Can't wait to finally sample Thomas Edison on the phonograph for my Soundcloud tracks, and not having to worry about the police knocking at my door!
Check out "I am the Edison phonograph" from 1906 https://youtu.be/EQC9CjFezrQ
I'd use that, totally would.
The problem was that various music copyrights were being dated from the 1970s for historical reasons despite the music itself being much older. Congress passed a law fixing a whole lot of that in one lump. Which is why music from the 1920s becomes public domain at the same time as movies from the early 1930s.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zCrtErmipXE
Alright, that's fine for now. The distance between this and modern pop music is actually razor thin. Update the instrumentation with synthesizers, give it percussions and you'd be done.
Interesting, the covers are further away from modern pop than this is