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The 2023 Public Song Project

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You are looking at the 2023 Public Song Project! Click here for the 2024 Edition.
Scroll down to see 2023's winners, and the WNYC Public Songbook, a playlist of everyone's submissions.

Every year on January 1, certain new works — songs, books, movies — enter the U.S. public domain, meaning they can be freely shared, copied, adapted, and recorded… by anyone! In 2023, because of the laws on copyright terms, works now in the public domain come from the year 1927 and earlier.

We asked for your help to explore the trove of material in the public domain and show how it can be used creatively, by recording your own spin on a work in the public domain, and sharing it with us. More than 80 of you delivered some excellent adaptations of public domain works, so kudos and thanks to all the creators for participating.

 

Winners

Hear Alison Stewart's interviews with the 3 winners, followed by their winning submissions:

Prisoner's Song, by Alice Lee
Alice said: I chose Vernon Dalhart's The Prisoner's Song (1924) because it was the first big country music hit and I wanted to re-examine it through the lens of an incarcerated woman almost 100 years later.

Prisoner's Song


(I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For) Ice Cream, by Kathryn "Kat" Lewis
Kat said: I was drawn to remake this song because Ice Cream Truck drivers - small business owners - are really having a hard time with rising costs of, well, everything! They're heroes of summer, and I wanted to celebrate them and the excitement and joy they bring to kids (and pets?) of all ages. Producing this recording was really fun - I invited some friends and their kids and their pets to participate! I even got my mom to sing on this. She's my musical mentor in many ways and very shy to record.

(I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For) Ice Cream


Afternoon On A Hill, by Chloe & Lily Holgate
Chloe said: We hope the music is evocative of the dreamy meditative state one might experience spending time alone in nature.

Afternoon On A Hill



The WNYC Public Songbook

Here are all of the tracks that were submitted to the contest, for your listening pleasure. 

 

And thank you to our judges, below, who helped sift through all the submissions, pick out some favorites, and build the Public Songbook.

  • John Schaefer and Caryn Havlik of New Sounds
  • New Standards host Paul Cavalconte
  • Shanta Thake, chief artistic officer of Lincoln Center
  • Switched On Pop co-hosts Charlie Harding and Nate Sloan
  • Jennifer Jenkins, director Duke University's Center for the Study of the Public Domain
  • Author and copyright activist Cory Doctorow
  • Pianist Lara Downes
  • DJ Rekha
  • Cellist Marika Hughes