OK I have read in other posts that Copyrights expire, unless renewed, after 50 years.
Is that right or wrong?
It then becomes public domain.
Would any MP3s of that song also become public domain and become free to distribute.
copyrights were renewable after 50 years (in some countries, that varied), but in most countries now, they're set for 100 years then the song falls into public domain, not the recordings of it. If the song was written 200 hundred years ago but the MP3 dated 99 years (if that were possible) it would still be copyrighted. All recordings have their own copyright and follow the same route; public domain after 100 years since the recording.
The copyrights on a song and those on the performance of a song are different things.
If I record a version of a Civil War song that's in public domain, I can copyright my recording. You couldn't play my version in your movie soundtrack without paying me... but you could record your own version (since the song is still in public domain) without giving me a red cent. So the copyrights on recordings do not extend the songwriting copyright.
The length of copyright protection depends on when a work was actually created - the laws have changed considerably over time. Works created in the US prior to 1977, but published without a copyright notice, are now in the public domain; works published without notice between 1977 and March of 1989 are protected if a copyright was later registered, but are in public domain if it wasn't; copyrighted works published before 1963, and without copyright newal are now in public domain... works that were never published are only in public domain if the work was created before 1885, or if the author died before 1935.
The current length of copyright protection in the US is the lifetime of the author plus 70 years. If the work is 'corporate' (i.e., I hired you to write a song with the understanding that I own it) it's protected for 95 years from publication, or 120 years from creation - whichever one is shorter.
Non-US works are generally covered for 95 years, but there's just as much (if not more) variation depending on country, date, etc.
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