400,000 New Recordings in the Public Domain

Thanks to legislation passed in 2018, around 400,000 sound recordings made before 1923 are now available in the public domain. These include songs from Ethel Waters, Sophia Tucker, Al Jolson, and Fanny Brice, as well as opera and orchestral recordings from the likes of Enrico Caruso and Sergei Rachmaninoff. WNYC's John Schaefer, host of New Sounds and Soundcheck, shares some highlights.