Thousands of Books, Films, and Pieces of Music from 1923 Have Now Entered the Public Domain

As of January 1, 2019, tens of thousands of works of literature, music, and film have entered the public domain, meaning they can be enjoyed and used for free without paying royalty fees to the copyright holders. The list of new works of art available is staggering, and includes works from the likes of Agatha Christie, E.E. Cummings, Charlie Chaplin, and Louis Armstrong.

For readers, this will mean that many books from that year will now be available to download for free on e-readers and they can be more easily be used in schools for educational purposes.

As CNN reports, such a wealth of free content becoming available is becoming increasingly rare. The last time we saw so many works of art become free to the public was 20 years ago in 1999. These works now available were set to be released back then, but Congress passed the Copyright Term Extension Act which added another 20 years to their release.

Some of the most notable releases in literature includes:

Books
Don Quixote – Miguel Cervantes
Tulips and Chimneys – E.E. Cummings
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
Men Like Gods – H.G. Wells
Antic Hay – Aldous Huxley
The Murder on the Links – Agatha Christie
The World Crisis – Winston Churchill
The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
Tarzan and the Golden Lion – Edgar Rice Burroughs