Every song in our games and videos passes the same test before we use it. This page explains the test, the tricky cases we ran into, and what we never use. It describes how we work; it isn't legal advice.
Two conditions, both required
- The melody was first published in 1930 or earlier, or it is a traditional tune with no known author.
- Its composer died more than 70 years ago.
Why both? Copyright lasts for different lengths of time in different places. In the United States, music published in 1930 or earlier is now in the public domain: works from 1930 joined it on 1 January 2026. In the European Union and many other countries, copyright lasts until 70 years after the author's death, so the music of a composer who died in 1955 or earlier is free from 2026. A melody that passes both tests is free in the United States, the European Union and most of the world.
Published is not the same as written
The date everyone remembers is not always the one that counts.
- Für Elise. Beethoven wrote it around 1810, but it was first published in 1867, forty years after his death. Both dates are long ago, so it passes, and we list the publication year.
- Canon in D. Pachelbel wrote it around 1680, but it wasn't printed until 1919. Still before 1930.
- Minuet in G. For a long time it was credited to Bach. Today it's attributed to Christian Petzold, who died in 1733. Who the composer is matters, because the death date is half of the test.
Carol of the Bells: free melody, protected lyrics
The melody comes from "Shchedryk", a Ukrainian New Year song arranged by Mykola Leontovych and first performed in 1916. Leontovych died in 1921, so his melody passes both conditions. The English lyrics most people know were written later, in 1936, by Peter J. Wilhousky, and they are still protected. We use the melody only, and none of those words.
Korobeiniki: the folk song, not the game version
Many people know Korobeiniki from Tetris. The tune is a 19th-century Russian folk song and belongs to everyone. The arrangements made for video games are newer works with their own rights. We play the plain folk melody, note by note, and nothing taken from any game version.
A recording is a different thing
Even when the notes are free, a recording isn't. The orchestra, the singer and the label own their performance of Beethoven, even though Beethoven's notes belong to everyone. Automatic systems such as YouTube's Content ID match recordings, so using someone else's recording of a public-domain piece can still get a video claimed.
That's why there are no recordings anywhere on payantha. In the games, your browser plays each note with a small synthesizer at the moment you hear it. In the videos, the same kind of synthesizer is driven by the collisions.
Arrangements and lyrics
A modern arrangement of an old tune, with new harmonies, a new section or a new rhythm, can be protected even when the tune itself isn't. We avoid that by using only the bare melody line, typed in note by note. And we don't use lyrics at all: the games and the videos are instrumental.
Every song, listed
The full list, with the composer, the publication year and the year the composer died, is on the music and copyright page. If you think one of them is listed wrongly, write to us and we'll check it. If we got it wrong, it comes out.