What makes sheet music free to copy and print?
Sheet music is free when no copyright covers it (it is in the public domain) or when its owner has licensed it for free use, as with a Creative Commons license. One printed score can carry up to three layers of rights:
- The composition: the notes the composer wrote. This is what expires with time.
- The words: lyrics, and translations of them, which have their own authors and dates.
- The edition: what an editor or arranger added, such as fingerings, bowings, a new arrangement, a preface or new notes.
A score is free to copy only when every layer on the page is free.
How old does music have to be to be in the public domain?
| Where | The rule | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| United States, published before 1978 | 95 years after publication, to the end of the 95th year | Music published more than 95 years before the current year is public domain, and each January 1 another year’s music joins it. Some later works lapsed sooner for missing formalities. |
| United States, published from 1978 | The author’s life plus 70 years | Works made for hire run 95 years from publication instead. |
| United States, unpublished works | The author’s life plus 70 years | A manuscript is free once 70 full years have passed since its author’s death. |
| European Union and United Kingdom | The author’s life plus 70 years | Counted from the death of the last surviving author, such as the composer or the lyricist of a song. |
| Canada | Life plus 50 years for authors who died in 1971 or earlier; life plus 70 for later deaths | Music by an author who died in 1971 or earlier is public domain in Canada. |
| Other countries | Many use life plus 50 or life plus 70; some use longer | Look up the country’s rule. |
Music by composers such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Schubert and Tchaikovsky is public domain almost everywhere. The rules differ for music from the last century. Music by a composer who died in 1971 or earlier is public domain in Canada, for example, while life-plus-70 countries protect music for 70 full years after the composer’s death.
These are the usual terms, and exceptions exist: renewal rules for older US works, anonymous works and wartime extensions. For US works, Cornell Library keeps a chart by year of publication.
Is a modern edition of a classical piece still free?
Not always. A sonata by Beethoven is free, but the edition on your music stand may carry new rights for what its editor added. IMSLP, the Petrucci Music Library, describes how this works in its own rules:
- United States: new material, such as prefaces and notes, can be protected. The public-domain work stays public domain, and a new engraving alone does not create a new copyright.
- European Union: editions can be protected for up to 30 years after publication. IMSLP voluntarily observes a 25-year rule.
- Canada: scholarly or urtext editions with no original editorial contribution are likely to have no protection.
An arrangement of a public-domain tune is a new work. So is a new translation of old words. The safest scores are scans of old editions and new editions that state a free license.
| License | What you may do | What it asks |
|---|---|---|
| Public domain or CC0 | Copy, print, share, change and use for anything | Nothing |
| CC BY | The same | Credit the author |
| CC BY-SA | The same | Credit the author and share changes under the same license |
| CC BY-NC | Copy and share for non-commercial use | Credit the author, and no commercial use |
Where can I get free sheet music legally?
SheetScroll has a free library inside the app, called Free sheet music. It holds thousands of scores for piano, voice, violin, cello, guitar, flute and many other instruments, and a tap opens one. It is covered in full below. Outside the app, these libraries share free scores, each under its own rules:
- IMSLP (Petrucci Music Library): scans and some new editions of classical music. Its main servers are in Canada and host works that are public domain in Canada. Works that are public domain in the US but not in Canada go on a separate US server. Each work page carries a copyright note.
- Mutopia Project: volunteers typeset classical editions with LilyPond. Each piece comes as a PDF, a MIDI file and the LilyPond source, with its license named: public domain or a Creative Commons license.
- Choral Public Domain Library (CPDL): free choral and vocal scores, shared by volunteers.
- OpenScore: volunteers transcribe public-domain scores into editable notation and release the results under CC0. It has a collection of songs (the Lieder corpus) and of string quartets.
- Library of Congress: digitized American sheet music. For its Music for the Nation collection, the Library says it knows of no US copyright restrictions, and that foreign rights may still apply to some items.
Any PDF you download can be opened in SheetScroll. Open the add menu and tap Files.
Is IMSLP legal?
IMSLP says its main servers are in Canada, and that it accepts a work there only if the work is public domain in Canada or the rights holder agrees. A work that is public domain in the US but not in Canada may go on the separate US server. IMSLP also accepts works released under free licenses.
