I’m a fan of the Library of Congress. I’ve taken photos of rockers attending its National Book Fair—check out 2019 and 2023—and have posted here at the blog when the organization put up material that has entered the public domain, such as artworks.
The library has also gotten into music. It started a Citizen DJ program back in 2020, and I just found out, when digging for info on all the many works that went into public domain on January 1 of 2024, that the library has a National Jukebox too.
The online jukebox “makes historical sound recordings available to the public free of charge,” and the recordings that have entered the public domain are free to use as well. There’s lots of info at the website, such as the library’s process of archiving old-school vinyl.
One of the songs that’s available is “Wolverine Blues”—a jazz song from 1923. Did Entombed get their album title from this song? I don’t know. But there’s a whole lot more where that came from. Have a look at the Library of Congress website.
Further reading: there’s many government, university, and library programs out there that have music, noises, and images for free download, which might be useful for bands and other creative people. Browse through the posts here at the blog.
Photos: Library of Congress
