Yesterday, I posted part 1 of this topic, in which up-and-coming voiceover talent Linda Velwest asked about the legalities of using images that she found on-line within the audiobook trailer she wanted to create. Even though she is only using her trailer for promotional purposes, she might not be able to use images and music found on-line due to the owners’ copyrights.

As promised, today’s entry is the rest of the story. In addition to seeing her terrific audiobook trailer created with public domain components, you can benefit from Linda’s list of sites of public domain images and music.

Hi Karen, 

Thanks for your note. When I started working on the video, I just started looking up pictures on the internet. Then I got concerned about stealing other people’s work and I got a little obsessed about stealing! You were very clear in your blog that you wanted other people to think about doing the same thing you did, but I was all paranoid! 

So, here it is!

I found a lot of resources for public domain pictures and pictures where it is very clear how to contact the person who has rights to them and what you need to do if you want to use them:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_page

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Public_domain_image_resources

http://creativecommons.org/

The music I got from:
http://www.oldradioworld.com 

You can certainly share my emails on your blog – it would be an honor. Thanks again for your inspiration.

Linda Velwest

 
As Linda pointed out, finding images and music that are truly in the public domain and free of copyright restriction can be a tricky matter. Cornell University has created a very helpful Copyright Information Center which can help you navigate the copyright maze. In particular, this comprehensive chart lists dates that will help you figure out if something is in the public domain.

With so much material available in the public domain, I’m sure that more voice talent will create our own promotional videos instead of only narrating them for others! I’d love to hear from you if you have created or plan to create a promotional video using elements in the public domain, so leave your comments and video links on the blog!