Getting permission to use a copyrighted song?

joey2000

joey2000

New member
Say I want to do a cover of a song for example - there some standard way to do this, eg contact the studio that produced the album, try to contact the artist direct (hard to do if they're dead of course) etc? Is it as simple as a written letter/email back, or is there a more formal legal process? Anyone out there done this?
 
I believe when you go to sell/register your CD with the distributor (like CD Baby) they will get that straightened out for you. Part of each sale would go to the original artist, or likely their publisher.
 
Pinky said:
I believe when you go to sell/register your CD with the distributor (like CD Baby) they will get that straightened out for you. Part of each sale would go to the original artist, or likely their publisher.
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Although it's possible that CD Baby would do that extra service, jonny depp is correct in that you need to acquire mechanical licenses first.
 
mjbphotos said:
Although it's possible that CD Baby would do that extra service, jonny depp is correct in that you need to acquire mechanical licenses first.
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It's probably what they do for the artist (get the license for them). I can't recall which one I tried, but one of the digital services offered this for me because one of my tracks was a cover and it never even occurred to me when I submitted it. Didn't end up using that service so I don't know if they charged extra for it.
 
It's also possible the composer may say no! The real question is to do with making money. If your licensing costs more than the recording will earn, it's tricky to decide.
 
jonny deep said:
What are you going to do with it? If you're going to sell CDs, you need to acquire mechanical licenses, I believe (https://www.harryfox.com/license_music/what_is_mechanical_license.html). If you're just going to stick it on Soundcloud for your friends to hear it, I don't think there's much danger of just doing it.
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In a perfect world, I would consider it good enough to put out a very small # of CDs and/or sell online. It's far more likely I'll just record for myself and share with a small group of people who are too nice to be honest. :) It would be nice to sell a little, just to say I did, but any sales would be extremely modest at best. I just want to see what would be required if I go the sales route.

PS that link says "The first step is to identify the owner(s) of the copyright to the song. The publisher." ? Wouldn't the composer have the copyright?

Thx for the replies!
 
No - remember the ridiculous situation when Paul McCartney paid Michael Jackson every time he sang one of his famous songs? Copyright can be traded as a 'thing' with value. Not music, but the UK programme Dad's Army had a character called Private Godfrey. Arnold Ridley wrote a very famous stage play that has been popular all over the country for over half a century. However, Ridley was at one point very poor and skint, so he sold the rights and never received a penny from that moment on. My bass playing hero, Herbie Flowers wrote that great bass line in Walk on the Wild side, but elected to take a fee for it, rather than any proper right. So tracking down the real copyright owner is actually not that simple. PRS can help as they have a database, but sometimes, they do not represent the original composer, so then you are on your own!
 
Again thanks.

Actually it's kinda funny that I'm messing w/this, the odds of it coming up are pretty close to zero. But again I'd rather do things "proper" here.
 
joey2000 said:
Again thanks.

Actually it's kinda funny that I'm messing w/this, the odds of it coming up are pretty close to zero. But again I'd rather do things "proper" here.
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Frankly for the amount you are likely to distribute, I would say "don't bother". I also like to do things *right*, but sometimes you have to just use your best judgment in deciding if what you're doing is trying to get over or just not worth the hassle. I never did anything special with that album with the cover song on it. In hindsight it all worked out, only sold a handful.
 
Yeah I hear you - and it would seem very worst case is that if it somehow came up, you'd likely just owe a % of sales, which were minimal anyway.
 
In most cases with small fish like us, we're not worth anything to publishers and record labels. They're more concerned with other signed artists.

It's only the RIAA and MPAA who want granny in jail. ;)
 
lol. True. I haven't heard anything since they busted some young girl for using "Happy Birthday" or something equally silly back when.
 
joey2000 said:
lol. True. I haven't heard anything since they busted some young girl for using "Happy Birthday" or something equally silly back when.
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The bad publicity has them shifting strategies. Now they setup bait torrents and send nastigrams to people's internet service providers. If they can't make you stop financially, they'll just turn off your internet with no judge/jury/need to submit proof. Paypal does the same thing, they take money out of seller accounts all the time because buyers make claims (often false), acting as judge and jury in a legal matter well outside their jurisdiction. Someday someone's going to take them to court and that will be the end of that. Could even be a civil rights issue since you're being denied due process (maybe someone more schooled in legality could confirm that hunch).
 
PRS in the UK are about top take legal action against Soundcloud - for illegal streaming of copyright music. Things are certainly hotting up here!
 
Pinky said:
The bad publicity has them shifting strategies. Now they setup bait torrents and send nastigrams to people's internet service providers. If they can't make you stop financially, they'll just turn off your internet with no judge/jury/need to submit proof.
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? Nobody but my ISP can turn off my internet, and I seriously doubt they would do that w/o contacting me and trying to resolve as they don't want to lose business.
 
rob aylestone said:
PRS in the UK are about top take legal action against Soundcloud - for illegal streaming of copyright music. Things are certainly hotting up here!
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If they deal with it as quickly and efficiently as they deal with royalty payments, I wouldn't worry.
If, however, they deal with it as quickly and efficiently as they do getting licence payments from small establishments and people whistling while they work, it's probably happened already. ;)
 
So should I take this to mean that if I do a version of some old blues tune, and put it up online with no intention of making money with it - allowing free download (as if anyone would be interested) I am violating absolutely nothing?
 
joey2000 said:
? Nobody but my ISP can turn off my internet, and I seriously doubt they would do that w/o contacting me and trying to resolve as they don't want to lose business.
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I speak from personal experience. A few months ago my GF wanted to see the last season of some show. I dl'd it, then a few weeks later got a notice, then suddenly days later our internet service stopped working. Called, they forwarded us to some department at Time Warner that handles these things and they turned it back on.

I used to download A LOT of stuff, and this had been the only thing in months. It seems I dl'd from a bait torrent the show's distribution company put up, then reported the IPs that downloaded it to the respective ISPs. The laws governing when a customer's service can be shutdown have changed in recent years, this is legal. Having not had this happen to me in the past, I did do some homework and found info online verifying this is their new tactic.
 
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