Looking for copyright-free / public domain tiki music for a short film

Hey all,

I’m trying to find some music for a short film that has a genuine vintage tiki / exotica vibe but is actually safe to use. I know most of the famous stuff is still under copyright, so I’m wondering whether there are any older or more obscure recordings, or maybe older songs that could be re-recorded, that still capture that mood. If anyone here knows any good titles, artists, or archives to look into, I’d really appreciate it. Thanks!

Good question. There’s probably AI slop out there or some you could make haha. 😆 but you won’t find non-copyrighted music in the genre as everything from that period I believe is easilystill automatically under copyright (not public domain). Copyright is created at the time of writing or recording automatically. And for video use you need permission from both the recording owner and the composer of the song (could be multiple people for each; often the labels own the audio recording aka “master.”) Easiest path may be to work with a band that writes their own music - there might be only one person that needs to sign off. (Like in my example, I own the master recordings for Mr. Ho’s Orchestrotica and most of our small ensemble / quintet songs are compositions I own as well. So I don’t need any other permission to do a sync license deal with a filmmaker).

Good luck!