Whether you may download and use a given work still depends on the law where you live. For most of what people look for, such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin, there is no difference. The terms differ for composers who died in the decades just before 1972. If you are in doubt, read the copyright note on the work’s page, and use a source that follows your country’s rules.
How do I check a score before I copy or share it?
- Find the composer’s death year and the year the music was first published. A composer who died more than 70 years ago is free in life-plus-70 countries. In the US, music published more than 95 years ago is free.
- Find who made the edition or arrangement and when. Read the license line on the page or the library’s work page.
- Check the words. A lyricist or translator who died more recently keeps the text protected.
- Check the license. CC0 and public domain ask for nothing, CC BY asks for credit, and NC means no commercial use.
- Check your country’s rule if the composer died in the middle of the last century.
- When you cannot tell, ask the publisher or buy a licensed copy.
What is in SheetScroll’s free sheet music?
Open the add menu and tap Free sheet music. An empty library shows the same search and shelves at once. Search by title, composer or instrument, pick an instrument, or browse the shelves: Popular, Beginner, Easy, Intermediate, Advanced, and by composer. Every card shows the piece’s first bars, so you can see what you are opening.
A piece is included only when every author, the composer and any lyricist, died before 1926 (or the music is traditional), and the edition has a free license. Its sources include volunteer projects such as Mutopia and OpenScore, and SheetScroll’s own course pieces, which are CC0. When a license asks for credit, the credit is kept in the score’s info. Other scores carry the note Public domain. From SheetScroll’s free sheet music.
Tapping a card adds an ordinary score to your library. There is no account, and your searches stay on your device. The reader is free. Listening and automatic page turns are part of SheetScroll Pro, except in the pieces of the eight free courses, which listen for free. Browse by instrument: piano, violin, cello, guitar, flute and voice.
Questions
What does public domain mean for sheet music?
No copyright covers the music, so anyone may copy, print, share and perform it. The composition can be public domain while a new edition or arrangement of it is not.
How can I tell if sheet music is in the public domain?
Find the composer’s death year and the edition’s date. In life-plus-70 countries, a composer who died more than 70 years ago is free. Then check that the edition adds nothing protected, such as a new arrangement or editorial notes.
Is it legal to download from IMSLP?
IMSLP says its main servers host works that are public domain in Canada. Whether a given download is lawful for you depends on your country’s rules, which can differ for composers who died in the decades before 1972.
Can I print free sheet music?
Yes, when it is public domain or its license allows it. CC BY asks you to credit the author, and non-commercial licenses do not allow commercial use.
Is a new arrangement of a public-domain tune free?
Not automatically. The tune is free, but the arranger’s version is a new work, protected unless the arranger has released it under a free license.
Is SheetScroll’s free sheet music really free?
Yes. The scores are free to open and read, with no account. Listening to them and turning pages automatically is part of SheetScroll Pro.
Related
- Scanning sheet musicTurn paper sheet music into a clean PDF with a phone or tablet camera: lighting, flat pages, bound books and file tips, and how a reader app uses the scan.
- Organizing your libraryA simple system for a digital sheet music library: file names, tags, setlists, annotations and backups, so you find any piece fast and keep every marking.
- Choosing a tabletHow to choose a tablet size for sheet music (12.9 to 13 inch or 11 inch), when a phone is enough, plus stands, glare, battery, and digital versus paper.
- PianoFifteen free, public-domain piano pieces in teaching order, from three right-hand notes to Burgmüller. They listen and turn pages without Pro.
- BeginnersEight free courses for piano, guitar, violin, cello, flute, clarinet, sax and trumpet. The pieces listen and turn the page as you play, with no Pro needed.
- Opening music filesSheetScroll opens PDFs, photos, MusicXML, MuseScore, Guitar Pro, MIDI, ABC, chord charts and more. How to add them, and pair a scan with a digital copy.
Sources
- Cornell University Library, Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States, checked October 23, 2026
- IMSLP, Copyright Made Simple, checked October 23, 2026
- IMSLP, Licensing Policy and Guidelines, checked October 23, 2026
- Directive 2006/116/EC on the term of copyright protection, checked October 23, 2026
- Mutopia Project, checked October 23, 2026
- Choral Public Domain Library, about, checked October 23, 2026
- Creative Commons, OpenScore’s plans to liberate sheet music, checked October 23, 2026
- Library of Congress, Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music, checked October 23, 2026