Every year on January 1st the world gets a new list of intellectual entities that will enter the public domain and this year some very big names will be free to the world to do as they please. In case you’re wondering how this works, here is a simple video that will explain how it works.

So this year anything that was released back in 1927 will enter the public domain, any other later adaptations and recordings after 1927 will not be in the public domain. So you want to know what’s going in the public domain here is a small list of what’s going in:

Animation
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit shorts
Max Fleisher’s Koko shorts
Felix the Cat titles
Bouse entry: 2024 Steamboat Willie

Films
Metropolis
The Jazz Singer
Wings
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog
The King of Kings

Music Compositions
The Best Things in Life Are Free
(I Scream You Scream, We All Scream for) Ice Cream
Puttin’ on the Ritz
Back Water Blues
Preaching the Blues
Potato Head Blues
Soothin’ Syrup Stomp
East St. Louis Toodle-O

All of these are very important in their own right and now that they will be in the public domain, take the time and see what made them so special and enjoy them.