Every year on January 1, new works of art — songs, books, movies — enter the U.S. public domain, meaning they can be freely shared, copied, adapted, and recorded by anyone!

Launched last year, the Public Song Project invites anyone to explore this trove of material and show how it can be used creatively, by recording your own musical adaptation of a work in the public domain, sending it into us, and getting a chance to talk about it on WNYC. At the end of the contest, we’ll post all the qualifying entries in one place for all the public to hear.

Get complete info on how to participate in the Public Song Project here: www.wnyc.org/publicsongproject

What's new for 2024?

Twist 1: The 1920s
Last year, you had free reign of the public domain for your recording. This year, with a nod to WNYC’s 100th anniversary, we’re asking you to focus on works of music, literature and film from the 1920s. (That doesn’t mean your recording has to incorporate work only from the 1920s, but our selection process will prioritize creative adaptations of 1920s material.)

Twist 2: Special Guests
In addition to listener submissions, professional recording artists and friends of WNYC will also be contributing to the 2024 Public Songbook. That means you could be featured alongside such artists as They Might Be Giants, Rhiannon Giddens, Bela Fleck, The Lemon Twigs, Arturo O’Farrill, Valerie June, and many more.

Twist 3: Lincoln Center
The Public Song Project will take the stage at Lincoln Center on July 20, as part of Summer for the City. The event will feature special guests and members of the public — that could be you!

Who can submit?
Anybody (18 or older)
You don’t have to be a professional musician to submit; maybe you only pick up the guitar every once in a while, maybe you’re a lapsed piano student. And if you’re not much of a singer, rap or spoken word are cool too! Or just instrumentals. Just give it your best shot.

What can you submit?
Your songs could be:
•Straightforward covers
•Original twists on 1920s compositions with new music or lyrics
•Remixes sampling films or sound recordings (make sure your sound recordings were recorded in 1923 or earlier!)
•Public domain poetry (e.g. Langston Hughes, AA Milne, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Kahlil Gibran) set to original, or public domain, music
•Based on quotes, passages, plotlines, or characters from a public domain book/play (e.g. a song based on "The Great Gatsby," "Ulysses," "Mrs. Dalloway," "The Mysterious Affair at Styles")

Your new recording could celebrate a work from the past. It could reimagine a composition for the present day. It could even challenge or engage in dialogue with the sometimes archaic sensibilities of art from that time.

Just make sure your submission is based on work that’s in the U.S. public domain, and was recorded for this project.