepherd Kings), musician
  • Kathleen DeLaurenti, Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University’s Arthur Friedheim Music Library
  • Colin Hancock (The Joymakers), musician
  • Ayun Halliday, Necromancers of the Public Domain
  • Simon Close, WYNC & Public Song Project
  • Dorothy Berry, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
  • Theo Unkrich, Internet Archive

Public Domain Spotlight: Singin’ in the Rain

Posted on by

One of the most enduring pieces of music from the 1920s has just now entered the public domain (Duke Law). Watch as Internet Archive’s Sean Dudley, a researcher specializing in the public domain, highlights the song’s iconic origins. Access the original sheet music from 1929 on Archive!

Transcript

Hi, my name is Sean.

I’m a researcher at the Internet Archive.

One of my favorite pieces of music is Singin’ in the Rain.

Of course, I know it best from the 1952 film, but it’s actually from a 1929 film that just entered public domain called The Hollywood Review.

The songs featured a couple of times, being sung by Cliff Edwards, who would later go on to be Jiminy Cricket, and then later on by this giant chorus of stars who are from the silent era and the early talky era, all singing in raincoats in two-strip Technicolor, so some really early color in film.

Now when we think about Singing of the Rain, we think about how many half-lives it’s already had under copyright.

The 1952 film, it’s reuse later on in A Clockwork Orange, and so many countless other moments.

So now that it’s in the public domain and it belongs to all of us, we can remix Singing in the Rain however we want.

So we’ll be “Singin’ in the Rain!”

See ya.