Digitization Projects/Public Domain Project/Overview

Public Domain Project

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Background Info

What we do

Creative works of literature, science and art are subject to Copyright law. Works in the public domain are those whose intellectual property rights have expired. Our team cleans, cataloguizes, digitizes and makes available hundreds of gramophone records monthly.

Who we are

The Public Domain Project was established in 2009 by a jurist specializing in Copyright law and a musicologist who already had been collecting a multitude of gramophone records since his childhood. In 2010, Wikimedia (the Association behind Wikipedia and other sister projects) joined the Project as a partner and in 2012 a Foundation was established.

Currently we have

• 1 full-time employee
• 3 part-time employee
• 16 volunteers

As much as we can, we are trying to involve people with autism or presenting the Asperger Syndrom in the digitization.

Our Mission

At the Swiss Foundation Public Domain, we see our main mission in rescuing recordings from past decades, produced on sensitive and easily damageable materials from deterioration and potential oblivion. Our first goal is to have gramophone records — which are indeed an invaluable resource — transformed into long-term readable and usable data files using the knowledge of expert staff.

The future

In the near future, we are looking forward to expanding our collection of “unica” and “rara”. In our view, the preservation of for example:

• the earliest sound recordings on beeswax and industry wax or

• rare sound recordings of indigenous people worldwide, would be extremely important to have

As far as we can see, many countries did or do not have the opportunity to collect and preserve their cultural heritage in sound. That's where our foundation fits in!

Facts and Figures

• 1 Mio. Tune-ins per month on the Public Domain Radio (Internet radio)
• 40'000 Downloads per month on Wikimedia Commons
• > 250 Records cleared from Copyrights and cataloguized per month
• > 500 Reference books and Copyright law literature (needed for the clearing of rights)
• > 75'000 Historical sound recordings (mainly gramophone records and phonograph cylinders)
• > 10'000 Unica and rara (sound recordings):
  • Earliest sound recordings from the 1880s to the 1900s
  • Vertical-cut discs of Edison and Pathé
  • Decelith discs and the very first home recordings produced on bee wax
  • Ethnic music from indigenous people around the world
  • Pirate label records from the pioneer age of sound recording
  • Speeches from the World Wars I and II
  • Victory and transcription discs
  • Very rare Jazz and Rock 'N' Roll incl. white-pressed samples

Timeline

• View the key events of the Public Domain Project

Inventory Project

• PLAY audio tracks direct from our inventory project