Can a 'cover band' sell a cd of their playing at gigs without copyright issues ?

6

60ndown

New member
our band plays covers by the usual crowd, stones, zz top, steve miller, lynard skynard etc etc. (not the songs every other cover band covers, we pick and choose other songs by those artists that are typically not played by other cover bands)

if we record our 'set' (30+ songs) can we sell them at shows??

or is that a copyright issue we may get in trouble for down the road??

some of our songs are much more modern 1990, 2010??
 
Playing a song live, and recording a song (whether live or in studio) require two different 'licenses'.

I'm fairly sure any premises that hires you to play will be paying an entertainment license that covers you for playing other people's songs.
I think technically you're meant to supply a cover list to that establishment, I duno if that applies everywhere or if it's even true.
The local pub gig culture is so relaxed, here at least, that it's hard to know what you should be doing.

With regard to selling, YOU have to sort that out.
I think Harry Fox agency is the place to start.

You pay a reasonable fee for a run of X copies, so if you know how many you're going to make you can sort the fees up front.
Again, technically, this should be done before you even record the song, but shhhhh.

If I remember right, just because a song exists doesn't mean you can pay to record a cover. Some artists/publishers may have opted out and you just point blank can't do it.


Anyways, this is just what I think I remember, but it's all out there in black and white from the relevant authorities so have a google and see what comes up.

Best of luck.
 
heard a show on NPR a month or two ago that featured two copyright lawyers.

They said that you do NOT have to get permission to record a song. All you have to do is pay the fees. They had the technical reason which I don't remember the specifics of but they spelled it out pretty clearly and it wasn't something you opted into or out of.
 
Lt. Bob said:
heard a show on NPR a month or two ago that featured two copyright lawyers.

They said that you do NOT have to get permission to record a song. All you have to do is pay the fees. They had the technical reason which I don't remember the specifics of but they spelled it out pretty clearly and it wasn't something you opted into or out of.
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I read something similar; once a song has been released, anyone can record it. Just need to get the mechanical license, which you can do through HFA. They offer a "limited" license and I think it's not too expensive. ($13/per song plus statutory rate which is 9 cents per song per unit??) Hmm, 30 cover songs on a CD is about $3. Probably have to work out how much you can sell a cd for at a gig and see if it's worth it. Not that I encourage stealing, but maybe sometimes it's better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission. :P
 
Harry Fox is a good place to start for mechanical licenses. Their (his?) database is searchable, and if they (he?) doesn't handle the license will usually tell you who does. E.g. per HFA, I am pretty sure Vixen Music handles the Doors and Sesac handles Bob Dylan.
 
Chili said:
I read something similar; once a song has been released, anyone can record it. Just need to get the mechanical license, which you can do through HFA. They offer a "limited" license and I think it's not too expensive. ($13/per song plus statutory rate which is 9 cents per song per unit??) Hmm, 30 cover songs on a CD is about $3. Probably have to work out how much you can sell a cd for at a gig and see if it's worth it. Not that I encourage stealing, but maybe sometimes it's better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission. :P
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Nice! So it's only like $13ish to cover a song if you don't give out digital or hard copies of it and just want to stick it on a band page or something?
 
When my band did a cover versions CD a few years ago, we had to fill in a form with the names of the tracks, authors and publishers of the songs we wanted to do. We had to say how many pressings we were doing, what we expected the retail price of the CD to be, what our production costs were including recording and how many copies were to be reserved for promo purposes. We were then charged a one-off fee which was to be divided between the owners of the songs we covered. There were about twelve tracks on the CD and it cost us about £40 per song.

We still made a very respectable amount of money and it was all above board. :)

As far as live work goes, you don't have to pay to play other artist's stuff or have a licence to do so. However, the venue owners do - which they get from PRS (performing rights society). Occasionally PRS do a survey of which songs are being covered in the clubs, then the revenue from the licences issued are split between the artists most often covered. :)
 
if you make changes to the melody or lyrics you need to get permission from the artist, harmony and chord progression can't be copyright.

just my 2 cents
 
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